I had heard that he was ill and just saw this memorial blog on Doug Winter's site.
LinkDave was a GIANT in the coin landscape. I had the privilege of meeting him on a couple occasions at the big shows. I remember him schooling a group of us on the Garrett 1815 $5.
RIP
Comments
I agree. David Akers is one of the all-time greats.
Coin Rarities Online
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Dave Wnuck is correct, Dave Akers definitely one of the all-time greats!
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
Very nice memorial/remembrance by Doug.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
David Akers started collecting coins in 1949. After graduating from Notre Dame, obtaining a Masters degree in mathematics from Oregon State, and serving as a U.S. Army combat artillery officer in Viet Nam, David became a full time coin dealer in 1971. He was President of one of the largest and most influential dealerships of the 1970s and 1980s, Paramount International Coin Corp
Between 1975 and 1982, David Akers published a six volume analysis of U.S. gold coins that is considered one of the key references for the market. He conducted numerous very important auctions, including the three part 1997-99 sale of the legendary John J. Pittman collection. He was one of only two dealers to ever receive all three of the Professional Numismatists Guild's three top honors: the Robert Friedberg Literary award, the Abe Kosoff Founders award, and the PNG Lifetime Achievement award. David Akers was considered one of the top rare gold experts of all-time.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
RIP, Mr. Akers.
March 1975 James A. Stack sale left a mark on me. That was my first big time auction even if I didn't yet have a clue with how to price these top tiered coins.
He successfully picked off several underrated key date coins in superb gem...for example the 1865-s and the 1901-s. From that time on I was hooked. While I never did
get the opportunity to build a relationship with him, I watched everything he did from that point on with great interest, especially the offerings in the ANA Apostrophe sales from
1979 to 1989. Some of my best purchases during that era came from those sales. The Paramount offerings were usually chock full of amazing seated and Barber coins. It was
more than coincidence that my best coin ever, and one I had waited 11 yrs for, also came from Paramount's session of Auction '86 (ex-James Stack sale).
Surely one of the greats....and a huge loss.
This is hitting me hard.
He will be greatly missed.
David Akers is someone whom I always aspired to be like. There has been no other dealer who has had the wisdom, grace, and talent he did. He is the last of a breed of special dealer who has built many of the FINEST EVER collections. His legacy in numismatics will last forever. My prayers are with him.
I'm lucky; I might have 100 DWA stories to tell.
It's easy to talk about the triumphs. There were many. They thrill, and then they pass. We shared with each other a few more personal stories of parallel frustrations and even failures and these are what I will carry with me longest.
What many may not know of was Dave's strong ongoing concern with aiding returning vets who needed succor and care to recover from war-induced trauma.
Check out the dictionary. He's listed under "M".... for mensch
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
So sorry to hear this, my condolences to his family.
To have David say, "That's a great coin" was the most complimentary thing a collector could hear. I've had some B+++ coins that he would casually say "that's good", so "great" was a monumental accolade.
A great guy, A Viet Nam vet, a superb "genius" in his trade and a wonderful man to sit at dinner with and hear stories that were historic! I will miss my friend, we will never see another like him. I choose to celebrate his life rather than mourn his death. Numismatics was blessed to have David as it's TRUE GURU.
Jay Brahin
The guru's guru.
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
When I was new to gold coin collecting (in 1982), it was common to hear someone say (when describing the rarity of a particular gold coin): "According to Akers...". I acquired my set of Mr. Akers landmark series on the analysis of gold coin auction records and referred to them often. When my Dad was collecting Philadelphia Mint half eagles from 1838-1861 (mirroring my Dahlonega collecting interest), I made him a reference notebook of Mr. Akers' critiques of the 1838-1861 P-Mint issues.
I was fortunate enough to attend the first John Pittman auction. The collection had been marvelously cataloged by David Akers and the production values of the catalogs were second to none. I am glad that I was able to tell Mr. Akers how much I cherished the catalogs when I spoke with him following the sales. The prices realized were "off the charts," due in no small part to Mr. Akers' masterful skill.
We will miss him, but his influence will live on for many years to come.
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
THE GREATEST NUMISMATIST OF THE LAST FIFTY YEARS
A true friend and someone for whom I had the utmost respect. When he told me something about numismatics I listened to him.David was Paramount Rare Coin Auction company in the 1980's before there was PCGS. David catalogued the John J Pittman collection of US and foreign coins.
Some of you do not know but David is almost exclusively responsible for assembling what could be the finest quality collection of
Early US coins ever assembled which is the Pogue Family Trust Collection. And it is not on the PCGS Set Registry
Stewart Blay
Enough said, sad, RIP and prayers to all his friends and family.
bob
I knew Dave since the early 70's and our relationship was very cordial. In 1973, Dave and Max Humbert, of Paramount Intl. Coin Corp., traveled to meet Mike Brownlee, the partners of Tennessee Exchange, and myself, in Springfield, TN to complete the purchase of Dr. John Wilkison's unique collection of US gold patterns. Mike and I had traveled there a month earlier to examine and get a brief option to market the collection. Tennessee Exchage was very close with Dr. Wilkison and was his agent for the transaction.
Dave jumped on the project enthusiastically, engineered the purchase, wrote and produced one of the finest reference books, in all of US numismatics, on US gold patterns and proceeded to market the collection. PICC ultimately traded the entire collection to A-Mark for a quantity of Redfield dollars.
As previously stated in this thread, he was the consummate numismatist and was one of the driving forces behind the Apostrophe Auctions. His books on US gold coins still have relevant information on those series.
He will be greatly missed as a numismatist, son, brother, husband and father, as he was very devoted to his family.
I firmly believe in numismatics as the world's greatest hobby, but recognize that this is a luxury and without collectors, we can all spend/melt our collections/inventories.
eBaystore
My happiest memories of David will be the times when I would tell him or show him a coin I liked (and he did not), and his opinion would not be short of jokes, sarcasm and poking fun at me!!! RIP David.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
<< <i>Possibly the most knowledgable (and humorous) experts in the world of numismatics. I was one of the fortunate ones to have spent some time with him during lunches/ dinners etc. and when he spoke, I was on my toes with full attention. As time went on, I noticed his name and writings, opinions, etc. was all over the place. This is very sad to me for I had recently thought of carrying a tape recorder to document his experience/stories. They were too unique, detailed and enjoyable to explain second-hand - with an unmatched memory of his involvement with coins from even 40 years ago. I just knew he would be, irreplacable.
My happiest memories of David will be the times when I would tell him or show him a coin I liked (and he did not), and his opinion would not be short of jokes, sarcasm and poking fun at me!!! RIP David. >>
He would give us a good hearted rip if we bought a dubious coin. And Mincy and myself were VERY discriminating with out selections. And what a wry, dry, sometives vitriolic wit!