Q. David Bowers
"A magnificent medal, probably unique, was listed as Lot No. 232 in the catalogue, a Danish medal of Christian V commemorating his victory over the Swedish fleet in 1677. It was struck in gold and weighed over 14 1/2 ounces, was about 130 millimeters in diameter, and was a medal of extraordinary size.
"Among the Spanish coins I recall a 50-ducat piece of Aragon which fetched about $1,000 and a 100-escudo coin of Segovia, which sold for $1,900-the highest price realized for a coin in this sale. Of course, the Japanese collection was outstanding, being represented by over 205 of the early type coins, but many of these were sold for less than the value of the gold."
The catalogue was written by Wayte Raymond, whose credentials were impeccable, and the auction included the rarest of the rare among various European, South America, and Japanese series. The only problem was the selection of the date of the sale: October 10, which in 1932 was Yom Kippur, the highest holy day of the year for people of the Jewish faith.
Attendance at the auction was smaller than one would normally expect for such an event, and prices were ridiculously low for many items. In fact, many coins sold for below their intrinsic values, and this was in a year before the price of gold bullion had been increased!
Watching this event and seeing the low prices taught Abe Kosoff to avoid similar situations in later years when he became prominent in the auction field.
"Whenever I plan a sale, I check for any possible hindrance which would make it more difficult for the collector to participate. Special holidays are watched, tax periods avoided, scheduled regional coin conventions skirted, etc. The most wonderful cataloguing job of the finest material is all to no avail if the buyers do not buy."
Kosoff recalled that a customer and friend, Jacob Marx, had come into possession of some 20 or so gold coins and medals from the Morosini collection. He took them to Kosoff, who weighed them and determined that many of them had a nelt-down value less than the price Marx had paid. The same person became a steady customer on ensuing years:
"Jacob Marx was a cheerful gentleman who loved to dicker. When once I questioned him as towhy he persisted in trying to get price reductions, he replied, 'I love to get coins, but I also like to buy them cheaply.' Of course, nobody ever so1d to him at a loss.
"On one occasion I had acquired a small group of foreign gold coins. I do not recall the amount involved but it was not a great sum. Several hundred dollars, perhaps. When I showed the coins to Marx, I added a bit to the amount I really wanted. Sure enough, his sharp pencil was out. The act was humorous, we dickered a bit and finally settled on a price. He was ready to pay a bit more than I would have asked if I had not anticipated the haggling act.
"After we agreed, I said, 'Now, see where we have arrived-at a price which, after dickering, is more than I really wanted for the lot in the first place. Suppose we forget about the agreement. Here's the price I wanted, pay that and we will agree never to dicker again. Okay?'
"With a smile and a twinkle in his eye he replied, 'Okay, but I'm not sure I like it better this way, you see, it is fun to dicker and now I am going to miss it.'
" 'Well, you probably will continue to dicker with some of the other dealers-so you won't miss your fun entirely,' I said. And Marx, true to his word, never dickered with me again.
"He had a fondness for me and later, in the 1930s, he would phone, ask if I had anything for him, and invite me to his luxurious apartment in the city. We would sit and chat, he with a couple of cognacs, me nursing one. (He must have thought I didn't like his cognac-actually I didn't drink anything stronger than milk!). After a couple of hours, during which we had spread the coins out on his desk, he reminded me that he had to go out to earn a living; he would call me about the coins in a day or so.
"Again, I could always count on his word, he phoned, checked the price again and sent a check. He didn't need those coins. They were priced reasonably but, most important, he wanted to chat. Illness prevented him from making the rounds as he loved to do. So he invited me every so often to 'come show my wares.' When Jacob Marx passed away, I lost a good friend, and I recall placing a memorial notice in the New York Times on the first anniversary of his death."
During the early 1930s, Abe Kosoff studied accounting at New York University during evenings and traded coins during the day. Once a week he visited foreign exchange and banking houses in lower New York City. On another day, once each week, he would go uptown. By and large he thus covered the different dealers on a regular basis.
It was about 1932 that the Brooklyn Coin Club held its first meeting at the home of Ernest Kraus. "The Brooklyn Coin Club holds a warm spot in my heart-it was the first coin club that I joined, and many of us always thought of it as the best coin club in the country. All of our meetings were enjoyable," Abe Kosoff later recalled. For years after that time he would visit Brooklyn Coin Club meetings whenever he chanced to be in the area when such were scheduled.
In the beginning years the club was small and met in different places in Brooklyn, often at a church, sometimes in various hotels, and occasionally in restaurants. In keeping with typical programs of other clubs, a topic would be suggested in advance. For one meeting the topic might be foreign coins from countries beginning with the letter A, on another evening it might be United States gold coins, and at each meeting there was the opportunity to "show and tell" -to talk about new acquisitions.
"We would try to get a member to prepare a paper on one of the subjects of the evening, and usually we were successful. Every member was invited to rise and tell about his display, and almost everyone in attendance brought some coins. Robberies were uncommon, and collectors did not hesitate to bring rare coins to a coin meeting. Decades later, I refused to bring any exhibits along when I attended coin club meetings around the United States; photographs had to suffice. But in the early days I would exhibit rarities, and so did the others.
"Speaking of 'rarities,' I recall one evening when Joe Silverman, with tongue-in-cheek, reflected upon some exaggerations of rarity which had preceded his turn. He then remarked that his display consisted of a unique 1878-S San Francisco Mint silver dollar in choice condition, which he had just acquired. Then he sat down. In a later day and age, when cataloguers and advertisers listed things as 'almost unique,' it is easy to appreciate Silverman's satirical response when a new member of the club asked about his reference to the 1878-S silver dollar as being 'unique.' 'It's unique,' said Joe, 'because it's the only one I've got!'
"Morris Kleif, Ernest Kraus, Andy Semple, Max Schwartz, Charles Knoth, Lew Reagan, Lou Werner, Charley Ryan, Sam Eill, Jim Nicoletti-these are some of the early members-and Foxy Steinberg, Max Kaplan, Dave Bullowa, AI Fastove, A. Celender, Nat Heft, Susan and Damon Douglas, Morton Kortjohn, Vernon Brown, Otto Sghia, Harry Stein-all were regular attendants.