Q. David Bowers
There were few coin buyers in the Depression years of the early 1930s. Sales were apt to be occasional rather than regular, and profits were minimal. Abe Kosoff was selling Capped Bust half dollars of the 1807-1836 era for 65c each, just a small premium over face value, while trade dollars brought from 65c to 85c, and in one instance he handled a group of 100 Uncirculated $3 gold pieces, probably dated 1878, for just $4.85 per coin. Recalling his trade dollar transactions, Abe Kosoff later wrote:
"A local collector used to come in once a week to buy all the trade dollars we had. Each week we would accumulate from six to 20 of the coins. Since he paid a little better price than the going market, we saved them for him.
"This went on for almost a year. A lull in the trade dollar supply line prompted our buyer to tell us what he was doing with the coins. I had remarked that he must have hundreds of pieces by now. To my surprise, he said he didn't have any. Apparently he thought his 'racket' was over, for we hadn't picked up any trade dollars for a couple of weeks. So he told us what he had been doing with the coins. Two blocks up the street was the Bowery Savings Bank. Each week as he bought our supply, he would walk up to the bank and turn them over to one certain teller who thought they were worth face value!
"Well, that sounded a little fishy to me. Once, yes, but not for a year! Someone would have to know that this trade dollar was no longer legal tender. Certainly it could not go on for so long a time without detection.
"I dropped in at the Bowery Savings Bank and spoke to the teller. He had been taking them home, placing a dollar in the till for each one he bought. He still had them and thought he was in the possession of a valuable hoard. Crestfallen at learning he had only a mass of silver but no coins of any premium value, the teller discreetly decided that he would keep the lot to remind him to be careful not to make any foolish investments."
The story had a happy ending, for the market for trade dollars soon rose to $1.50 to $2 each, at which price the teller liquidated his holdings.
Around the same time, an elderly gentleman, who dressed nattily and who owned a wholesale business in fancy fruits in New York's Washington Market, commissioned Abe Kosoff to acquire 10,000 gold dollars for him and his brother. Kosoff enlisted the assistance of Max Berenstein (of Bern's Antiques), Joe Barnet, Rud Kohler, all located in New York City, plus B. Max Mehl in Fort Worth, Texas.
The clients were willing to pay $1.85, so any difference between this and the cost represented a profit for Abe Kosoff. For example, B. Max Mehl supplied a group at 108 pieces at $1.70 each. Additional examples were obtained from European dealers and gold traders. By the end of the year over 8,000 coins were acquired. Then the reason for buying them became apparent: the customers desired to have them mounted as bangles on bracelets in order to give away as Christmas gifts. Some 5,000 coins were used in this way, the balance being divided between the fruit merchant and his brother. A couple years later, after President Franklin Roosevelt restricted the holding of gold coins and raised the price of gold bullion, gold dollars rose in value. The 3,000 surplus gold dollars were reacquired by Abe Kosoff for $2 each and sold to new buyers from $2.25 to $2.50 per coin.
Abe Kosoff had little affection for Tom Elder, the old-time New York City dealer who held regular sales during the early 1930s. In later years, a scholar in the field of numismatic history asked Abe what he thought of Tom, and Abe replied, in effect, "If I can't say something good about someone, I won't say anything at all-so in this instance I won't say anything."
Be that as it may, Tom Elder did surface now and then in Abe Kosoff's printed reminiscences. In a Coin World article he related:
"Tom was really the only one in New York City conducting auction sales in the early 1930s, although on occasion Wayte Raymond and James G. Macallister joined to catalogue an auction sale and had it conducted at the Morgenthau Galleries on 47th Street. Very few really got close to Tom Elder, but whether you liked him or not, his was the only game in town. If you wanted a coin auction, Elder's it was. Old Tom Elder was quite a guy. He was never wrong-to hear him tell it!
"Well, one day during a Saturday afternoon auction session, Sam Koeppel got up to leave. The office had a wire gate with a lock that responded to a buzzer at Tom's desk. Within the enclosure, about 40 chairs would seat the bidders. Sam moved towards the gate and, as he did, Elder made remarks to the effect that he was glad that a deadbeat was leaving, and he intimated that Sam didn't pay his bills. Well, anyone who knew Sam Koeppel knew that Sam always paid his bills promptly and on the barrelhead. Sam turned white and warned Elder that he would hear from his lawyer Monday morning-and he sure did!
"Two suits totaling some $50,000 or $60,000-wow, you should have heard old Tom-it was a mistake, he had confused him with another who had a similar-sounding name, and so on. Everyone who could help Elder was approached to talk to Sam, who was enjoying the affair to no end. Sam let Elder sweat it out a bit and then dropped the suits."
One sale in particular-and this sale was not conducted by Tom Elder-was remembered by Abe Kosoff in later years, the auction of the Morosini Collection on October 10, 1932. Abe recalled it was a significant event, significant because he did not attend.
Giovanni P. Morosini was born in Venice in 1832, a time when Venice was under the rule of Austria. He participated in the Revolution of 1848, but when the uprising was suppressed, he had to flee, eventually landing in Boston in 1850 and later going to New York in 1854. Through a series of unusual circumstances, Morosini became the personal guard to railroad magnate Jay Gould. In his spare time he studied accounting and, later, became an auditor with the Erie Railroad. His fortunes increased, and soon he was seen in company not only with Gould but with Jim Fisk and other entrepreneurs. A newspaper account published in 1886 posted his personal wealth at $3 million. Decades later, "Colonel" Morosini's collection came up for sale. In the words of Abe Kosoff:
"The Venetian gold collection had coins from one ducat up to 60 ducats in size and included an extremely rare gold medal of Matthew John, Count Schulenburg, struck to commemorate his defense of Corfu. Also included were a medallic 12-ducat piece and 30-ducat piece commemorating naval battles.