Harry W. Bass Jr.
An active collector and quintessential philanthropist, Harry W. Bass
Jr. was a life member of the ANA for more than 30 years. He was awarded
the Medal of Merit in 1989 and was inducted into the Association's
Numismatic Hall of Fame in 1998.
Bass' interest in numismatics began in the mid 1960s. He joined the
ANA in 1966 and spent a year studying the subject before he actively
began collecting.
Soon after entering the field, he defined his goal - to collect
United States-issue gold coins from 1795 to 1933 by date and mintmark,
with special attention to die varieties of early U.S. gold.
He made many important numismatic discoveries while creating the most
complete collection ever assembled, including many one-of-a-kind
specimens.
Of paramount importance in the collection is a set of virtually all
known die varieties of early (1795 to 1834) United States gold coin
denominations, in the finest condition.
Also included in the Bass holdings are:
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The only complete collection of $3 gold pieces, including the
unique 1870-S
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A complete collection of U.S. gold coin types of all periods and
designs from 1834 to 1933
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A spectacular grouping of rare U.S. pattern coins
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The foremost collection of 1896 silver certificates, among them the
"Educational Series" of U.S. paper money ($1 through the proposed $50
denominations) that includes vignettes, progress and trial proofs, as
well as the uncut first sheets of the actual $1, $2 and $5 notes.
In 2000, the ANA was honored to have its museum selected by
the Harry W. Bass Jr. Research Foundation as the perfect new home for
this incredible collection.
Bass encouraged, promoted and participated in the exchange of
information among dealers and collectors, setting up his foundation for
charitable and educational endeavors, numismatic research and community
development. Among other projects, the foundation developed and funded
the Numismatic Indexes Project (NIP)-a computer-based, searchable index
of a variety of numismatic publications, including The
Numismatist, accessible from the ANA's web site.
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