RIP Lewis Revels Chattanooga Coin
Insider2
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Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Lewis Revels
Lewis Revels
Lewis Revels, Jr., 71, of Rossville, passed away peacefully on Monday, June 18, 2018, surrounded by his family.
He was born May 18, 1947, to the late Lewis Revels Sr. and Margaret Hargraves. Mr. Revels grew up in the Rossville area and was a member of Simpson Memorial United Methodist Church. Lewis was a graduate of Rossville High School, class of 1965 and graduated from UTC with an engineering degree and a master’s degree from UTK. He started his career by collecting coins and was the owner of Chattanooga Coin, Inc., Choo Choo Rentals, Inc., and the Chattanooga Coin Wholesaler, Inc. Lewis was a numismatist and an entrepreneur. He was selfless and always thinking of others and always giving back to the surrounding communities. Lewis was a mentor to many and if you knew him, you knew he never met a stranger.
Comments
Sad to hear. Sounds like a great guy.
Purchased from Lewis at a Atlanta show in January of 1975 while I was there transitioning into a new job. It now resides in a NGC VF20 holder and fills a hole in my half-eagle set along with a few others I also purchased from Lewis. The last time saw him was at a show a couple of years ago.
RIP Lewis and condolences to his family.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
You had to know him. Lewis was one of my mentors in the coin business. I was fortunate to work with him for several years. I quickly realized that his intellect and business sense was unmatched by his peers. Lewis was a generous and fair boss who outworked all of us, all of the time. He also was a wise confidant who listened to me and also regaled me with is wit and stories at late night dinners. Lewis always picked up the check even though we were about the same age. He was an amazing character and I was lucky to have known him.
He purchased much from me in past few year....especially proof sets from the 50's and 60's.
bob
Lewis supplied Shop at Home for many years. You should have seen all the stuff that came in. I regretted not having the time to cherry pick. Example: We got so many rolls of BU 1964-D quarters that I'll guarantee there were dozens of Type C's! I had to dip hundreds of beautifully toned rainbow $1 from bank wrapped rolls because the show wanted "white!" I think about that often.
Wow @Insider2 sorry for the loss of your friend and mentor. I bet I saw him at TSNS although I have only done that show a few times now. He sounds like a super guy ... and we were practically neighbors as I am in Bristol VA/TN.
Kind regards,
George
I did not know the man. Condolences to his family and friends. All I can say is.....I'm so, so weary of attending funerals. Life is precious. It's a gift. Enjoy it while you have it.
this is one of my favorite
RIP
Lewis was a character and generous to a fault. One Christmas he gave me an unwrapped blanket as a present. LOL. I still have it.
Several months later we were working up inventory in the safe and he pulled out a Walther PPKS as he knew I liked guns. Before handing it to me, he released the magazine and pulled back the slide to eject the round in the chamber. When I handed it back the told me to keep it! I still have that also.
His business was a treasure trove of misc. stuff. Baseball cards, toys, dolls, wooden nickels, CSA bonds, buckets and buckets of silver rounds and bars, cigar art, Depression Script, etc. He sure could generate interest with the sales pitch in his ad. They were entertaining to read.
Every area of the country has pockets of dealers and collectors with one "go-to" guy. Lewis was one of those "Kingpins" when I lived there. He was always dealing, buying or lending money.
I mentioned this before. When the major TPGS's were keeping the fee and returning coins in "Body Bags," Lewis decided we would grade problem coins at PCI. The rest is history. I regard that as his best contribution to the hobby.
His will be big shoes to fill.
Rip. Condolences to his family and friends.
Was really sad to hear about Lewis - he was a very hard worker in the coin industry. Although we didn't do much business, I remember 3-4 years ago talking him one evening, which must have been 10 o'clock at night in his timezone. He was sharing his experiencing in dealing with telemarketers, credit terms and so forth. He was very open about it. RIP Lewis.
Owner/Founder GreatCollections
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Don't be bashful, you have done extremely well in business yourself.
Sad to hear. Sounds like a great guy.
my condolences
Insider2, sounds like you lost a good friend. I'm sure it's not the first time. It's always tough.
I remember, last century, watching Lewis Revels and Robert Chambers hosting "The Coin Vault" on the defunct ShopAtHome TV show. Chambers died 4 years ago: https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/915750/r-i-p-robert-chambers-coin-vault-host
Interesting. The Chambers association would seem appropriate.
Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend and mentor @Insider2.
May he rest in peace.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
Very sorry to hear, he definitely sounds like a great guy and meant a lot to you. You can always keep his spirit alive though
Reminds me of my mentor, Steven Halfon. A local coin and bullion dealer in Brooklyn who was sadly murdered by thieves while still in the prime of his life.
Highly enthusiastic about world coins, contemporary circulating counterfeits and unusual stuff
TV coin shows are just that - hype and a show. Good "pitchmen" can sell anything. I had the privilege two see those two plan the next shows in advance using things Lewis had purchased ahead of time. A lot more goes on than meets the eye. During the week, we would run around putting as many individual Deals together. By showtime, they knew how many of each item they could sell before moving to the next lot. One time they forgot one of the props and Lewis's mom Margaret and I had to make a dash up to Knoxville at dark-thirty to deliver it. We watched part of the show off camera. After the show, the products needed to be shipped.
@Insider2 I'm condolences for the loss of your friend.
I too purchased from Chattanooga Coin many years ago. I purchased a few very large silver and copper rounds. I believe the rounds were one pound in weight like the one pictured above.
RIP. Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
Lewis was one of the great ones.
Whenever I talked with him, he made me feel like I was his best friend even though I never met him and only did very little business with him. He had to be one of the hardest worker in the coin industry, he would call me at 6pm Hawaii time which was very late in his area
RIP
Condolences to family and friends... RickO