In early August of 1966, my cousin Norman Stack and I went to Indianapolis to work on the inventory. Norman had not seen all the coins we sold Mr. Lilly from 1951 to 1955 as he had been in themilitary stationed in Germany most of that time. Of course, when the collections were seen in total, it was amazing. Special black box after black box, each holding up to 144 gold coins, were broughtinto the large conference room at the bank, and we worked constantly for almost three full days. We had to verify the inventory, which would eventually be typed on a listing so that the appraisersand the bank had reference material. As noted, Norman had not seen much of the collection. He had never seen the sets of $1, $2.50, $3, and $4 gold, we got from the Anderson DuPont collections. Hewas aware of the Clifford Weihman $5 and $10 gold coins, but had not seen them for a decade or more when we had them at Stack's. And he had never seen the double eagles, a set that was alsoalmost complete. The basic collection of pioneer and Territorial coins was also new for him to see. Of course, he was part of the team after 1955 and was aware of the items that had been acquiredafter that time. As a numismatist who understood the importance of completeness and quality, he was amazed at what Stack's and Mr. Lilly had been able to amass.

Using a file card system we developed for the Lilly collection, Norman and I spent several days checking off each coin. A few times they were out of order, or in another tray (the coins thatmeasured over two inches in diameter did not fit in the standard trays). It was a revealing job for Norman and an exciting job for me. It was a wonderful opportunity to see once again the collectionin total!

A few weeks after we visited the collection in the bank vault we had the inventory typed so it could be used by the appraisers for computing the total value of the collection. Hans Schulman andAbe Kosoff were the appraisers, following the suggestions we gave to Paul Rawley. With the information included in our inventory (including pedigree and source of acquisition) as well as ourexamination of each and every coin, the job of appraising was made somewhat easier for them. Yet, the appraisal by Kosoff and Schulman took longer than expected. Each took time to check and researcheach item; many were so rare that it took much time to find the reference material and check auction records. In some cases they had to go back a decade or more to provide the information requiredfor the estate. About five months after we submitted the inventory, Kosoff and Schulman submitted their appraisals.

After his passing, and with the permission of Mr. Rawley, we were permitted to use the Lilly name in advertising. Before then, Stack's had kept the identity of Josiah K. Lilly a secret, asthis is how Mr. Lilly wanted it. In the fall of 1966 we placed a series of ads that were worded like this:

After the ads appeared we received numerous calls about the final disposition of this superb collection. We responded that it would be determined later.

One of the calls came from curator of the Smithsonian National Numismatic Collection, Dr. Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli. He asked if we could get him an invitation to examine the collection and evento record the contents. He was invited to see it, and he did so, accompanied by his wife, Elvira, who was also a curator of the National Collection. They worked for several days, making notes andcommenting that they had not known or heard of a collection of this scope and quality ever formed in the world.

Their basic opinion was that the collection was so extensive and of such great quality, scope and value, that it should not be broken up but should be kept together, possibly through it beingacquired by the Smithsonian. Wow! This was a great compliment, but somewhat of a disappointment as we were hoping to be awarded the sale by auction. If the collection was not to be placed on thenumismatic market, Stack's would lose the possibility of selling it. It would be available for study, examination, and comparison by students and collectors. But, no collectors would be able to addpieces to their collections.

The question was: how would the government acquire this?

To read the complete articles, see:
Building a World Class Numismatic Gold Coin Collection The Josiah K. Lilly Collection Part 30(http://www.stacksbowers.com/News/Pages/Blogs.aspx?ArticleID=2583)
Building a World Class Numismatic Gold Coin Collection The Josiah K. Lilly Collection Part 31(http://www.stacksbowers.com/News/Pages/Blogs.aspx?ArticleID=2598)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
BUILDING THE LILLY COLLECTION, CONTINUED (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n23a15.html)