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Message:: [QUOTE="900fine, post: 574343, member: 6036"]Friday night - the great Dan Holmes collection On September 6th of this year, the greatest Large Cent collection ever assembled will hit the auction block in Beverly Hills, California. The great Dan Holmes collection will be dispersed to aficionados who have waited decades for these rarities to come up for sale. Of the hundreds of Large Cent die varieties, this collection lacks only one - an NC (not collectible, extreme rarity) which could not be pried away from its owner. There has never been a more complete collection, and it is unlikely there will be another like it. But there's something far more important than the coins - the man himself. It takes more than deep pockets to assemble a set like this. A lot more. Passion, knowledge, an unerring eye, uncompromising standards... ...and thirty years of a man's life. Dan is getting on in years. He is confined to a wheelchair. He can no longer walk; he can barely shake hands. But his mind is sharp, and his voice strong and firm. And so, on this special night, the old master took the stage to address the convention one more time. Decades ago, when his grandmother passed away, his family gave him a box with some of grandma's coins. And there it was - his first large cent. He collected them for years. Then someone gave him a copy of William Sheldon's Penny Whimsy. Suddenly, date collecting was not enough ! Collecting die varieties was the new challenge. Later, on a business trip to New York, Dan decided to look up William Sheldon himself.  He called him up and Sheldon said "Whaddya want ?" "I want to drop by and see ya." "Well... alright. Come on over." So he did - on many trips to New York. He bought several coins directly from Sheldon's collection, and many of those are still in Dan's set. He shared anecdotes of decades of collecting; many in the audience were part of the story. Through it all, many smiled. Some wept. And when the storytelling was done, all stood and delivered a thunderous ovation. Yes, there is a lot more in that collection than coins. It has thirty years of Dan's heart and soul. The great Dan Holmes collection will be dispersed, but each coin carries his mark; his provenance. Thirty years from now, each coin will still be known as once belonging to Dan. If I am so blessed as to be at an EAC Convention thirty years from now, I can say with affection "Yep, I knew Dan Holmes". May peace and blessings be with you, Dan. Godspeed ![/QUOTE]

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