Profile Jack Hertzberg -- Boyish Appearance Belies Bullish Business Approach
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- Name: Jack Hertzberg
- Age: 25
- Position: president, Hertzberg Rare Coin Investments.
- Goals: Hertzberg says he's already achieved some of the early
goals such as owning at least one Porsche. His goals now are
to be happy and continue dealing in coins.
- Quote: ``It's the deal that's exciting. What's great about my
work is that it's never the same. I can come in on a workday
with nothing planned and have some exciting deal drop into my
lap.''
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Jack Hertzberg knows there will come a day when he's no longer the ``boy wonder'' of the rare coin collecting world.
When that day comes, the 25-year-old Tacoma millionaire believes he'll accept it gracefully, albeit a little whistfully.
``I think I'll feel honored to have done what I've done while I was so young,'' said Hertzberg. ``I still get carded now; it might be similar when I stop getting carded.''
Neither event is likely soon for the boyish entrepreneur who still gets overlooked at coin-collecting conventions.
```Is your father around?' people ask me sometimes,'' he said. ``They talk to me over the phone but don't recognize me in person. I don't see any point in telling them how old I am unless they ask.''
Hertzberg's company, Hertzberg Rare Coin Investments in Tacoma, is likely to sell $25 million worth of coins this year. That's 47 percent more than the $17 million he sold last year and 150 percent more than than the $10 million he sold in 1988 at the ripe age of 23. He wouldn't say what profit the company earns on those sales.
But the growth has been noted by the Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs, which just named Hertzberg one of the top 10 entrepreneurs in America under age 30. Earlier this year, his company was named the 29th fastest-growing company in America by Inc. Magazine based on sales and profit growth over the last five years.
Hertzberg's company has grown along with the rare coin industry, which has become an accepted mode of investing in recent years. As an investment, rare coins do particularly well in periods of economic uncertainty such as that brought on by the continuing crisis in the Middle East.
Gold prices are the foundation of the industry; gold sold for about $350 an ounce at the end of July, before Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. After the invasion, the price jumped over $400 an ounce. The price has fluctuated greatly since then and closed last week trading just above $380 an ounce.
Hertzberg hopes the recognition he has received personally, and the money, haven't changed him.
``I try to keep my work time and leisure time completely separate,'' he said. ``I have a lot of the same friends I've always had. I think they understand that I'm the same person I've always been.''
Hertzberg said he already has fulfilled one of his main goals when he started his coin collecting business at age 16 while still in high school at Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma. His goal was to own a Porsche; he won't say exactly how many he owns now, but he hints that it's more than one.
Hertzberg combines a casual demeanor and appearance - he eschews tie and coat at work - with a little shyness about his emerging celebrity. He sometimes hunches his shoulders slightly with the gangling awkwardness of youth.
Jeff Beam, a Boise coin dealer and one of Hertzberg's best friends, said Hertzberg hasn't changed despite earning so much money at a young age.
``He's very down to earth. Not flashy at all. He works hard but he keeps things in perspective. He makes sure he takes time to play, too,'' said Beam.
Beam recalls that on a recent raft trip that Hertzberg helped pay for one friend to go in exchange for the friend being designated driver on the trip.
``Some guys who have money are always the last ones to buy anything in a group,'' said Beam. ``Not (Hertzberg). I'm always fighting to stay even on paying for dinner or whatever.''
Hertzberg said he'd like to settle down sometime and start a family, though he's single now. He never went to college but doesn't regret not going and has no plans to go.
He doesn't want to get so tied to his work that it isn't fun any more.
``There are days when I think about selling the business and just playing golf,'' he said. ``But most of the time I really look forward to work. I like it.''
When he talks about coins, Hertzberg's eyes light up and inhibitions fall aside.
``I've always loved coins,'' he said as he fingers a vacuum-sealed $50 gold piece that is worth about $175,000. He recalls one of his first real finds: An 1889 Carson City silver dollar worth about $6 for its silver content but exceedingly rare. ``I bought it when I was 16 and didn't even know what I had until I looked it up. It turned out to be worth about $1,000,'' he said.
Even more than coins, Hertzberg loves deals. He relishes ``the game:'' finding and dickering for coins that he knows are rare and worth more than the seller realizes. It's a kind of sophisticated bargain hunting.
``It's the deal that's exciting. What's great about my work is that it's never the same. I can come in on a workday with nothing planned and have some exciting deal drop into my lap,'' he said.
Hertzberg said the market for rare coin investing has been boosted in the last six years thanks to a grading system that takes some of the guesswork out of what the quality of a coin is. There is still challenge in determining rarity, but quality has been quantified and standardized.
The way it works is this: a collector sends a coin to one of two rating companies. The rating company examines the coin and assigns a rating - up to 70 for a perfect coin - that helps determine its value. The rating is important because one point either way can mean thousands of dollars difference in value.
For example, Hertzberg has a $50 gold piece worth $175,000. The piece is rated 65 on the quality scale, one of only two such coins rated as high. Other pieces of the same coin, rated 64, are worth about $75,000 because there are about 25 of them. ``It's simple supply and demand,'' said Hertzberg.
Once a rating is made, the coin is vacuum sealed to protect it. This way, dealers can buy and sell coins sight unseen as long as they know the rating.
``The rating system has totally changed rare coin investing,'' said Hertzberg. ``Even the big companies like Shearson Lehman and Merrill Lynch are considering rare coin funds because the values are more established. It isn't so much of a risk to invest and you don't necessarily have to be an expert.''
Profile appears weekly in the Business Monday section of The Seattle Times.