Fun Visit to Harlan Berk's Shop

BryceM

Before you cry "wrong forum", humor me a bit.

Business called me to Chigago for a few days and I realized my hotel was only a couple of blocks from Harlan Berk's shop.

I've never done business with them before but I decided to run over and take a look at what they had. I've been toying with the idea of getting a couple of ancients and I've always understood them to be one of the larger dealers in that area. I also wanted to see what they had in US type. The ground-floor shop is pretty small, but held a few cases of interesting US material. I saw one Indian cent that tempted me, but it wasn't exactly what I was after. I was a little surprised to not see a single ancient coin so I asked "don't you deal in ancient coins?"

A simple "Yes."

Me, "Where are they?"

A mysterious "Not here."

Me, "OK.........", puzzled.

"Hey, Aaron, you going upstairs?"

"Yeah"

"Want to take this guy up to see some coins?"

Aaron, "Sure."

So we get on the elevator and go to the thirteenth floor. We end up in a cozy, little, old-time library where I'm left for a minute.

Then, "Hi, I'm Harlan Berk. What do you want to look at?"

Me, feeling slightly out of place. "Um, maybe some old coins.....?"

Fortunately I had the presence of mind to just tell him that I had no clue about ancients and that I was interested in testing out the waters a bit with something with some great history but not terribly expensive. Roman coins seemed to be the logical place to start. He was kind enough to bring several trays of coins out to review. He spent quite a while going over the various pieces, their history, condition, preservation, demand, the market, etc. I selected a couple and he asked if I wanted to see some gold. Who wouldn't? He then brought out an enormous tray of various gold pieces and we spent several minutes reviewing them. Fascinating!!! He then brought out a very small tray of some enormously cool coins. The price tags on these ranged from new car to upscale new house. One in particular was a unique piece that he described in some detail.

I paid for my modest purchases and we chatted for a few more minutes. In all we probably spent the better part of an hour together. By the time I left I had enjoyed a solid introduction to Ancients, 101. He gave me a copy of their current catalog and was kind enough to give me a copy of his book "100 Greatest Ancient Coins." We chatted for a few more minutes and I got out before temptation set in.

I can't say enough about Mr. Berk's hospitality. It's a slightly rare thing to receive such personal service from a well-recognized dealer. Service like that risks creating a long-term client. If I was slightly more intelligent I would have also sought out Tom D. to make his acquaintance.

Here they are:


Maximinus I Thrax


Marcus Aurelius as Caesar

SeattleSlammer

Great customer service. As far as the coins go: they make all of my 19th century coins look modern.

Patches

Sounds like a fun and educational day, nice pickups! Kudos to Harlan J. Berk

Weiss

Nice. My icon is a Berk piece

cladking

<< <i> If I was slightly more intelligent I would have also sought out Tom D. to make his acquaintance.

>>



Nice coins.

I believe CaptHenway is retired.

robertpr

Very cool story. If I ever get the chance I will make it a point to visit their shop as well!

daOnlyBG

I've been to that shop a couple times. Though I have yet to meet Harlan Berk himself, the guys on the first floor have been really helpful whenever I'd stop by. Don't let the display cases on the first floor fool you; the coin dealership has dozens of boxes inside, filled with both raw and slabbed US coins, many of them in top-notch condition.

I have yet to see their ancients, but I hear great stuff about them. The numismatic library at HJB is worth seeing as well- they have a very comprehensive selection of specialty books.

Sweet purchases, by the way!

bronzemat

Both coins look to have some faults but for a collectors first ancients, they are excellent purchases. I have a couple of coins from burk, but they were bought on ebay.

Both emperors are also historical.

Read about both and it makes the coins even more unique & interesting.

DrBuster

Very nice! The russell crowe looks good!

lcoopie

are those the stars of Gladiator?

CaptHenway

<< <i>

<< <i> If I was slightly more intelligent I would have also sought out Tom D. to make his acquaintance.

>>



Nice coins.

I believe CaptHenway is retired. >>



Yes, I retired at the end of 2010.

Glad you enjoyed the visit!

TD

STONE

I have yet to get beyond the front counters

Constantine

Congrats. Thanks for sharing this great story about top notch customer service. It is an experience like your that can create a long term customer.

NumisOxide

That's a great buying experience!

shorecoll

I don't consider that OT. I just recently purchased my first HJB coin, a commem from Mike Printz.

Greeniejr

Thanks for coming in. I want to apologize for the not here comment. We have someone new working in the store downstairs and he hasn't had much exposure to telling people all the ancients are up on 13. I will talk to him on Monday and let him know the immediate reaction should be sending people upstairs. You did the one thing we BEG people to do when they come in which is tell us what you want. We have a lot of people and several departments with coins in multiple offices. Even though you did not know exactly what you wanted, you at least gave us an idea of what you were looking for so we could match you with the right experts. For that we thank you. The Captain is retired but does peek his head in every so often. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us, that is what we are there for.

keyman64

Cool

coinkat

I have visited several times- I have not seen any other floors other than the show room

Greeniejr

<< <i>I have visited several times- I have not seen any other floors other than the show room >>



Quite simply we ran out of space. We could not expand at all because on one side we have Harris Bank and on the other the First United Methodist Church of Chicago. Both very active and stable businesses. As Harlan likes to say, to get more space we either had to be a bank or a religion, neither of which we are. That said, a suite of offices that fit our needs opened up about 15 years ago on the 13th floor and we took the chance. We have since expanded up there a few times. Our second suite is pretty much only for ancient coins and parts of our library.

Windycity

When dealing with Harlan J. Berk and all the people there, you are dealing with some of the best in the industry. I have been buying from them for many years and recently ventured into ancients as well. Harlan has personally taken a great deal of time to get me started with my ancients education. Anyone visiting Chicago owes it to themselves to stop and and meet the gang even if you don't have a particular need at that time. They are great people to know.

secondrepublic

HJB is a top-notch place. I've bought a lot of material there over the years.

jayPem

I knew this would be a cool story as soon as I started reading !
early on in collecting, I imagined that there would be an abundance of shops and characters like this to explore and learn from, turns out there are... but just not in "abundance" perhaps

RYK

I had an enjoyable visit to the shop a couple years ago. Met GreenieSr and chatted for some time. I ended up buying a couple Chinese silver bullion coins for the kids, not nearly as interesting as the OP's purchase. They remind me of Gladiator.

MFH

Thanks for sharing - it's a subject I know so little about
but I've always been fascinated by anceints. Nice pick up's
with tons of historical interest !!

messydesk

I was kind of hoping to hear that to get to the ancients you'd be escorted through a trap door that took you into the old bootlegging tunnels which would lead you to a converted underground speakeasy.

Bochiman

Bryce,

Thank you for the thread and write up. As someone who hasn't been there, I enjoyed reading your experience.
Sounds like a fun trip.

While I haven't been there, thanks to CaptHenway (Tom D.), I did end up making a nice online purchase from them a couple of years ago (gold 100yr pre-birthyear for my son).
I found them very nice and easy to work with (I ended up calling as I do prefer in-person or on the phone when making most purchases...coins or not). Glad you did as well!

I do envy you being able to see everything there in person

BryceM

.... not to an underground speakeasy, but to get upstairs we did have to go through the entry to the church..... kind of the exact opposite really.

I've been through Harlan's book and it's very nicely done. There's obviously a whole different world to explore when it comes to ancients. The whole experience is another part in my aimless, sometimes random pathway to coin collecting. I think I'll let these two pieces percolate in my collection for a bit and see what happens. I think I'll keep moving toward expanding my US type collection, but this was a very fun side trip. It was a real pleasure to share a few minutes with someone who exhibited real kindness and a deep interest in what he was doing. At some point adding a piece or two of ancient gold would really be nice. The relief and detail on some of these is truly impressive and surprisingly affordable (for gold) pieces can be had.

Thanks for your comments everyone. Kindness, courtesy, and getting to know people add so much to a hobby that is otherwise just a collection of trinkets.

LanceNewmanOCC

one cannot ask too much more of a numismatist that is willing to talk about $1 coins or $10 million dollar ones with just about anyone and ANY of the legendary numismatists have been spoken about having this trait.

i personally am overwhelmed, yet kinda fascinated by all the stuff coming out of the mint i've been seeing recently albiet, a wide range of dates for the past several years but love going through large cents, capped silver coins etc.

glad you had this experience and EVEN MORE glad you shared it!

jmlanzaf

@LanceNewmanOCC said:
one cannot ask too much more of a numismatist that is willing to talk about $1 coins or $10 million dollar ones with just about anyone and ANY of the legendary numismatists have been spoken about having this trait.

i personally am overwhelmed, yet kinda fascinated by all the stuff coming out of the mint i've been seeing recently albiet, a wide range of dates for the past several years but love going through large cents, capped silver coins etc.

glad you had this experience and EVEN MORE glad you shared it!

9 years ago. Lol.

@BryceM did you ever return? Did you ever do me with ancients?

Since this thread got resurrected, how about an update?

LanceNewmanOCC

@jmlanzaf said:

@LanceNewmanOCC said:
one cannot ask too much more of a numismatist that is willing to talk about $1 coins or $10 million dollar ones with just about anyone and ANY of the legendary numismatists have been spoken about having this trait.

i personally am overwhelmed, yet kinda fascinated by all the stuff coming out of the mint i've been seeing recently albiet, a wide range of dates for the past several years but love going through large cents, capped silver coins etc.

glad you had this experience and EVEN MORE glad you shared it!

9 years ago. Lol.

@BryceM did you ever return? Did you ever do me with ancients?

Since this thread got resurrected, how about an update?

.
he linked it from that thread about holding major coins but RAW.

joeykoins

Very fascinating story.
Ole Chicago hospitality at it's best!
My Hometown.
At first, your story sounded like
The Wizard of Oz, movie. lol
"Don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain!"

https://youtu.be/orKHh8vFjIE
Great choice in the Ancient coin saga.
Made my first purchase at Chicago's recent ANA Show, in August.
Here's mine.

BryceM

An update......

These remain my only ancients.

A gold stater and Athenian owl are on my "someday" list, but I haven't pulled the trigger yet. In fact, my pace of acquiring coins has slackened considerably these past couple of years.

I haven't been back to Harlan's shop either.

1northcoin

@BryceM said:
.... not to an underground speakeasy, but to get upstairs we did have to go through the entry to the church..... kind of the exact opposite really.

I've been through Harlan's book and it's very nicely done. There's obviously a whole different world to explore when it comes to ancients. The whole experience is another part in my aimless, sometimes random pathway to coin collecting. I think I'll let these two pieces percolate in my collection for a bit and see what happens. I think I'll keep moving toward expanding my US type collection, but this was a very fun side trip. It was a real pleasure to share a few minutes with someone who exhibited real kindness and a deep interest in what he was doing. At some point adding a piece or two of ancient gold would really be nice. The relief and detail on some of these is truly impressive and surprisingly affordable (for gold) pieces can be had.

Thanks for your comments everyone. Kindness, courtesy, and getting to know people add so much to a hobby that is otherwise just a collection of trinkets.

This has been a fun thread. Thanks to the OP and many who have added context.

I was in the Chicago area myself last weekend and stayed an extra day. Hadn't considered including a visit to Harlan Berk's shop, but after reading this account will have to schedule it for a next time.

FWIW it was perfect weather for the Chicago Marathon even though that wasn't the reason for my visit.

(I was attending a college reunion from the same school and same class that graduated Don Kagin. Interestingly he was able to qualify for a BA in Numismatics (along with a double major in history) qualifying him as the first person in the country to earn such a degree.)

From this past weekend in Chicago Land, yours truly on the far right:

Don was able to attend in person our reunion 5 years ago and he showed me his book "Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States" that he was donating to the University's Library as pictured below in these added photos from this past weekend that confirm the great weather that hopefully the OP also experienced.

1northcoin

OK, just recognized that the OP's visit was from a prior point in time. Fun thread regardless and enjoyed the added contributions of more recent date.

shortnock

Very nice story! Makes one want to travel to Chicago, just to visit Harlan Berk's shop. Do they make 'em like that any more?