Heritage Awards Fourth High Relief Saint Gaudens $20; Four ANA Members Also Win Saint

Dallas, Texas: Bob Korver, Director of Heritage Numismatic Auctions has announced the winner of the grand prize from Heritage's recent ANA Auction Survey. "This year's High Relief, the fourth to be given away by HNAI, has been awarded to Dr. Gary Hogg, Chair of the Dept. of Industrial & Management Systems Engineering at Arizona State University. When Consignment Coordinator Leo Frese and I contacted Dr. Hogg, we caught him in the middle of a heated meeting on space allocation at the University. We interrupted him long enough only to provide our phone number, and then had to wait for his return call to give him the exciting news!"

Steve Ivy, Co-Chairman of Heritage, provided a brief history of the survey project. "Heritage has been honored to host every official auction of the ANA convention since 1992. Five years ago, we realized that if we were to help the ANA grow - by providing additional funds to them - we would have to make the ANA auctions grow in importance. In our opinion, the secret to growth was to better serve our consignors through obtaining accurate information about their collecting and collections. The secret to motivating responses was simple: give away the one coin that every collector covets. This is the fourth High Relief that we have awarded, and we are thrilled with our success in better serving the ANA and its members. Thanks to our consignors and survey participants like Dr. Hogg, Heritage has provided more compensation to the ANA this century than all other auction firms combined! And if you want to judge our success in reaching out to the coin community, you need only ask our four grand prizewinners! We are also pleased that this is the first year that the prize-winning survey came from our advertisement in the Coin World newspaper."

Leo Frese, HNAI's Consignment Coordinator, continued the story of this year's winner: "Dr. Hogg was kind enough to share some of his collecting history with us. A lifelong collector, our High Relief is actually the second coin that he has won. At the age of 16, attending his very first coin club meeting, he won the doorprize: an 1855 Large Cent in VF. The wonder evoked by that first coin started him on a lifetime of collecting, with a growing passion toward type collecting. A decade ago, Dr. Hogg had to sell his first collection to provide for two children in college. He recalled particularly a 'beautiful Proof-66 Liberty nickel, which I had paid only a hundred for, selling for almost $3,000.' Following the graduation of his children, he began collecting anew, and has now completed a type set of nineteenth and twentieth century designs. But having set himself a limit of $1,000 per coin, he never imaged he would be able to add a High Relief to his collection."

Continued Korver, " I asked Dr. Hogg to share some of his collecting philosophy, and he obliged. I quote from his comments:

"Coins are art, history, and a reflection of our society and hold great intrigue. Yes, they can also be a good investment if you can remain sufficiently detached to be able to part with them. But mainly, coins and collecting are fun. I still go back to that first large cent and the wonder it evoked. So collect that which you enjoy most. You can temper that with judgement and common sense, and create a storehouse of value as well; but realize that if you really enjoy them, you will become attached."

We at Heritage couldn't agree more. And Dr. Hogg has told us that the High Relief will be handed down to his son, who also enjoys collecting coins, and remain in the family for generations."

Along with other prizes awarded to Survey respondents, Heritage also gave away four mint state Saints to members of the American Numismatic Association. (Heritage also has quarterly drawings of free mint state Saints to individuals who sign up for E-Listings by registering on their website: www.heritagecoin.com.)

The first Saint was awarded to David Walker, who started collecting in 1953, and who joined the ANA thirty years ago. His father was a coin collector, and David holds incredibly fond memories of the hours spent at the kitchen table with his Dad examining rolls of cents. From those humble beginnings grew a collection uniting two lifetimes, and a bond that was forged between father & son.

The second Saint went to Jeff Morris, a collector of 25 years who specializes in gem commemoratives. Morris "started as a kid, filling blue folders," like many numismatists. He has only recently joined the ANA, and seems particularly pleased with that decision now.

The third Saint was awarded to Martin Ritter, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday with the purchase of his 15th Cadillac. Ritter has been a member of the ANA for more than 25 years. After 60 years of collecting coins, Ritter has passed much of his collection along to his children and grandchildren.

The fourth Saint was awarded to student Levi LaCrosse, a 9th grade High School student. Levi started collecting eight years ago, after his Dad gave him several hundred coins. Father & son attend many coin shows together now, and often discuss the relative merits of potential purchases. Levi is planning on a career in meteorology, and enjoys team sports. In addition to collecting coins, Levi also enjoys building models.

Heritage is headquartered at 3500 Maple Avenue, 17th Floor, Dallas Texas, 75219-3941. Heritage's Internet website can be found at: www.heritagecoin.com. Collectors can sign up for free e-listings at the website.