Q. David Bowers
Years later, Abe Kosoff would frequently reminisce concerning the Farouk adventure. As noted, he considered it to be one of the great highlights of his career. As he told the story so well, we continue in his own words:
'The first King Farouk auction session had been a success, so it was with keen anticipation that we came to the second session. We continued to be impressed by the efficiency of the not-quite five foot tall auctioneer, Mr. Levy, or Lee, as he was sometimes called. He was impeccably dressed in a dark suit, with the white piping of his vest and the whiteness of his shirt breaking the somber look. Sharp and keenly observant, he kept calling each lot in Arabic as was required, then into other languages. There was no confusion at any time- Levy was in complete control. He didn't miss any bids, and we had no cause to complain.
"The opening lot on the second session was No. 225, a $5 gold piece of 1795, the small eagle variety, plus a 1796 over 5. Both coins were in Extremely Fine condition. James P. Randall, the Chicago dealer, bought the lot for about $285. I bought Lots 226 and 227, then Paul Wittlin got a real buy, Lots 228 for $1,800. The five pieces in that lot included a 1798 half eagle with the small eagle reverse, a great rarity. For $225, Gaston DiBello, the Buffalo, New York collector, got four early half eagles, and Bob Schermerhorn paid $600 for 11 early half eagles. Bob was having a ball! Everyday at lunch served on the palace grounds, Bob Schermerhorn enjoyed a selection of delicious pastries prepared by a Swiss baker especially for the occasion.
"Spink got a beautiful example of the rare 1815 half eagle for an American client at $3,000, and Baldwin bought the 1818, plus three varieties of the 1820 half eagle, all for $720. I 'stole' the 1819 half eagle for $1,400 and the 1821 for $870. The half eagles continued to go reasonably, as follows: the 1823 went to Maurice Storck, the Maine dealer, for $120; the 1824 went to Randall at $360; the 1825 to Sol Kaplan at $390; the 1827 to Hans Schulman for $1,100; the 1828 to me at $660; and the 1828 over 7 to Schulman at $2,800.
"The rare Proof 1829 Small Date half eagle went to Spink for only $1,450, and Baldwin got a real buy at $1,100 for Lot 246, which included two varieties of 1830 plus the 1831 and 1832. John Pittman sneaked in on the 1833 Proof half eagle at $630, then he paid $480 for Lot 248, which included a Brilliant Proof 1835 as well as an 1836 in the same condition, plus half eagles of 1837, 1838, 1838-C, and 1838-D. John was riding high, and his good luck continued. He paid $510 for 18 coins, among them the 1842 Small Letters half eagle in Proof condition.
"I bought Lot 250 for $390, and among the 16 coins in the group was an 1843 Proof half eagle. I again point out that the grouping of quantities of coins into a single lot was not designed to bring the best results. Let me take a look at Lot 254 as another example. It included the following half eagles: Proofs of 1859, 1860, 1862, and 1863, Dahlonega Mint issues of 1859 through 1863 inclusive, and the 1859 New Orleans issue-all this selling for $570! This particular lot was knocked down to Hans Schulman, who was using up his credit balance. His initial claim was for $380,000. His first efforts had been discouraging, but his Egyptian attorney finally prevailed, and Hans ex pressed satisfaction with the final accepted claim of $324,000. In order to use up this credit, Han: did quite a bit of buying and made some deals with various other buyers whereby he would bid on lots in which they were interested and then turn the coins over to them. He might choose to pay more for a lot and then turn it over at a pre-agreed price-even less than he had paid-to use up his credit balance. Thus, if I wanted a lot at, let me say, 150 Egyptian pounds, Hans might buy it for me at 170 pounds and then turn it over to me for the 150 pound price. Similar arrangements with other dealers proved to be very helpful to Schulman. In this manner he managed to realize a good part of what was due to him.
"We were still constantly being snooped upon The Egyptians had scouts around the floor, looking at our notes in catalogues, and sending messages in Arabic to the government auction officials. Accordingly, I and some of the others made false notations large enough for the spies to see them without breathing down my neck. I don't know if it helped, but it didn't hurt.
"I also had Sol Kaplan do some bidding for me or for a joint account in which he, Abner Kreisberg, and I participated. Actually, Sol bought only one coin for his own personal account. That was the famous 1913 Liberty Head nickel, and I bought that from him for Mr. and Mrs. R. Henry Norweb The coin remained in their collection for many years and was later donated to the Smithsonian Institution, where it rests today.
"When I bought Lot 256 for $750, I got 15 coins all half eagles, included among them the rare Proofs of 1872 through 1875! All of the $3 gold coins went as a single lot, which included man:
Proofs, the rare 1875 among them. I bought all 42 pieces for $4,500! Hard to believe? I don't blame you!
'Well, among the quarter eagles, Lot 268 offered 10 pieces: the 1796 without stars, the 1796 with stars, 1797, 1798, 1802, 1804, 1805, 1806 over 5 1806 over 4, and the 1807. Maurice Storck paid $1,500 for this lot-and this one purchase alone could have been resold to have paid his entire expenses for the trip! He also got, for $480, another lot which included the rare 1808, 1824, 1825, and 1828.
"We all did fine. I got Lot 280 for about $1,000 and that brought me the 1863, 1864, 1865 Proof quarter eagles and all the branch mint pieces from 1863 through 1868. The 1875 Proof was mixed in with 12 other pieces, and I paid $300 for the lot.
"The gold dollars were sold in three lots. I got Lot 285 for $450 and 286 for $1,150. Those purchases covered all the gold dollars through 1863. The remaining gold dollars from 1864 onward went to Baldwin for $1,000. One interesting lot of Panama Pacific Exposition trial pieces was offered, Actually, there were nine pieces in gold and then in silver. We bought the lot for about $420.
If memory serves me correctly, we eventually sold le lot for $1,200, then for that owner we resold , then we sold it again, then we resold it for a fourth time, later for a fifth time, and then eventually for a sixth time, with the final price being round $27,000!
"The first lot in the group of United States gold patterns and Proofs went to Spink for $1,250. It was listed as a pattern 1861 $20 with a Paquet reverse and it slipped by all of us. Actually, it's a regular issue."
One of the most famous of all American rarities, ad certainly one of the highlights of United States pattern series, is the piece described as Judd-1776, le unique pattern double eagle by Saint-Gaudens with the Indian head motif resembling the $10 sue-and quite unlike the standing figure of Victory used on the adopted $20 design. Abe Kosoff in connection with his review of the Farouk events, told of his connection with the unique 1907 pattern double eagle and how he had first seen it years earlier:
"One day I was visiting with Fred and Helen Boyd. They knew I was selling coins to King Farouk and that patterns were one of Farouk's Favorite series. They showed this beautiful gold Piece to me, and I drooled. I could have it to sell to Farouk. They would not sell it to me, but I could send it out. If Farouk bought it, and I was to pay Helen, for it was her coin, the sum was 1,500. I thought the price was too low and said so. Nevertheless, that's what she had paid for it, and she would not accept anymore. So, I sent it to Farouk for $9,900.