Q. David Bowers
By Mike Kliman
It seems as though a great number of years have passed from the time that I first met Abe Kosoff. I was a lot younger and so was the hobby, profession or, if you choose, industry of numismatics. Most met or heard of Abe Kosoff through coin collecting or dealing. I did not. I met Abe as the father of a girl whom I was dating. He certainly made me feel quite comfortable. It took quite a few months to find out what the words "professional numismatist" even meant. Sonnie and I never discussed numismatics to any degree, and my relationship with her brother Steve, at that time in his teens, didn't extend to items beyond sports. While at college, I learned a bit about numismatics, and from there I found Abe to be one of a select few people who could bring romance out of a cold, hard, and somewhat uninteresting coin. Abe would recount his experiences in New York in the Bowery, and I would wonder at the amount of work it took to buy and sell a coin for what I considered at the time to be a small profit. The terrors of the gypsies visiting the area, the travel across the city to sell a coin just acquired, and the interesting people who comprised the who's who of coindom in those days all made for warm sharing with me. Little did I know that in just a few short years I would put aside my original vocation and join Abe as an apprentice in the business.
I started in Abe's home-office in Encino with chores of separating, grading, and packaging Indian cents. In 1958 there were, it seemed, all the Indian cents ever minted in the possession of one man who was destined to drive me blind looking at them and grading same. Abe patiently pointed out the pitfalls of seeing what didn't exist. He brought up one of the best sets of rules for gradmg any coins. "Don't," he admonished me, "look for what you would like to see, just see what is there." All this after suggestions about not grading coins in bad light, after a long day, a previous long night, or when personal finances required some business-originating transfusions.
I spent about a month just grading cents during which time I thought I heard all the stories related to them. The next stage was three-cents and onward. As I continued this exposure, Abe would go through his daily business. Aside from opening mail, filling orders, and answering questions put to him Abe was able to publish his monthly newsletter, titled Kosoff's Coin Bulletin, in which he featured the month's offerings in coins. In addition, he announced his upcoming auction sales and had an interesting column titled "Money Talks." Coin consignments for upcoming auctions had to be checked in, verified, and the consignors advised of receipt of same. With the same patience he had shown in breaking me in to grading coins, Abe taught me the background to auctions. I can't say it was all fun. Not so. Proofreading an auction catalogue with 20 or more consignors represented lots of work, and when I got through Abe took over. One of the things he used to stress besides accurate description of lots was lot numbers. What was so important about lot numbers? There are many steps in numbering lots for a smooth flowing catalogue. If you misnumber, insert an additional lot, or have a late error then you must either leave out the lot or give it an "a" number. Examples of "a"-numbered catalogues plagued my early efforts and Abe only commented, 'They wouldn't make pencils with erasers if they didn't expect mistakes." I felt much relieved over this attitude of his that allowed that anyone could commit an error.
During this time things were beginning to happen in numismatics. B. Max Mehl's old empire of newspaper and radio advertising had all but disappeared, and the ANA was growing. Collectors were being introduced to coins as a medium of investment if not outrlght speculation. The "roll market" was off and running, and Abe told me that years earlier he handled rolls of half cents, large cents, and other denominations and hoards. That earlier time seemed unreal to me as I hadn't been there.
Steve Kosoff decided to train in the business, and Abe started the instruction all over again. It was a new learning experience for both Steve and I as now we were going into the era of the 60s. Every time the Teletype started to spew out quotes and figures for common rolls Abe clenched his teeth and told us that this wasn't numismatics. It was more like a hardware shop, as he put it. It was almost like selling coins by the pound, and he wasn't far wrong. Abe's attitude never changed as to the roll market, and when it went bust he gave us the "I told you so."
I can also remember the really interesting and challenging times when we would have a collection or consignment to offer to the public. Abe was always innovative, and the catalogue cover design had to be different. The Donlon Blue Ribbon Sale caused the printer many a troubled hour to achieve a cutout cover.
The cover for a fractional currency offering had a vignette on a plain eggshell matte stock cover that was not only effective but something that could have been framed
for its sharpness. Interior designs also had to match and flow, leading the eye to the coin or paper money. All this Abe enjoyed doing.
Probably the most challenging thing that Abe would tackle would be a joint effort by Sol Kaplan and himself. This was a challenge as it was like an artist trying to explain a painting to a man who was colorblind. Sol always had the hard figures and statistics down pat but getting the promotion over really required Abe's best presentations. Sol
was wont to say, "If you can sell this to me you can sell it to anyone else." Abe made many sales from his presentations to Sol.
At the risk of becoming a reteller of tales I must recount one last story of Abe's involvement with the Russian collection of coins and medals attributed to the Grand Duke George Mikhailovitch. Abe was thought by many to be concerned only with United States coins. In 1958 Sol Kaplan brought forth a magnificent collection of the coins and medals of Russia. The collection comprised approximately 10,000 coins and almost 4,000 medals, and there were 67 silver bars. Abe was excited about the treasure trove of Russian history and he showed it. He started working with the source material to attribute the items and made copious notes and started the process of producing a catalogue illustrating only the highlights of this large numismatic acquisition. Abe consulted with Edward Gans, who helped in the translation and scholarly detective work connected with some of the pieces. The resultant brochure not only caught the eye of the Smithsonian Institution's curator but also brought an inquiry from the Russian Embassy. It was a race to see if the United States thought that this testimony of Russian history was important enough to keep it intact as a historical exhibit in the Smithsonian. It did, and the collection was transmitted intact through Abe's efforts. Numerous other facets of Abe's character, integrity, curiosity, fairness, and numismatic pride could be retold but these are some of the experiences I recall in my over 30 years of knowing him.