Miami Valley Coin Club

What It Takes to Make a Great Collector

Don’t think you will ever amass that great of a coin collection. Read on!

He was a man of ordinary means who lived in Rochester, New York, with his wife and three children. He was born in North Carolina in 1913 and moved to Rochester in 1936 to work for the Eastman Kodak Company, a job he held for most of his life.

He pursued numismatics with a passion and was active in local, state, and regional coin clubs. He read hundreds of books about rare coins and studied the subject with fervor. He eventually became president of the American Numismatic Association.

His story demonstrates that you don’t have to be wealthy to enjoy the great hobby of numismatics. He was a man of humble beginnings and modest means, working hard to pay his bills and raise a family. In fact, he lived in the same small home in a mostly blue-collar neighborhood from the late 1930’s, until his death in 1996. His wife of over 50 years taught mathematics in the public school system.

His collection contained none of the so-called classic rarities, such as the 1804 Dollar or 1913 Nickel. A working man could never have afforded “trophy coins” like these.  Instead, he concentrated on coins he felt were underappreciated and true rarities in their own right.

After he died in 1996, a series of auctions were conducted from 1997 to 1999 to disperse his lifetime accumulation of rare coins. The total proceeds from these auctions exceeded $30 million. A little known fact about the collection is that his original investment was less than $75,000. He was truly the consummate collector.

Some of the rarities in the collection included:

1822 Proof Capped Bust Quarter, purchased for $42 in 1948, sold at auction for $110,000

1852 Proof Liberty Seated Quarter, purchased for $50 in 1953, sold for $176,000

1839 Proof Reeded Edge Capped Bust Half, purchased for $725 in 1961, sold for $132,000

1846 Proof Set, purchased for $750 in 1949, sold at auction for $522,000

1833 Proof Capped Bust Half Eagle, purchased for $562 in 1954, sold for $550,000

Building a great collection: knowledge, timing, and willingness to take a calculated risk. The collector: John Jay Pittman