14 November 2024
In 1974 in Dallas, a successful real estate developer named Mack Pogue brought home a gift for his 10-year-old son Brent—a bag of Lincoln wheat pennies.
Mack had bought the bag of coins from his brother Jack for $100 and wanted to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit in his son. So, he gave his son Brent an “option” to buy the bag of pennies from him for $110 within one week.
Brent dutifully took the bag along with a copy of the coin Guide Book and began examining the pennies one by one. He soon came upon a shiny 1915 cent that looked bright as new. Brent discovered in the Guide Book that it was worth $65!
“I was immediately hooked,” Brent said later.
That also opened the door to his interest in exploring American and numismatic history. “My first thought, since there was no mintmark, was ‘How did this penny make it from Philadelphia to Dallas? Then I asked myself ‘who was the president of the United States in 1915? What else was happening that year?’” Brent said.
He quickly told his father that he would “exercise his option” and purchased the bag of pennies. From there, the rest is numismatic history as a true genius followed his passion.
Over the next 35 years Brent Pogue amassed an extraordinary collection of over 650 early American federal coins from 1792 to the late 1830’s era in the best available condition. Simply put, numismatics believed his collection was the finest-ever. Brent himself described it as “a collection representing our country’s economic birth.”
Brent became a student of numismatic history, conducting in-depth research about each U.S. coin series in an effort to absorb as much knowledge as possible. Brent moved far beyond the Guide Book in his research efforts and built an extensive reference library of numismatic books and catalogues to support his ongoing education.
Outside of coins, Brent followed in his father’s footsteps and made a career in real estate. He used many of his finely tuned negotiation and entrepreneurial skills from the business world in his numismatic pursuits.
“You have to be opportunistic, and you have to have guts,” Brent said. At one auction Brent bid $4.1 million on the legendary 1804 silver dollar—in the finest condition of eight known. At that time, that amount was twice as much as had ever been paid for any coin at auction.
While Pogue passed in 2019, his collection lives on in the numismatic world today. Through a series of sales that began in 2015, his collection of high calibers, rare U.S. coins has fetched over $140 million.
The extensive and impressive Pogue collection included an excellent selection of early American coins from half dimes to quarter eagles to half eagles to three-dollar gold pieces to silver dollars to large cents and even early American paper money. The sheer size and scope along with the high-quality of the Pogue collection is unmatched in numismatic history.
A renowned numismatist said at the time of his death that “Brent was the very definition of an extraordinary numismatist, a connoisseur. A careful student with a fine library at hand, he researched every coin he hoped to add to his collection.”
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