Legendary Collector Stewart Blay Passes Away at 71 — Welcome to the CAC Educational Forum

Legendary Collector Stewart Blay Passes Away at 71

edited December 2022 in Events
Great Collections will auction the famous sculptor's spectacular collection of PCGS Lincoln cents in three January sales. All of the 1909 to 1934 pennies are CAC approved, as are most of the 1935 to 1958 specimens.
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  • This is extremely sad news. I think most here probably know from the pcgs forum thread. I briefly met Stewart at FUN one year and talked to him on the phone once too, but wish I could have talked to him longer. He truly is the Babe Ruth of small cent collecting and the entire set registry/forum community looked up to him. He will be missed by many (perhaps more than he or his family would even realize).

    Here was one of his duplicate coins, a coin he outbid me on (around 2004) in a 64rd holder. He promptly got it upgraded to 65rd, a no brainer for him, and it eventually found its way to dmwjr and then Bender's collection (now cac 65rd). I bought it out of the Bender sale not even realizing it was that same coin until after I got it.


  • It looks like coingallery.org is no longer online but I still have the 1919 images. When I used to play online poker and you could upload your own image or icon to use at the table, I used this 1919 obverse photo. (I did eventually change it to the 79 WR SBA, my coin and my photo. BTW I once ran into Manofcoins at the table and you guessed it, his icon was a Washington quarter). Thanks be to Stewart and his coins for all the great memories.



  • Stew had a great eye for quality red cents. His 1919 cent is one to admire for all times.
  • Wow! Beautiful coins. 
  • I learned of Blay's death from Google, not the CU forum, which is the king of fake numismatic news.
  • edited December 2022
    CACfan said:

    I learned of Blay's death from Google, not the CU forum, which is the king of fake numismatic news.

    Yet the post from Ian Russell was accurate. By you apparently choosing not to read through that thread on the PCGS U.S. Coin Forum, you missed out on many additional personal insights and wonderful stories about Stewart that possible you were not aware of.

    If you allow humor, I'm actually shocked you used Google. After all, I was told by a knowledgeable person that you chose to delete Google from your computer. When I asked that person why would CACfan do that, he told me that you don't need Google, as you know everything! (lol).

    Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

    Steve
  • This is extremely sad news. I think most here probably know from the pcgs forum thread. I briefly met Stewart at FUN one year and talked to him on the phone once too, but wish I could have talked to him longer. He truly is the Babe Ruth of small cent collecting and the entire set registry/forum community looked up to him. He will be missed by many (perhaps more than he or his family would even realize).

    Here was one of his duplicate coins, a coin he outbid me on (around 2004) in a 64rd holder. He promptly got it upgraded to 65rd, a no brainer for him, and it eventually found its way to dmwjr and then Bender's collection (now cac 65rd). I bought it out of the Bender sale not even realizing it was that same coin until after I got it.


    I was shocked for a few seconds until I realized that the coin is an S, not a D. I could not imagine the latter slipping through any auction that cheaply and without notice. Even so, the S is still desirable and underrated given its low population and status as the fifth lowest mintage S Lincoln, not counting proofs, of course.
  • edited December 2022
    I once had a premium and pristine roll of 1928-D uncirculated cents I bought in 1968 and am sure Stew’s slabbed cent came from that roll.
  • edited December 2022


    Mod edit: Rule 1
  • Have we really come to the point where arguing over who said what on what forum is more important than the death of a fellow collector. Human dignity is vanishing in the wake of egotistical BS like this which is prevailing over what really matters. Please get a grip will you….
  • It was shocking and so very sad to hear of Stewart’s passing. As much as I enjoyed getting to see some of his wonderful coins in hand, I greatly appreciated his enthusiasm, persistence, knowledge, his stories about his coins and the twinkle in his eye when he spoke. He was a real character and we made a point of having fun debates, both on line and at shows.

    While Stewart was best known for his cents, over the years, he showed me great examples of other types of coins, including a number of business strike Barber dimes. And at one time, I believe he owned what is perhaps THE finest known Draped Bust Quarter, which he acquired out of the Eliasberg sale.

    https://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/item/1807-25c/5316/2355621295111240193
  • MarkFeld said:
    It was shocking and so very sad to hear of Stewart’s passing. As much as I enjoyed getting to see some of his wonderful coins in hand, I greatly appreciated his enthusiasm, persistence, knowledge, his stories about his coins and the twinkle in his eye when he spoke. He was a real character and we made a point of having fun debates, both on line and at shows. While Stewart was best known for his cents, over the years, he showed me great examples of other types of coins, including a number of business strike Barber dimes. And at one time, I believe he owned what is perhaps THE finest known Draped Bust Quarter, which he acquired out of the Eliasberg sale. https://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/item/1807-25c/5316/2355621295111240193
    That is one very beautiful 1807 draped bust quarter!
  • WilliamJ said:
    MarkFeld said:
    It was shocking and so very sad to hear of Stewart’s passing. As much as I enjoyed getting to see some of his wonderful coins in hand, I greatly appreciated his enthusiasm, persistence, knowledge, his stories about his coins and the twinkle in his eye when he spoke. He was a real character and we made a point of having fun debates, both on line and at shows. While Stewart was best known for his cents, over the years, he showed me great examples of other types of coins, including a number of business strike Barber dimes. And at one time, I believe he owned what is perhaps THE finest known Draped Bust Quarter, which he acquired out of the Eliasberg sale. https://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/item/1807-25c/5316/2355621295111240193
    That is one very beautiful 1807 draped bust quarter!
    Good god that is a nice draped quarter, Stewart was my kind of collector! I would have loved to meet him some day, thank you for sharing that Mark.
  • That is unbelievably sad news. His coins will live on as a reminder of his kindness and wisdom.
  • Thanks for the post Mark.
  • Coinstein said:
    Have we really come to the point where arguing over who said what on what forum is more important than the death of a fellow collector. Human dignity is vanishing in the wake of egotistical BS like this which is prevailing over what really matters. Please get a grip will you….

    He has that effect on people .    I get texts and other messages from a lot of members who say he sucks the life out them and the forum.

     That’s why a lot are not coming around that much anymore .

     Unfortunately once he gets under your skin it kind of sucks you in and the people react in ways they normally would not.    But they are all really great people .  I guess I asking you to give them a pass 
  • And here I thought our members were gathering somewhere in a forest trying to think of something that hasn't been asked before.
    ;)
  • edited December 2022


    Coinstein said:

    Have we really come to the point where arguing over who said what on what forum is more important than the death of a fellow collector. Human dignity is vanishing in the wake of egotistical BS like this which is prevailing over what really matters. Please get a grip will you….

    He has that effect on people .    I get texts and other messages from a lot of members who say he sucks the life out them and the forum.

     That’s why a lot are not coming around that much anymore .

     Unfortunately once he gets under your skin it kind of sucks you in and the people react in ways they normally would not.    But they are all really great people .  I guess I asking you to give them a pass 


    They can Pass Go but no collecting $200….

    Another smaller coin forum I really liked came to it’s demise over petty BS and I would hate to see that happen here.
  • Coinstein said:
    Coinstein said:
    Have we really come to the point where arguing over who said what on what forum is more important than the death of a fellow collector. Human dignity is vanishing in the wake of egotistical BS like this which is prevailing over what really matters. Please get a grip will you….

    He has that effect on people .    I get texts and other messages from a lot of members who say he sucks the life out them and the forum.

     That’s why a lot are not coming around that much anymore .

     Unfortunately once he gets under your skin it kind of sucks you in and the people react in ways they normally would not.    But they are all really great people .  I guess I asking you to give them a pass 
    They can Pass Go but no collecting $200…. Another smaller coin forum I really liked came to
    demise over petty BS and I would hate to see that happen here.

    I’m hearing from A LOT of guys they’re bored to tears as the forum seems to be nothing but his personal blog.    Just a quick screenshot of threads following CAC announcements .   60% are his .   Sometimes it’s 80 & 100%  Hopefully moderators are seeing and understanding what’s happening to their forum.   That one guy is the greatest danger to this forum.  Not the occasional gentleman who speaks up out of frustration.    Lot of guys are not logging on anymore .  They said they had enough …, 


  • edited December 2022
    We should probably move this discussion elsewhere as not to taint the original subject’s intent.

    I will say, that in today’s world one needs to become oblivious to unnecessary noise and avoid interaction/over reaction as needed, but it ain’t a piece of cake to do so!
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