Letters in Appreciation

Leslie A. Elam
Executive Director
The American Numismatic Society
Broadway at 155th Street
New York, New York 10032

Dear Les,

My most memorable experience with Harry Bass occurred during COAC '89 which was devoted to the study of Federal gold coinage. During the previous eight years I had made an extensive study of the die varieties of Classic gold half eagles and felt confident enough to present the results of my work at COAC '89. Harry listened to my presentation and encouraged my efforts to identify die varieties in this long overlooked series.

Harry had also used the conference to display a sample of the gold coins from his extensive collection. He had also passed out a listing of his holdings by die variety for study by those who attended the conference. I studied the list of Classic half eagle die varieties and it became apparent by bis descriptions that he had two 1835 die varieties in his collection that I had not included in my study. After the conference was over, Harry gave me the opportunity to study his examples of the two varieties that had eluded me in my studies of Classic halt eagles.

It turned out that the two new varieties of 1835 half eagles were quite rare. But I have been able to find my own examples of these two varieties during the last nine years with an extensive search for coins that I knew that existedI will always be grateful to Harry for giving me a chance to study two varieties that were unknown to me. My search was much easier having seen the two coins and knowing how to identify them from other varieties in the series. His encouragement of my numismatic studies and his patience in allowing me to study his coins will be the qualities in his personality that I will always carry with me.



John W. McCloskey

Presdent LSCC