Raleigh DeGeer Amyx was an American collector of Presidential, Americana, military, sports, NASA, and Olympic artifacts, including gold, silver, and bronze winners medals presented to athletes.
Amyx served in the U.S. Army and worked at the FBI. At one time he served in the Investigation Division, which included the kidnapping and white slave trade units. He served as a Messenger to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. In 1957 Hoover presented an inscribed and signed sepia-toned photo to Amyx. About the same time, Amyx was asked by the Director's Office to take a message to the then Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Lyndon B. Johnson, and to then Senator John F. Kennedy. While in the Senate Office with Kennedy, Amyx asked him to inscribe and sign a photograph, to which he obliged. Later Amyx became an Association Executive, overseeing and co-authoring the Gymnastics Safety Manual. Following a near-fatal bout with throat cancer, Amyx founded American Heritage Manuscripts and Collectibles.
Collector
Amyx claims he started collecting at age seven, when he "opened" a museum consisting of some coins, stamps, butterflies and a dead bat. Admission was 2 cents. Amyx's large private collection as an adult is specialized in Presidential, Sports, Military, and NASA collectibles, particularly those owned and used by famous Americans.
Presidential collection
In the early 1980s, Amyx claims he saw Backstairs at the White House, a television mini-series adapted from the book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House by Lillian Rogers Parks, who had been a housekeeper and seamstress at the White House for thirty years. Amyx was inspired to gather mementos from former White House employees into a collection, and placed numerous advertisements in the Washington Post. One response said, "You don't know who to leave all this stuff to. You'd be out on a walk with the president and he would say 'Here's a little something for you'....We took it for granted in those days. It was just work. Now it's history." Amyx has stated he recognized the historical importance of both the items and the stories, and gathered signed provenance letters from each contributor to authenticate the items. Amyx has since worked with some 100 people who have held long-term household positions for First Families since the days of Herbert Hoover, and some whose parents and/or grandparents served in the White House as far back as the 19th century. 's Rolex watch, from the Raleigh DeGeer Amyx Collection His official White House china collection ranks as the world's second-largest privately owned such collection. One piece from the collection was traded to Robert L. McNeil and is featured in the book American Presidential China. Another item in the collection is President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Rolex Datejust, which is the 150,000th officially-certified Rolex Chronometer made. This watch was featured in Jake's Rolex World Magazine.
Amyx has acquired, authenticated, and appraised historical items for collectors and for entities such as the Smithsonian Institution. Portions of the Raleigh DeGeer Amyx Presidential collection have been exhibited at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. He has made national television appearances, such as on Good Morning America. His collection was filmed by ABC. In addition to TV, a number of newspaper and book references have mentioned him and his collection. Auction companies, such as RR Auction, have also published articles and videos featuring Raleigh DeGeer Amyx.
