A "9 - 11" NUMISMATIC STORY FEW KNOW ABOUT

Stack's planned in 2001 to have an important publicAuction sale in September, to be held on September 12, 13 in New York. Thecoins were to be consigned by our close friend and collector, and important teacher,Cornelius Vermule, who was the numismatic director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts andthe Massachusetts Historical Society, who collected and taught Greek and Roman history,and also had a great interest in the coinage of the Far East. His collection was one of themost worthy in the various fields he amassed.

Since the Stack family, all of us, were very close friends of "Bucky" (his nick-name given tohim by his very close friends and colleagues), we felt it would be appropriate to offer hiscollection in our early fall sale. September was selected, as it would be close to theSummer ANA convention, and many of our overseas clients would still be traveling about the United States and would schedule to examine the collection, plan to attend and/or leave bids. The dates of the sale were to be after Labor Day that year, and we selected the sale dates of September 12, 13. A super illustrated catalog was prepared and we planned a long pre-sale exhibition time to gather the best audience we could.

The Stack family in 2001 all lived on Long Island, about 40 minutes from our offices.Those members of the family included myself (Harvey), Larry, my son, my wife, Harriet,and my daughter Susan. We all drove together in one car, carrying with us ourpersonal luggage for several nights stay, had hotel rooms reserved for our staff,and left early in the morning to be ready to serve the viewers and dealers whocame to New York before the sale and planned to view the lots on September 11and 12. Others arrived before and our pre-sale viewing audience was immense.

We traveled through the borough of Queens on our way to the bridge crossing the Harlem river, to Manhattan, then to the westside drive along the Hudson to downtown New York.

As we began crossing the bridge, a flash came over the radio, that a plane struckone of the twin trade towers, and people were trying to leave the building. Thousandswere therein employed and many died in the fire and collapse. Shortly thereafterthe second tower was announced as also hit by another passenger plane, againengulfing the buildings in more fire and falling debris. The reports were horrifying.And the Stack family was still crossing the bridge to Manhattan and the westsidedrive, people were running out into the streets, not even knowing where they weregoing. All were bewildered and kept looking up to see if more aircraft might be comingtheir way. Once on 155th street we passed the courtyard where the American Numismatic Society had its museum and library for many decades. We then turned south on Broadway for some blocks.

We were able to turn east on 86th street and then when we reached Broadway we were directed south again as the full length of Central Park would block usfrom proceeding east. We continued down Broadway, past Lincoln Center inthe 60's and on to Broadway again and found ourselves within a few blocks of56th street where we had a reserved place for our car in a garage located between7th avenue and the Avenue of the Americas (the old 6th Avenue) and pulled intoour garage. Taking our bags with us, we went next door to the Parker MeridianHotel which had entrances on both 56th street and 57th street, directly across the street from our offices at 123 West 57th street. It was a joy to see, the windowgates were still down, no signs of vandalism, our armed guard standing beforethe entrance. We at least made it to our "home away from home !!!

We went through the lobby of the Hotel Salisbury (our landlord). l opened the shopat its side door in the hotel lobby, went to give the alarm response (but it wasn'tworking), turn on the lights, only some were functioning and realizing the air conditionerwon't function without full power. We listened further to the radio (battery operated), andlearned of a third plane that hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania.Nobody knew if more were coming, where they came from and what was theimmense damage and personal loss at the Trade Center. But we and a few of ourstaff who made it by subway or bus service made it to the shop.

Larry and I reviewed the entire situation as it occurred, and realized that those traveling by plane or train, or driving in cars, would havedifficulty in making it to New York to look at the lots or attend the sale.

What to do? We decided to cancel the sale!!! Most businesses in New York did likewise, and so the city was no doubt still a target and those coming or there already would not be safe. We decided we could re-issue the catalog, and run the Cornelius Vermuele sale in November, if all that occurred a day beforethe sale calms down.

When the phones rang, we announced sale canceled!!!! When those in thecity walked by we had to announce sale canceled. The internet was giventhe same announcement. With the over 700 sales that Stack'scatalogued and conducted from 1935 to 2001, this would bethe very first one we ever had to cancel. It was surely the right thing to do.

Now back to the evening of 9 - 11. To get food was the next chore. Most restaurants had closed, some even boarded up (expecting looting), and with power failures occurring sporadically, phone service disrupted,and delivery services stopped cold, all went for the best survival they coulddo and also try to get home. We fortunately had a very good Greek restauranton our street and all got something to eat, in small groups, and tried to get into our hotel rooms. Another difficult job. If you were on a lower flooryou could walk up - if not, our Hotel Salisbury got their staff to bring a few cotsinto our offices even though the air conditioning was faulty so we each tookturns walking out our side door to get fresh air in the street (it was a hot andhumid night but we endured.

We could not leave the shop for our alarm system wasn't working, and if someone broke in it could have been a disaster . On September 12th things started functioning again, the radio kept us up to date about the collapse at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon hit and the Pennsylvania crash. Thenews was terrible. During our stay at the office, we had our own Holmesarmed guard watching that no one tried to break in, the alarm companymade some temporary connections to our holdup system, but the electricitywas still in an "on & off" state, the telephones and the lights the same,and most of our electronic equipment still not functioning. We were therebut virtually in a "stand and wait for further assistance mode !!!

A few restaurants that had power re-opened and we could get some breakfast,and a few sandwiches for lunch. On the day after the attack, we learned thatone of our favorite steak houses a few blocks from our offices was opened, soI took the few girls that were still with us, my family and went to the famousBen Benson's to try to get a good meal after our recent ordeal. Their refrigeration seemed to function so most of us had a sea food cocktail, a steak or lamb chops but no bread. Because of the attack, no real food deliveriescame into Manhattan. Because of bomb threats no trucks couldmake it. So we all had crackers and were thankful for them !!

On September 13, two days after the attack, our electricity went full power, our phonesfunctioned, the air conditioning worked (this was still very hot and humid summerweather for New York but, however, the city seemed to get back to some order).Police patrol cars, EMS vehicles and fire apparatus continued to patrol the streets atclose intervals to each other.

Stack's survived the crisis, our clients all thanked us for canceling the sale. Fortunatelyshortly thereafter our offices were back in full gear. The whole affair stillgives me chills and hoping we do not ever have to endure a period like 9-11.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THOUGHTS ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11(https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n37a16.html)