We deeply regret the passing of
an esteemed founder of our Association
Mr. Covert Hegarty
Mechanical Bank Collectors
of America
June 3rd, 1968

Published by the Antique Toy Collectors of America
VOL. II  No. 2          June 1968

        Each of us is shocked and grieved by Covert Hegarty's untimely death on May 31st. For all of us, beginners and advanced collectors alike, Covert was the authority in our field. His address book, in which he listed the names of dealers and collectors everywhere, was well known, as were his welcome visits and phone calls. He seemed to pick up names and knowledge from out of the air.
        Some of us, in the modest first days of our collections were surprised and highly flattered to see the warm and enthusiastic Hegartys on our doorsteps. They never laughed at our collections as well they might have; but instead told us patiently where we were right and where we had gone wrong. And they always invited us to visit them in Coalport.
        Those visits were memorable experiences. Any collector's idea of bliss would be the Hegarty toy room but there was much more — the Hegarty ready hospitality and open ended talk of toys and banks.
        Covert was always a keen collector, who knew how to get his toy. At a recent New York show, six toy enthusiasts were waiting with impatience for the doors to open. Covert was there too and, while the other toy buffs engaged in idle chatter, Covert was in a phone booth talking to a dealer in the show, finding out who had what toy. When the doors finally opened, Covert was able to walk briskly in exactly the right direction and in no time flat the toys Covert wanted were his.
        As founding members of this toy club, Covert and Gertrude came to New Jersey in the midst of a savage snowstorm for the first planning meeting. Their trip home, after that meeting, took them more than two days but when they phoned they insisted that it was all worth it.
        In our toy club, Covert will be sadly missed. We appreciated his generosity, his late at night "toy talk" calls and the gleam in his eye when he described a "new" toy.
        Our love and sympathy go to Gertrude! We want her to continue to expect a stream of toy collector friends beating a path to her door.