Gene Henry Obituary

[messydesk]

This appeared in the most recent issue of "The View" newsletter sent out by VAM dealer Logan McKechnie.

 

Gene L. Henry, 73, a lifelong resident of Seattle, and a coin collector since the age of 11, died September 23 while playing tennis with friends at a club near his home. He passed out on the court. Cause of death is under investigation.

 

A well known and respected VAM expert, Henry became interested in numismatics when he inherited a box of old coins from his father. Although the coins were minimal value, they started a fascination with coins that has lasted his entire life.

 

At the age of 13, he worked as a cashier at his junior high school and managed to accumulate hundreds of better date Lincoln cents. By the age of 15, he was running ads in the "Numismatic Scrapbook" magazine. When the publisher discovered that he was under 21, he suspended his advertising privileges until his mother sent the magazine a notarized letter stating that she would legally stand behind her son's dealings. No one ever had cause to complain to her, at least not about his coin business.

 

In 1958 while in high school,, Henry's mail order coin business kept him so busy that he had to quit the basketball and track teams to fill coin orders. One ad alone, offering 100 mixed pre-1940 mint-marked Lincoln cents at $2.95 postpaid, drew more than 200 orders.

 

After graduating from high school in 1960, he attended his first American Numismatic Association (ANA) convention. He drove from Seattle to Boston and back in a 1949 Ford, which he had bought for $25.

 

After attending the University of Washington, he opened Rare Coin Galleries of Seattle on his 21st birthday in May 1963. The operation moved to Issaquah several years ago where it became Gene L. Henry, Inc., Coins.

 

Henry produced the very first TV show about coins in 1966-67 entitled "Loose Change," and believed that it would have been a success if the show had not been scheduled opposite ABC's very popular "Wide World of Sports" on Saturday afternoons.

 

He was a member of the ANA since 1960, holding life membership number 522, and was a member of the prestigious Professional Numismatists Guild since 1968, being member 171. He was a founding member of the Silver Dollar Roundtable and a member of the Society of Silver Dollar Collectors.

 

He was a contributor to the Guide Book of US Coins (the "Red Book") and the Handbook of US Coins (the "Blue Book") since 1968.

 

Henry was the largest volume rare coin dealer in the Pacific Northwest, and had been for many years.

 

He has never been married and has no children. His long-time companion, Carole Kupp, said plans for a memorial service are pending.

[DWLange]

Gene was a terrific fellow. I had the pleasure of dining with him and Carole, and we always chatted at the Long Beach show. He was the very model of courtesy and professionalism in our business. I'll really miss his smiling face.