We lost Gene Henry

ScarsdaleCoin · September 24, 2014 10:27AM

Sorry to say that Gene Henry past away yesterday, Gene was the kind of guy at shows that even if he was busy, would always say hello and smile.

Gene was a long time dealer from WA, sure many of you knew him for his Dollars and knowing VAMS and will be missed...always had a positive great outlook

Edit to add, that I understand he passed away after playing tennis with friends which was one of his favorite past times....

astrorat · September 24, 2014 10:40AM

Very sad.

DIMEMAN · September 24, 2014 10:53AM

Sorry to hear. I didn't know him personally, I think I have seen him at some big shows.

Swampboy · September 24, 2014 11:02AM

FinallyHere · September 24, 2014 11:14AM

I used to play tennis with Gene at Long Beach shows....I was in my early 30's so this was 10 years ago (honest). Gene and Larry Whitlow were close and we would set up late evening matches in Lakewood. Gene NEVER...I mean NEVER showed up on time. Larry always said Gene would be late to anything and everything. He always called me "big mike" and was about as kind as anyone could be. He loved tennis and at the ANA last month we chatted for a long while...he bragged (as he should) about his tennis and his touring with the senior USTA. I know Carol loved him dearly and she's a wonderful woman.

Rest in peace Gene...you left doing what you truly loved....tennis. I hope and pray you're not late to your next match, but it'd be fitting for sure

Mike

coinkat · September 24, 2014 11:25AM

I met Gene years ago at his coin shop in Seattle- must have been 15-18 years ago

SeattleSlammer · September 24, 2014 11:57AM

123cents · September 24, 2014 12:02PM

Very sad news.

coindeuce · September 24, 2014 12:14PM

I remember very distinctly the vibrant personality of Gene. I sold condition rarity VAMs to him one time at an A.N.A. Convention and he treated me like royalty. I know that the hobby will miss him.

agentjim007 · September 24, 2014 12:23PM

I worked with Gene in the Seattle shop mid 1990's. He was very health conscious. I am shocked at this news. I was certain he would outlive me.

DaveG · September 24, 2014 12:28PM

Very sad news!

I met Gene in 1998. I was on a business trip to Seattle and had a free afternoon to visit some coin shops. The second shop I went into seemed unpromising, but I told the guy behind the counter that I was interested in no-motto gold coins. He turned around and called: "Gene, got a customer for you!"

Gene came came down from a mezzanine area in the back and ended up spending at least an hour with me, showing me his boxes of coins and telling me all about 19th century gold - he provided quite an education!

I was a bit suspicious of slabbed coins at that point, but I bought two nice raw coins from him - an 1844 half eagle in XF and an 1844-O eagle in VF. I still have those coins and still like them!

EagleEye · September 24, 2014 2:55PM

Oh this is so sad. Gene was a great guy and always personable and friendly. I am glad to have known him for as long as I did.

Lakesammman · September 24, 2014 3:26PM

So sorry to hear the news - Gene was a good guy and a lot of fun to visit with. His shop was only 3 miles away.

alohagary · September 24, 2014 3:49PM

Gene Henry always took the time out of his busy schedule to say hi. He will be missed

WTCG · September 24, 2014 5:21PM

The news is pure heartbreak. Gene Henry was one of the older generation dealers. He's helped me over the years and I've always appreciated all his help.

messydesk · September 24, 2014 11:10PM

Whoa! What a shame. I had a nice chat with him about the contemporary counterfeit VAMs at the ANA show in August. Great guy with lots of positive energy. RIP, Gene.

ColonelJessup · September 25, 2014 12:13AM

For 40 years, I was able to go over to Gene's table, do my deal in 5 minutes, and spend another 15 minutes schmoozing. When I didn't have any biz to do, we'd spend 20 minutes schmoozing.

Perhaps the highest forms of praise from a pro: Shrewd, knew his sh!t, shared it more that a bit, and, if he hit a speed bump and the check had to be held, the phone call was early.

When he grumbled, he wore a wry smile. Too many images and memories, and good ones. His wife's hugs made me feel like family.

TwoSides2aCoin · September 25, 2014 12:43AM

The above statements are evidence that love is more powerful than money ^

Sad "reading" today. One thing will never change. Love endures beyond the grave.

ThePennyLady · September 25, 2014 12:47AM

I was so very sad to hear of this yesterday. Gene and Carol were my friends. If anyone ever spent time with Gene and Carol, you know what a hoot it was to watch them interact with each other. We used to have dinner together after the shows and the highlight for everyone was listening to Gene tell his jokes and stories. It was even funnier watching Carol scolding Gene and socking him in the arm for telling one of his off-color jokes. Also, Gene was a bottomless pit and that if we couldn't finish our dinner, Gene would! I love Gene and will surely miss him. My heart and prayers go out to Carol and their family.

CMCART · September 25, 2014 12:50AM

Very sad news!

johnny9434 · September 25, 2014 5:20AM

sorry to hear that. my condolances to his family and all

DennisH · September 25, 2014 5:37AM

A close dealer friend put in a good word for me back in the late-90s, so I was able to spend part of a day, including lunch, with Gene at his old place in Seattle. To say it was enlightening is an epic understatement; it changed the way I've looked at Morgan dollars ever since. It was a fun and illuminating day with a man who knew and had done more with coins than I thought was possible. But that day was more or less the only interaction I ever had with him, as he always seemed to be incredibly swamped at shows and I didn't want to interrupt.

Thanks for the time and education Gene, and Rest In Peace.

AuctionExpert · September 25, 2014 7:45AM

I met Gene in Seattle in 1979, when I was 16 years old. He was "the man" in the coin biz in Seattle in those days, with the busiest and most successful shop in the NW. 13 years later, he sold me that shop, and it provided a living for my family for years, and a platform for the rest of my career in the coin biz. His kindness and generosity were boundless. He was a champion of the underdog. He was a loving person, who never had a bad word to say about anyone. He knew more about coins than anyone I have ever met. He had frighteningly good recall, and a sharp wit, which made every moment with him a joy. I worked with him, side by side, for years, and became familiar with all of his funny ways, and his "Henry-isms" - the words and phrases that only he could create and deliver with such memorable style. If you grew up in the coin biz in the NW, as I did, then you know that it would be impossible to overstate Henry's role in that biz from the early 1960s to now. It is just impossible to think about coins in the NW for most of us, without thinking of Gene. He gave so many coin dealers their start, or at least some help along the way. Hard to believe that he is gone. Seattle, and the coin biz, will not be the same without him.

MsMorrisine · September 25, 2014 8:48AM

Wow. that picture makes him look so young. To young for this.

Testoon · September 25, 2014 12:46PM

I was shocked and saddened to hear the news. I just saw him Thursday at the Seattle coin club meeting. He seemed fine.

nwcoast · September 25, 2014 2:46PM

Very saddened to read this

Several years ago, when I first came into an inheritance of coins, and made the rounds to several dealers in the greater Seattle area, Gene and his partner were among the elite few that gave me a fair and honest shake, didn't talk down my material, and paid strong prices- to an obvious newbie!
Gene was a wealth of knowledge, always willing to share...
A great shop! Great staff.... And it started with Gene- at the top.
Picked up some very nice coins from those folks! RIP Gene....

northcoin · September 25, 2014 3:40PM

Sorry to hear the sad news and condolences to family and friends. While I have been to the Seattle shop he founded when he graduated from the University of Washington and continued to own for many years, I am not sure if I met him there in person before he turned to whole selling. In more recent years he was the source of some of the coins in my collection, the acquisition of which remain associated with fondly remembered personal dealings.

messydesk · September 25, 2014 10:51PM

This from another VAM dealer: "He was at the Long Beach show and in great health. He was playing tennis when he died. Hit his head when he fell. Accident or passed out from a health issue is unknown at this time. An autopsy is pending."

WTCG · September 26, 2014 2:30PM

I talked to him briefly at Long Beach. He looked normal, normal for how he usually looked.

HeritageGreg · September 29, 2014 1:56PM

http://www.coinworld.com/news/Seattle-coin-dealer-Gene-Henry-dies-at-72.all.html

The above link to an interview I gave Coin World last week pretty much sums it up. All I can add here is that at the ANA Show last month I attended the PNG Dinner to receive my 25 year member award (they give you an award when you pay dues for 25 years). When I walked into the pre-dinner gathering, Gene was the first person I saw. For some unexplained reason that I am so grateful for today, I spent the entire 45 minutes before the dinner telling Gene how important he had been in my early years in numismatics, and thanking him for the love and support he had given me along the way, and for all the great times we had shared over the last 40 years. Gene appeared to be in great health, and his mother had lived till 97, and he had planned to do the same, and I naturally assumed he would. I sure miss my friend.

Coin World article:

Coin wholesaler Gene L. Henry, 72, of Issaquah, Wash., died Sept. 23, following a tennis match.

Mr. Henry, owner of Rare Coin Galleries, was a lifelong resident of the Seattle-area and became a coin collector in his early teens. He ran a mail order coin business while in high school.

“His loves in life were Carol [Kupp], coins, and tennis. He left us far too soon, but at least he did so with a tennis racket in his hand. I am a much better person for the friendship he and I enjoyed for the past 40 years, and I give him enormous credit for the numismatist that I am, and the person that I am,” said Greg Rohan, president of Heritage Auctions.

“I met Gene Henry when I was a 12 year old coin dealer just starting out in 1973,” said Rohan. “He was the biggest dealer in the Pacific Northwest, he drove a white Rolls-Royce, and would sweep through a coin show buying coins faster than anyone I had ever seen. He never looked anything up, everything he needed to know about coins was in his head.”

Mr. Henry attended his first American Numismatic Association show in Boston in 1960 and was a life member.

He produced a local television show about coins titled Loose Change in 1966 and 1967.

Mr. Henry was also a longtime member of the Professional Numismatists Guild. Since 1968 he had been a contributor to Whitman Publishing’s Guide Book of U.S. Coins, aka the “Red Book” and the Handbook of U.S. Coins, known as the “Blue Book.”

In a Nov. 29, 2004, Coin World article Mr. Henry recalled, “A couple of people came and pulled the gold teeth out of their mouths, saliva and all,” he said. “When silver hit 15 times face, we bought a batch of Washington quarters that had eight 1932-S [key date coins] in nice condition in one roll.”

Rohan said Henry “always had time for me and really for everyone. He encouraged me, he mentored me, we drove together to coin shows in his red Eldorado, we ate hundreds of meals together, he introduced me to good food and fine wine, and he taught me how to work with people, how to learn about coins, and how to make lifelong friends with those I’d do business with. From 1979-1984 we saw each other almost every day.”

Henry “collected friends like people collect the coins he sold. Gene was considered just about the nicest guy around, with an outsized personality, always ready to tell a joke, and pick up a dinner check,” Rohan said.

Rohan said that, per Mr. Henry’s request, a small family gathering, took place shortly after his death. The date of a celebration of his life will be announced in the next few weeks, Rohan said.

Those wishing to send notes of sympathy should address them to Carol Kupp, Box 2998, Issaquah, WA 98027

We lost Gene Henry

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