Abe Kosoff: Dean of Numismatics

At the time, V. Leon Belt, of Phoenix, Arizona was president of the American Numismatic Association, while Damon G. Douglas served as first vice-president, Ralph A. Mitchell as second vice-president, Lewis N. Reagan as general secretary, George A. Blake as treasurer, and Ted R. Hammer as librarian and curator. The board of governors included Victor B. Chambers, Loyd B. Gettys, Dr. J. Hewitt Judd, Martin S. Kortjohn, and M. Vernon Sheldon.'

The program extended from Saturday, August 17 through Wednesday, August 21. Among the features were an educational program highlighting a panel discussion on colonial Americana and featuring M. Vernon Sheldon, Damon G. Douglas, T. James Clarke, and B. Max Mehl; a smorgasbord to be held on Monday evening ("this is one event that will be well worth the entire trip"), the Numismatic Gallery auction (which started at 2:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday, August 20th), and the annual banquet, which featured an address concerning the history of the State of Iowa.

The auction catalogue, 110 pages in length, contained 2,197 lots, of which the first 1,374 were for public competition, followed by a mail bid section. Highlighted was the Friedman Collection. Abe Kosoff and Abner Kreisberg co-signed an introductory page which noted:

"An American Numismatic Association convention is an event to which most members look for-ward. They look forward to making new friends and meeting old ones, to browsing around looking at coins and medals and paper money-and participating in the auction sale.

"The auction sale this year is being conducted by the Numismatic Gallery of New York City, as was the last big convention sale in Cincinnati in 1942.

'The Gallery is honored indeed and wishes to express publicly its appreciation to the Iowa Numismatic Association for the recognition which comes with the appointment. To be the only concern to have this honor conferred upon it twice is a distinction in which the Numismatic Gallery may well take pride.

"An attempt has been made to satisfy as many collectors as possible. Many fine consignments were sent to us for attribution and cataloguing. It was with regret that some were, of necessity, returned.

"The material accepted makes up the finest convention sale held to date. The Friedman Collection is without question one of the finest in the country. Mr. Friedman sought out and acquired only choice specimens. With the cooperation of the Iowa Numismatic Association and its desire to make this convention 'the best one ever, we have listed more lots than have ever before beer put up for sale in a convention auction. In order to make this listing possible and thus satisfy a many members of the ANA as we could, a new arrangement has been introduced-a combination of public auction and mail order auction. Read the terms of sale and index for more details... "

While there were no landmark prices in the sale (not a single lot crossed the $1,000 mark), action was intense, and by the time that all was said and done, $44,855.80 worth of business was chalked up. Emphasis was on United States coins, but an interesting selection of world pieces, numismatic books, and other items greeted bidders. The sale was well attended, and prices were excellent for the time.

In December 1946, Abe Kosoff went to Buffalo New York to lay plans for participation in the August 1947 American Numismatic Association convention scheduled for that city. Joining him were other members of the convention committee, including Charley Ryan and Lou Werner Meeting them in Buffalo was Dr. John H. Wild general chairman of the convention, Alber Gullian, president of the Buffalo Numismatic Association (the host club) and V. Leon Belt, president of the ANA. Also standing by were member of the executive committee of the Buffalo club, in eluding Gaston DiBello, Jesse Taylor, Rober Lloyd, and Harold Myer.

In his memoirs, Abe Kosoff recalled that he arrived in Buffalo on a Friday evening in December1946 to face meetings for all of the following day Dr. Wild and his committee had come up with some novel ideas to generate a profit for the Buffalo Numismatic Club, and in this direction the meeting took an unfamiliar businesslike tone, with an attorney on hand who documented everything There were plenty of arguments, but to Castor DiBello was given the credit for mediating ant conciliating. By the end of Saturday afternoon everything was smoothed out, although Abi Kosoff was rankled at the lack of camaraderie which traditionally attended such planning sessions. Later he learned that apparently various.

Buffalo committee members who had advancer $100 each to help defray expenses received a bonus or profit of about $40 per person! Kosoff was philosophical: "Perhaps it is just as well that it happened at that time, because steps were then taken to prevent anything like it occurring again."