Remember When: Stack’s Presents Saint-Gaudens $20 to President Harry S. Truman

By Harvey G. Stack, Senior Numismatic Consultant

 

I remember it was over 60 years ago when President Harry S. Truman came to our offices in New York City. He came with his secretary of the Treasury, John W. Snyder, who was a familiar face at Stack’s at the time. While there, my uncle Joseph B. Stack presented to President Truman a Saint-Gaudens $20 gold piece needed to complete the Presidential Numismatic Display at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri. This display was a collection formed by Secretary Snyder during the Truman presidency and with the assistance of the Stack family. The collection comprised United States gold, silver and copper coins struck during the administrations of all the presidents of the United States from George Washington to Harry S. Truman. Besides the President, Secretary Snyder and my uncle, the presentation was also attended by myself, my father, Morton Stack, and my cousins Norman and Benjamin. The collection was then placed on exhibit at the library in Independence. It is an occasion that I will never forget.

For more information on this collection, see Harvey’s previous article “Meeting John W. Snyder Former Secretary of the Treasury” in an earlier Stack’s Bowers Galleries newsletter.