Abe Kosoff: Dean of Numismatics

At the 1942 American Numismatic Association convention in Cincinnati, Thomas G. Melish, who was the financial backer of the show, approached Abe Kosoff. Earlier, in 1936, Melish had handled the distribution for the Cleveland and Cincinnati issues. While the Cincinnati pieces ostensibly sold well (but caused a scandal in the process), there were 16,000 Cleveland half dollars left over. In 1942 they were stored in a Cincinnati bank with a loan of $8,000 representing the face value against them. If Kosoff would assume the loan, Melish would take a profit of just $50 and agree to release the 16,000 coins! Abe Kosoff continued the story:

"Imagine for $50-1 would get 16,000 Cleveland commemorative half dollars at face value! And I turned it down! The prospect of selling 16,000 Clevelands was very dim indeed. Tying up $8,000 on a dead item, when the money could be put to better use and turned over several times, didn't seem inviting to me. It was some years before Tom Melish disposed of the coins. The fellow who bought them did very well by himself!

The fellow may have been Sol Kaplan, for in later years Sol, who was general chairman of the 1942 ANA convention, had vast quantities of this issue. In order to prop up the price and create an additional profit, he ran numerous "buy" ads for 1936 Clevelands for a long time.

By the time of the 1942 convention, Abe had known Sol for two years, having met him in the spring of 1940 at the Iowa Numismatic Association in Burlington. As Abe was running the 1942 convention sale, he and Sol came into close contact.

"I will never forget the help given me by the Cincinnati club members. Tom Melish had given Sol Kaplan the go-ahead sign, and when Sol went, believe you me, he went all the way.

"Up on top of the Netherland Plaza Hotel, in the presidential suite, they set up the 'Pirate's Den.' A bar was operating 24 hours a day, the door was never locked, the buffet table was always stocked, and souvenirs of all kinds were handed out. For many of us, Tom had prepared special oil paintings. Using our photographs, Tom had commissioned artists to paint our portraits as swashbuckling pirates. As we entered, Tom or one of his henchmen would take out our painting and present it to us. 'For your lady,' he would announce, 'we have a diamond ring.' With this he would lead us to the buffet table, where a large punch bowl contained rings into each of which a dime had beer set. Laugh, I thought he would cry as he announced 'Dime and Ring. Get it? Diamond 'dime and.' Get it? He got more fun out of these 'dime and rings.'

'Tom also offered the ANA an opportunity to establish its headquarters in Cincinnati, although I suspect that Sol Kaplan was behind this thing Melish actually offered a check for $10,000 as a binder, and if I'm not mistaken, Kaplan had the check ready, but the ANA was not ready.

Melish collected lots of things, and one after noon Molly and I, together with our dear friend from Mt. Vernon, New York, Adolph and Mirian Friedman, visited Melish's office.

"The Old Curiosity Shop it should have beer called. The Friedmans liked a couple of gadgets and Melish made a big fuss about a little trinket worth only a few dollars. They dickered around in fun until Tom got the best of Adolph after which he took the other object, an interesting piece of glass worth much more than the first trinket over which the dickering had taken place. He took the second object, wrapped it up, and present edit to the Friedmans as a gift. That was Tom Melish Those of us who attended the 1942 convention will not forget him or the great job done by Sol Kaplar to make that convention one of the most memorable."

A resume of the Cincinnati ANA convention held August 22nd through the 27th, 1942, was given in a subsequent issue of The Numismatist

"Perfect convention weather greeted the visitor: to Cincinnati. The nights were cool, with warm sunny days. Emphasis was placed on the social rather than the numismatic phase of this convention.

"As usual, Saturday was devoted to the registration of members and guests and the setting up of the exhibits in the beautiful Hall of Mirrors of the Netherland Plaza Hotel. The 'Robbers Row (dealer's tables) was in the room with the exhibits, and the auction material was also on display in the same room. This arrangement proved convenient and popular.

"Attendance, as might be expected, did not measure up to last year's. However 149 members and 70 guests signed the secretary's register.

By early 1943, the Numismatic Gallery auction sales were catching on. This February 1943 advertisement in "The Numismatist" discusses auctions of the preceding year. "Our mousetrap must be better," Abe Kosoff concluded.