Anyone who has ever attempted to start their own business understands that the odds of success are stacked against you from the beginning.  Most new businesses fail within the first year.  Few make it through the first couple of years and fewer still become self supporting.  Oakel Hardy Jr. and his wife Christine knew this, but after retiring from the Columbus Police force, Oakel chose to follow in his father's footsteps.  Oakel senior had been a coin dealer in Columbus, Indiana from 1968 thru 1985 and it was his involvement with the hobby that made Oakel Jr. a life long collector.

In 1995, Oakel and Christine started "Hardy's Coin Shop" using Oakel's own coin collection and Christine's pottery collection.  She laughs when telling the story of how her "pottery" paid the bills in the beginning because no one even knew the coin shop was there and the antique shoppers were buying the pottery!  After 7 years of pouring their hearts and souls into it, they built a successful business with a large loyal following.  Collectors in the local area feel that the Hardy's deal honestly and very fairly with collectors in all levels of expertise and are more like family than a business.

In the early morning hours of hours of January 24, thieves broke into "Hardy's Coin Shop" disabling the security system and destroying the secondary motion detectors (Bartholomew County Sheriffs Department, Event Number #2003-00996).  After breaking all of the glass cases and removing the contents, the thieves escaped with between $20,000 and $26,000 worth of collectable coins.  The Hardy's were devastated and feeling it was impossible to recover from such a loss, decided to close the shop.  The local coin collectors were in shock, feeling as though they had suffered the loss of a family member.

Local collector, Terry Adams, with a little prodding from his online friends at Coin World's Collector Forum, has made arrangements through a lawyer and a local bank for a Trust Fund in the Hardy's name.  Terry, other local collectors and many members of the Forum are determined to help this coin shop remain open.  This kind of dealer is simply too important to the community and coin collectors in general to allow this criminal act to shut them down.

It is important for you to understand that the Hardy's never asked for any assistance and quite frankly, were surprised when it was offered.  We (the local collectors and the Coin World Forum members) have given them hope and they are presently upgrading the shop's security system and making plans to reopen soon.  We appeal to coin collectors worldwide, please do what you can to assist these fine folks in recovering from this terrible loss.  Donations of even a single dollar from each collector will put them back in business.  Donations of any extra collectable coins you have will make restocking the shop easier.

Donations of money should be sent to:
"OAKEL HARDY TRUST FUND"
Home Federal Bank
115 E. North Street
Greensburg, Indiana 47240

Donations of coins should be sent to:
"Hardy's Coin Shop"
Victorian Parlor Antique Mall
7270 E. State Road 7
Columbus, Indiana 47203

NOTE:  Money contributions from outside of the USA must be sent directly to Hardy's Coin Shop.  State law only allows the bank to accept items drawn on a USA Bank.