Abe Kosoff: Dean of Numismatics

One of the outstanding events in the annals of Numismatic Gallery history is the sale of the collection of Adolphe Menjou, the famous Hollywood screen personality. In May 1950, Abe Kosoff openned a few paragraphs about the forthcoming unevent:

"Smorgasbord in coins-Did you ever go out for a smorgasbord dinner-remember how your mouth watered as you glanced over the delicacies?

"I got the same feeling when I finished the Menou catalogue. The first lot, an 1856 cent, was an appetizer; the 1802 half dime whetted my appetite. The silver service included the 1894-S dime and that rare delicacy, the 1873-CC dime without arrows. It's been a long, long time since I saw one-is a matter of fact the taste is entirely strange to ny palate.

"Realizing the smorgasbord was more than one could ingest at a single sitting I recessed to examine the ingredients cooked up by the master cataloguer-Henry Chapman-and nowhere could I find an 1873-CC dime! A prolonged search through dozens of catalogues of leading sales and still-no sign of it. I had indeed tasted of a rare delicacy. The 1876-CC twenty-cent piece started me off again, and I literally drooled when the quarters showed up. 1796, 1804, 1823, 1827, and the second variety of 1827 -then the beautiful mintmarked quarters, 1896-S, 1901-S, and 1913-S, and full heads on the standing Liberty coins. Yummy!

"I was getting weaker all the time-then the 1796 halves came along-then the 1838-O, then the 1870-S dollar and soon the trade dollars of 1884 and 1885. Remember how you felt after your second trip to the smorgasbord table? Uh-huh, that's me.

"Well-full or not full, it's not often we see such things so-let's go on to the gold. Gold dollars each and every date, each and every mint. Quarter eagles-the 1863, the 1854-S, and the prize of the series-the 1841! And the 1875 $3 piece-the finest I've seen.

"Really, if I even touch a $5 piece I'll bust, but I must run through them quickly-maybe it's easier if I tell you that they start at 1795 and they stop at 1929. You name it, and with very, very few exceptions we've got it.

"The eagles are the same, even including the fabulous 1858, and the double eagles include the 1879 quintuple stella, the brilliant Proofs of 1883 through 1887, the 1924-S, the 1926-D, the 1931-D, and the 1921 and the 1929. Panama-Pacific sets, commemorative sets, California gold quarters, halves and dollars-260 of them!

"If you haven't gone through the catalogue, go ahead, have some smorgasbord. By the way, we're serving it to the buying public; the public auction is scheduled for June 15th through 17th in Beverly Hills, so plan your vacation or business trip accordingly. Lots of folks tell us they'll be in California for the sale. We would like to see you." The foreword to the catalogue observed:

"In the following pages we have described the finest and most complete collection of United States coins ever offered in one auction catalogue.

(Photographs of the Numismatic Gallery from the Adolphe Menjou Collection catalogue, June 1950.)