Book review: "Abe Kosoff: Dean of Numismatics", by Q. David Bowers

Longacre

On a recent trip, I was able to finish "Abe Kosoff: Dean of Numismatics" by QDB. The book is in paperback form and is approximately 350 pages. The book is a biography of Abe Kosoff, who was a very, very prominent dealer in the 1940's to 1970's (and I think he was someone that QDB modeled himself after, in my opinion). The book is broken up into various chapters, each dealing with a particular stage of Kosoff's life, such as his early years just starting out in the 1930's and 1940's, then the turning point in his career when he got a choice consignment from the Higgy collection. The auction "put Kosoff on the map" and from then on his reputation grew and he continued to get great consignments. In true QDB fashion, he puts a personal touch on each of the chapters, and gives a lot of information about Kosoff that you could not find elsewhere. QDB writes particularly about Kosoff's family and how they were integral to his business, and the high level of integrity and ethics that Kosoff possessed.

My favorite chapter of the book dealt with the King Farouk sale in Egypt, which Kosoff attended in person. The entire chapter brings to life the uncertainty that surrounded the sale (such as whether it would even take place because Farouk supposedly hired lawyers to get an injuction stopping the sale), to such problems as logistics on how to get the coins out of the country, and the handling of the coins during lot viewing. The Farouk sale is brought to life with stories about how Kosoff and the other dealers were spied upon by government officials and others were trying to get a look at the dealers' notes in order to determine the bids they were to place. One story told of Kosoff being followed while he was in Cairo. He could tell he was being followed because he kept seeing the same Egyptian guy everywhere he went, and the gentleman was always reading a Readers Digest-- upside down! There are other stories such as Kosoff almost losing his temper during lot viewing because the persons organizing the sale did not know how to handle coins. The coins were banged around and counted very roughly after the dealers viewed them to ensure that all of the coins were returned after viewing. Kosoff indicates that some coins definitely had their grades affected by this practice and he tried to show the government reps how to handle the coins properly. That sale was also interesting because the sale was so hastily put together that great rarities were intertwined in the same lot with large quantities of common coins.

Another interesting chapter deals with Kosoff's crusade to stop overgrading by dealers and also to set up an ANA-based authentication bureau. He was truly a visionary in this regard. He also had some sharp comments on advertisers in the leading coin publications and whether the coins were accurately graded. For example, commenting on over-grading (which is still true to this day), "I'll state my reputation, with 44 years of professional numismatic activity behind it, that there is no such thing as any dealer having that many different dates of silver dollars in MS-70 condition. So let's stop playing games!" There are a bunch of other stories in the book, many of which provide a nice flavor for the market during the years in question, and how it developed into more of an "industry" as time went by. Other items are covered in the book, such as Kosoff's founding of the PNG, and his travels around the world to find choice items. Even our own Julian Leidman is mentioned in the book, as someone who bought a rare pattern through Kosoff!

Overall the book is excellent and I highly reccomend it. The only "knock" that I can give it (which is a minor point) is that the book gives tons of information on prices realized for various pieces in Kosoff's auctions. For someone like me who only follows a few series, I was able to gloss over a lot of that information, having realized that the point is to show how cheaply really nice coins sold for in the past, and even in an up market (such as today), today's record prices are tomorrow's bargains.

I give the book 4.5 stars out of 5. I bought the book on Ebay for about $8.

TahoeDale

Great report!!!

Send it to me and I will read it cover to cover, then send it on. Promise to get it back to you in a year.

Shamika

This book is on my "must read" list. I just haven't gotten around to buying a copy.

Mark

Longacre:

As usual, your review nail's the book right on the nose. QDB's book about Kosoff was really good. I think I recall that you have read Abe Kosoff Remembers, a book by Kosoff that consists of his collected Coin World articles. Combining that book with QDB's book increases the enjoyment of each.

Mark

Conder101

I was also going to recommend Abe Kosoff Remembers as a companion volume. It also contains information about the Farouk sale and the beginning of ANACS but here you get it first person from Kosoff himself. I highly recommend the coverage of the Farouk sale. I just wish some of the other people who had attended the sale had written of their experiences. An account written by Pittman would have been facinating as well.

coingame2000

My partner in NUMISMATIC ENTERPRISES is Abe Kosoff's ex son-in-law, Mike Kliman. Not only was he married to Sonny Kosoff for a number of years, our company was originally founded by him and Steve Kosoff (Abe's son) whose untimely death at twenty nine was quite a blow to my partner at the time. Mike has regaled me often with stories of the good old days working with the "Dean of Numismatics" -- Abe was quite a fellow.

Mikey