Essays in Appreciation of His Life and Legacy
Leslie A. Elam is Executive Director of the American Numismatic Society in
New York.
Part Three
Harry W. Bass Jr. - Life and Legacy
Leslie A. Elam
THE LORE OF NUMISMATICS
Reporters in the 1950s could not have known that within a decade they
could add a fourth term to the list of "Harry Bass's principal interests"
- numismatics, the study of money. Unsurprisingly his initial impetus to enter the
field was long term profit. Harry recountcd his introduction to American coin collecting
in a 1992 Coin World interview:
In 1955, an accountant friend of Bass' asked him if he could obtain some 1955-D
Washington quarter dollars, since the mintage on the coins was low. Bass served as
a bank director at the time.
Bass said he was able to obtain a $10 roll of the coins for face value. Ten years
later the friend brought that roll of quarter dollars back to Bass and explained
a coin dealer down the street offered him 10 times the face value.
"That captured my attention," Bass said. "I looked at numismatics
being first, perhaps, an investment vehicle."
Harry vividly recalled his first purchase - an 1803 Capped Bust U.S. $10 gold
eagle, obtained in 1965 from a New Orleans auction on his behalf by a friend. He
had obeyed the dictate of the influential numismatist Aaron Feldman to "buy
the book before the coin" and had already acquired an impressive general library.
Armed with magnifying lenses clipped to his regular glasses and hand-held loupes
of varying strengths, he set out to examine his new possession, promptly discovering
the " 14 star" reverse variety. Harry was later to say that this experience
was the catalyst that led him to concentrate on die varieties of U.S. Federal gold
coinage and later to advance to the study of die states and die mulings, as a means
to gain insights into early U.S. Mint practices. At his death, Harry Bass had brought
together easily the largest and most in-depth survey of U.S. Federal gold coinage
ever assembled. Beyond this astounding concentration, Harry developed other specialized
collections of notable quality, including U.S. pattern, experimental, and trial pieces,
with a prejudice toward acquiring those pieces struck in the precious metal of the
ultimate intended coin. His; collection of U.S. largesize currency is also distinguished,
covering the period of the initial "greenbacks" issued during the Civil
War through 1930 when the small-sized notes were introduced. Among great collections
acquired intact by Bass was that of Robert Schermerhorn, bought from his estate and
forming the nucleus of Harry's own paper money collection. A modest assemblage of
silver coins, an extensive holding in California fractional gold pieces, and a discriminating
collection of monetary materials related to Texas rounded out his numismatic collecting
specialties. 
Those who knew Harry's penchant for organizing and systematizing will not be surprised
to learn that he applied these skills to his numismatic pursuits almost from the
onset. It will be news to many observers just how innovative he was in assembling
his U.S. Federal gold collection. In a posting of March 15, 1997, Harry described
his grading system and one can do no better than to quote him in toto. He titled
the post "Use of Sheldon Scale in Grading."
Folks;
Here's a little kindling for the fire! :) [used extensively by Harry, and interchangeable
with -VBG,- to convey "Very Big Grin"] Having accumulated since 1966,
some 10,000+ numismatic items have passed through my hands.
When I started, I bought books, lots of books (still do). Penny Whimsy was
one of the first. In 1966 or 1967 1 started using the Sheldon scale.for assigning
grades to gold coins, but with four primary parameters - my objective being to have
a notation system that would give me an accurate idea of what I had so that such
it?formation could be readily used from my records when viewing items at shows and
auctions.
1. Use of conventional Alpha abbreviations in addition to numbers for clarity
2. Use of numbers only in increments of 5 (almost alwavs - my few slabbed purchases
and some more recent evaluations for me by others caused some deviations)
3. Adding plus (+) and minus (-) characters to convey what is today called "eye
appeal"
4. Adjectival words to point out important qualifiers
My primary areas of interest have been the U.S. gold series and U.S. patterns.
The latter explains what may at first appear to be an inordinate number of Proofs.
In 1967, 1 had conversations with Abe Kosoff regarding my use of the Sheldon scale
for U.S. coinage other than large cents. Needless to say, I was most pleased when
he decided to extend its use in the preparation of his May 14, 1968 mail bid sale
of the Alex Shuford Collection. He limited its use to increments of "5"
and even then only through AU 55, 1 believe. His was the first such use in a catalogue
of which I am aware. What has ensued is, of course, history ...
The listing below (eaptured from my database) shows how many variations on
a theme can occur over 30 years. The main point, of course, is that it is
a method which makes sense to me and that I can understand and replicate.
I got nothing but flack from all of my dealer friends for many, many years. But in
time, they all had to come around to the numbers-which, as now used with increments
of one, imply an exactitude that is highly debatable in my mind. But then, I don't
have to write catalogues, mailing lists, etc. As for taking another's "word"
as to grade, I have ALWAYS (nearly) seen before purchase. Mike Brownlee, Julian Leidman,
and Stanley Kesselman have been (were) [Mike Brownlee died November, 21, 1996]
the only persons who could and would view items on my behalf using my standards.
Having such a relationship with a few qualified dealers is to be sought after and
cherished!
Do I plan to go through all of my coins and regrade and conform their grades on their
holders/flips/envelopes AND THEN get such accurately entered into m - v records and
database? Of course!! That's at the very top of my "to do " list
of things to do tomorrow. < VBG>
Regards,
Harry Bass
There followed a tabulation of 3,537 U.S. gold coins from his collection, arranged
by this grading system and ranging alphabetically from "AU polished" to
"VG rough" and "Was mounted"; included are such characteristic
notations as "PR v sl. impair" and "PR vv sl impair" - Harry
was not one to take the slightest benefit of the doubt!
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Part One - Coming of Age
Part Two - Bass Buys A Mountain
Part Four - The 1989 ANS COAC Exhibition
Part Five - The Harry Bass Era at ANS
Part Six - Harry Bass Foundation