Abe Kosoff: Dean of Numismatics

"Your descriptions of conditions are accurate; which is considerably more than I can say for somebody in (blank). Also I like the speed and dispatch with which you get the lots out. It enables bidders to know where they stand. -A. Cabanne."

Abe Kosoff reviewed his earlier survey of dealers who were invited to comment on the 1949 market. Pessimistic in July was Howard E. MacIntosh, who wrote: "Prices of high-priced coins are receding along with a general decline in business. Smart collectors will sell high-priced coins now before prices recede further. Cheaper and medium priced coins are holding up very well and there has been no noticeable decline in this group to date."

On the other hand, Joseph B. Stack, Norman Shultz, Hans M.F. Schulman, B. Max Mehl, and several others considered the market to be in good condition. Charles M. Wormser, owner of New Netherlands Coin Company in New York City, commented on the economy: "Prices have maintained their levels, and I expect they will continue to do so. Unless there is an upturn in general business I do not think that activity will be any better."

There was concern in America about the general economic state of affairs following rapid expansion after World War II. Abe Kosoff took the opportunity to recite a fable about a self-fulfilling prophecy:

"There was a man who lived by the side of the road and he sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing so he had no radio. He had trouble with his eyes so he read no newspapers. But he sold good hot dogs. He put signs up on the highway telling how good they were. He stood on the side of the road and cried, 'Buy a hot dog!' And people bought.

"He increased his meat and bun orders. He bought a bigger stove to take care of his trade. He finally got his son home from college to help him. But then something happened. His son said, 'Father, haven't you been listening to the radio? Haven't you been reading the newspapers? There is a big depression on. The European situation is terrible. The domestic situation is worse. Everything is going to pot.'

"Whereupon the father thought, 'Well, my son's been to college, he reads the papers and he listens to the radio, and he ought to know.' So the father cut down on his meat and bun orders, took down his advertising signs, and no longer bothered to stand out on the highway to sell his hot dogs. And his hot dog sales fell overnight. 'You're right, son' the father said to the boy. 'We certainly are in the middle of a great depression.' "

In another paragraph Abe Kosoff commented on a client, apparently a dealer, who submitted bids at half or less of current catalogue values but it the same time offered to sell coins for 20 % over catalogue!

Still another item concerned copycats: "Thank our for the inadvertent compliment paid to us by those imitating 'Money Talks.' Really, now, couldn't they at least use a different style-make IP, etc. Oh well-and a couple of ho-hums."

The 1949 American Numismatic Association convention was held in the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, August 21st through the 24th. Abe Kosoff prepared and edited a special 68-page convention journal which contained numerous advertisements of various dealers, messages concerning the ANA, the convention program, and other items of interest. For the same event the Numismatic Gallery also conducted the auction sale, so Abe Kosoff and his partner, Abner Kreisberg, were busier than ever.

A convention program essay by Loyd B. Getys, president of the ANA, noted that the organization was steadily growing and was building on a firm foundation by not copying anyone else or following "someone else's blueprints." "The only successful way for us to develop is to be ourselves," Gettys noted. "Of course, certain customs must be adhered to, but the organization that gives all its attention to custom and none of its creative energy to hewing a way of its own, is like the squirrel in the revolving cage, going, going, gone, Jut not getting anywhere.

"We must do the things that seem best to us. Of course, the world will criticize. The man who attempts anything and succeeds is sure to be barked at. But, listen, does the big round moon pay any attention to a little yelping dog? Not a bit of it, it keeps on about its business of shining. And, so, if you have a thought, or a plan, or a word, that will shine on a world that needs all the light it can get, for goodness' sake shine. Never mind the critics. 'Who so would be a man,' said Emerson, 'must be a non-conformist.' Conform with your ideals always, yes, but doing and saying, and being whatever anyone else does and says does and will not build. Patterns are for the weak. Careers, like monuments, must be carved... "