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 recounted 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 one of his first purchases – 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. large-sized 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 the 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 information 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 always – 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, I 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, I 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 (captured from my database) shows how many variationson 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 my 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