Q. David Bowers
"I am very sorry that you got in touch with Mr. Philbrick, and got advice from him, as that Rhode Island outfit is the crookedest commission that ever under-took to handle a coin. I told Mr. Philbrick this myself, and my lawyer also, and he tried to tell my attorney that I was mis-leading him, and was not well informed, and did not have a good sense. But by the time we got through, notwithstanding they had all been distributed, with not more than five to a person, he gave me 90 sets of coins to keep me from following up my suit, and the coins at that time were worth $810.
"I took the matter up with the Senate, and told the Rhode Island senator he was being used as a tool. He would not admit it, but by the time I got through with him, while he didn't admit that I knew what I was talking about, he proposed another bill to issue 50,000 more coins, to correct the mal-distribution of the first issue. That was the admission I needed from him. I told the Committee on Banking and Currency to turn the bill down unless they let someone like the American Numismatic Association handle the coins, for those crooks in Rhode Island would grab them all and lay them away to protect their first issue.!
"I have dozens of letters from them, saying that nobody got over 10 coins, and one of their clique, Mr. H.M. Grant, comes out in The Numismatist and says that he got in excess of 11,000 coins. He is still selling the coins. All the banks in Rhode Island still have coins, but are just giving them out to their customers. These same bankers who were supposed to see that everything was open and above board wrote letters here to Texas asking $ 5 apiece for the coins within a week after they were put on the market.
"I don't wonder that Mr. Philbrick has several lawsuits on hand. He kept my money over three months, then wrote me and said if I would send money for postage he would send the coins at once, and then a month later returned all the money saying there were no coins left. They never did admit that my charges were justified, but they hated to see me in the frame of mind I was in, so gave me the coins to pacify me. All who believe that may stand on their heads ....
"I hate to see an issue handled so that there are complaints going in to Washing-ton, as the senators and congressmen and officers in the Mint are sick and tired of receiving complaints about these coins, and it was very hard work to keep them from putting an end to all these commemoratives. As it is, they worked off three medals on commissions who were not on their guard. They offered me a medal, but I talked them out of it. Other commissions who depended upon their representatives there, and had no one who was posted, got left. The more satisfactory way these issues are handled, the more chance they have of getting more.
"I don't like the way they are handling the Bridgeport issue, as it looks very much like another steal like the Rhode Island, as no commission can dispose of 25 ,000 coins with only five coins to a person. The Maryland people only sold 15,000 of their allotment of 25,000 and 5,000 of them were taken by the banks from a patriotic stand-point, and they were only asking $1.00 for their coins. They sold the balance for $0.75 apiece ....
"Yours truly, L.W. Hoffecker."
L.W. Hoffecker wrote to Walter P. Nichols again, on August 13, 1936, and discussed problems in commemorative distribution:
"I received your letter of August 11, and find it very interesting. The fact that the designers of the coin got a dirty deal just confirms my opinion of the whole Rhode Island commission. I told their senator I didn't believe there was a straight man on the commission, and there must be a lot of crooks in the banks up there, too, as every bank in Rhode Island is making a lot of money, instead of distributing the coins ....
"I enjoyed your letter very much, and was in hopes I might meet you at the [annual American Numismatic Association] convention in Minneapolis next week. I expect all we will do is elect a president, and talk commemoratives. Wish to thank you for your check for the five [Elgin] coins, and I will ship them to you as soon as I receive them, which I hope will be sometime in September.
"I don't know that I should be pleased at anyone's hard luck, but Mr. Philbrick invited all he has coming. He could not tell the same story twice alike about the way they were handling those coins.! In sending me my 90 sets he told me they combed every bank and every agency in Rhode Island to help me out of an embarrassing situation, and those 90 sets were all they had left, and now he tells you that the banks are holding out enough to take care of all these suits which started since mine and I expect my success in settling with him is the cause of some of the other suits as I did not keep it a secret. He merely settled with me because he thought it was the cheapest way out, not for any love of me.
"To show you how small Philbrick is, he picked out 20 damaged coins, wrapped them all up in one package, and sent them to me as part of my quota. I only got three damaged coins out of 10,000 from the Mint, and I can't understand this.2 Everyone looks as though it had been struck twice with some hard metal, and after what I have seen of him I would not put it past him to have damaged the coins purposely before he sent them to me. I did not notice them until one of my customers complained about a couple of marks on his coin, and I looked over a whole package of twenty, and found them all marked in about the same way."
L.W. Hoffecker wrote the following in a letter to Walter P. Nichols three years later, on November 1, 1939:
"In reference to [Providence coin dealer] Grant, I can't ask him any advice. I am sorry to say I don't have the same opinion of him that you do. I was warned during my campaign [for the presidency of the American Numismatic Association] by four or five of the old-timers, not dealers, not to have anything to do with him. The way he handled that Rhode Island issue has made him lots of enemies all over the United States. I thought I was not going to get any of the coins from the commission and saw his ad in Baltimore, (At the office of Frank G. Duffield, editor and business manager of The Numismatist.) before it was printed, and sent him the money for two sets. He returned the money to me, saying the price had gone up. So you can't say that I was late getting my order in as I saw the ad before it was printed."