40 Years Ago Today.....
CaptHenway
Posts: 32,549 ✭✭✭✭✭
40 years ago today I rolled into Colorado Springs to join the staff of ANACS as an Authenticator, and as a part of that job start the ANA's grading service. I had spent the night in Goodland, KS, and I can still remember my first view of a snow-covered Pikes Peak on the horizon as I crested a small rise. I still love that mountain.
The ANA had the idea that the grading service would be used to resolve disputes between collectors (mainly members though that was not a requirement of submission) and dealers AFTER a sale, when the dispute could not otherwise be resolved. At the time ANACS was authenticating roughly 1,000 coins per month. It was hoped that within a year the grading volume would add 100 coins or more to this total. That's right, our grading goal was 100 coins PER MONTH!
Nobody foresaw the market for coins graded prior to their sale. I guess you could blame the ANA's non-profit status and mentality for this. The concept of people making money was foreign to them.
Of course within a year our grading business greatly exceeded our authentication business, and I can remember the month when we first certified 10,000 coins. It took a lot of overtime and hard work on the part of our staff. After two months of 10,000 coin output I ordered a cutback on production because the overtime was hard on the staff, and we literally had no more room within the Headquarters building to add more people. Eventually the Headquarters building was doubled in size using the revenue we generated, with much of the new space occupied by us. Today our old office is the Museum's work area.
I left ANACS in 1984 over a dispute with management, but I am proud of what I did there. Many of the Graders that I trained went on to work for other grading services after our gracious host was founded in 1986, and at other grading services after that. I was quite proud when one of my proteges, Rick Montgomery, became President of PCGS.
Kudos to my predecessors at ANACS, Charles Hoskins, Skip Fazzari, John Hunter and Ed Fleischmann, and kudos to the hundreds of Authenticators and Graders who have followed me down this path. It has been an interesting 40 years.
TD
Comments
Happy Anniversary, 40 years ago, I was attaching hose clamps, tie wraps and duct tape to my 64 305 Honda so I could get a couple hundred more miles out of it
Steve
And so it begins........
You just never know.
Don't you just love "management".
Awesome and Congrats!...”I rolled into Colorado Springs” takes on a whole new meaning here in 2018...I rolled my myself into bed last night and then I just rolled myself out of bed right now...In fact, I’m gonna roll myself through this entire Saturday...Roll up and be happy fellas
Well done, Tom. In the beginning I didn't want anything to do with slabs. Even today my main Buff collection is raw.
But the "biggies" are slabbed. I grew to the opinion that the value and authenticity of holdering coins was well worth the effort.
OH.........I do collect "other" coins too.
Pete
Nice piece of history....At that time I was working/living in Portugal....and was not paying much attention to coins... big mistake, could have picked up some good gold coins at a reasonable price. Glad to have you here Tom....Cheers, RickO
Is there ANYWHERE you haven't been?
Pete
Great story Tom.
@CaptHenway Tom, Great story for sure and a part of history that helped shape and change the face of collecting to where experts and novices can feel comfortable with their purchase.
We thank you for that.
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)
@CaptHenway - 40 years ago... Wow. Congratulations.
Check out my current listings: https://ebay.com/sch/khunt/m.html?_ipg=200&_sop=12&_rdc=1
The Advent of slabs gave a lot of collectors the comfort level to begin collecting at a higher level. Suddenly you could be reasionably sure your purchase was genuine and untampered with. Reasionably sure without years of study and experience. Still no substitute for knowing what you are doing.
What Tom did when he left ANA was the right thing to do. Both exemplary and courageous. Few would have had the balls. Unfortunately, any organization is capable of making errors in Judgement.
Wow, 40 years ago most of use where just a sperm in our fathers eyes.:)
Cool story. @CaptHenway , how shocked were the ANA executives when they discovered how wildly popular grading was?
@BuffaloIronTail.... Yes... lots of places I have not been....However, I have been very fortunate in my career and life.... lived and worked in many different countries and states....traveled to even more....and I am still up for adventure....Cheers, RickO
40 years is but a blink of an eye nowadays, or so it seems.
Thanks for sharing: 40 years ago I was 4, and my cohorts in learning resided on Sesame Street, and I was also in good standing with the Romper Room league...
Appreciate all you have done, your willingness to share your knowledge, along with your continued efforts to promote, develop, and inspire all of us @CaptHenway
Great story. I was eleven at the time and taking the city bus to buy a single silver quarter at Monarch coin in Salt Lake City. Back then, silver was in the $30 range. Some hedge against inflation eh?
Their main concern was that we were making a profit. They were afraid that it might jeopardize our non-profit status.
I was 8 and probably spending 90% silver coins received from the tooth fairy on Star Wars action figures!
Great story! 
I have just submitted an article about those days to CoinWeek. I have no idea when it will appear.
Thanks for the history. Seems like a long time ago, but I can still recall my first time at the ANA headquarters for Summer Seminar. 1977, a year before they began the grading service. Colorado Springs was a small town back then. It still had a classic western tone to it. I was awed by the mountains too, having never seen anything like them before, being from New Jersey. I took Counterfeit detection course and learned a lot. I wish I could have gone back the next few years and been part of your history, but I went down a different path. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing, and for your contributions to numismatics. 40 years ago I was a freshman in college on an NROTC scholarship. I was taking my first long hiatus from coins.
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
Congratulations Tom, on being one of the pioneers in the industry. Its nice having you around to set us straight on things we have a tough time figuring out (with coins that is).
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
40 years ago I had completed my 6 years in military, went to Univ Tenn and became GM for a John Deere Dealership in Kingsport, Tn. I left there to open a John Deere Dealership in my home town in West Virginia. That didn't work out so back to the mines for another 2 years. I actually live in the house I was born in 70 years ago. While I would make some changes to a few minor decisions I made, I wouldn't change any of my basic decisions which led to a wonderful, loving family with 5 wonderful grandchildren, one 17 year old with a 4.4 senior year average and will be valedictorian and has had over 7 colleges wanting her including several ivy league schools. I would prefer she attend a southern university, but that's her decision to make. Wow it went by so fast. I would wish that I had not put coin collecting to the side for 12 years in the 70's and 80's, but then it is what it is.
Congrats on what sounds to have been a wonderful life, CaptainHenway.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
I can't speak for your father, but I am reasonable confident that 40 years ago there was no sperm in my dad's eyes.
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
That's a fabulous story. Thanks for sharing that part of your life with us Captain.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Congrats, Tom. I submitted many gold coins to ANACS during your tenure. Many new collectors don't realize how big a problem counterfeit coins were back then. The grading services did a lot to clean up the coin market.
Wow. 40 years ago I was in second grade just learning what wheat cents were, dreaming about someday owning a buffalo nickel or my holy grail piece of the time, a Mercury dime.
40yrs ago I was 10 and going to P.A. Peterson grade school. I guess that would put me about 5th grade. I had an old fishing tackle box that was bright yellow that my dad bought me to put my raw coins in. I had several of the bicentennial quarters and a wheat collection, all BR's of course. My dad bought me a roll of circulated Indian head cents all dates from 1901-1909. I looked at those cents almost everyday playing with them and showing my friends. I literally had "Fun with my coins". Had a couple of the "New" Ike dollars too.
Congrats on your history!
Later, Paul.
Captain! Thanks for your contribution to the business, hobby and history. Hope that you will keep on...keeping on.
Thanks for that great look back to "This Day in Numismatic History" Tom
I would have been two years into owning my own contacting business and would have been hustling to keep three kids and a wife warm and fed on that day long ago
I look forward to reading your article when it appears in CoinWeek
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
Interesting comments about the mountains. Until I was in my 20s, I never lived out of sight of the Rockies. It was very disorienting to me to not have visible landmarks on the horizon.
40 years ago I was perfecting my new abilities of reading and riding a bike. I was a master at shoe-tying by then too. I’m glad you guys laid the foundation of what we all enjoy now.
thank you for reminding me what a treasure trove of coin history this site holds
Interesting memories, Tom.
40 years ago I was setting up at my first coin show.
Just a little local VFW thing.
I was excited as I could be.
I was 17 years old and ready to do battle with the grizzled local coin mafia.
(Or I thought I was)
My Coin Week article:
https://coinweek.com/education/coin-grading/the-early-days-of-numerical-coin-grading/
1978 was a good year.
@CaptHenway
That is a great article, especially, for myself. My knowledge in the grading arena is lacking and it is good to know the history to lay the foundation for additional learning.
40 years ago I had returned to college after taking a semester off to recover from some broken bones. I was on crutches but still having adventures like sliding down the bannisters after class and discovering using crutches on ice and snow can be tricky. I was on a hiatus from coins but my interest perked up when my adviser showed me some of his ancient Jewish coins.
Great story!!! Thanks so much for your contributions and sharing your knowledge!!!
40 years ago......I was 31.
40 years ago I was an unhappy camper because the good Captain was leaving CoinWorld for the wild west and who was going to keep up the excellent editorship of the "Collectors Clearing House" column? It was my favorite section of the paper back then. Thanks for the knowledge gained through those years.
Why thank you!
No, thank you.
Double the amount of time for SGT Pepper.
It was twenty years ago today
Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play.
40 years ago, I was still working for my Uncle.
Sam that is. Still trying to get rice paddy mud off my boots.
Great memories you shared here, thanks
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Bad transactions with : nobody to date
I was fixing Sheridan tanks back then.
Wow. 40 years ago I was an 8-year old, just getting started collecting coins. I found a 1972 doubled die obverse die 3, and one of the guys at Alamo Heights Coins in San Antonio recommended I send it to ANACS. I did, and it came back genuine with a photo certificate. I still have the coin, but have misplaced the certificate.
40 years later, I'm the Texas Regional Rep for ANACS. If you had told me 40 years ago that I would be doing that, I wouldn't have believed you!
Thank you for your pioneering work!
Great article! Thanks Tom.
carolinacollectorcoins.com