B. Max Mehl
ernie11
Posts: 1,952 ✭✭✭✭✭
Had to post a pic of this - Mehl was quite a salesman!
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ernie11
Posts: 1,952 ✭✭✭✭✭
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60 years into this hobby and I'm still working on my Lincoln set!
<< <i>Single pennies that sell for $100.00?!? I didn't know they had crack back in the olden days
Likely the 1793 chain cent
About 35 years ago, I passed on a coin in a Max Mehl flip. I've regretted it ever since. I believe he was an uncle to former member Mark Feld.
It was a sure 65 in my eyes...a coin that I'd been searching for for a long time...before the POP doubled. It slabbed 65!!
I had a thread about it here before I submitted it.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
<< <i>He gave many people false hope that they could stike it rich during a time of desperation. He sounds like a bit of a con artist to me. >>
Agreed -- but he also helped popularize the hobby among the masses, without his unabashed hucksterism coin collecting would likely still be the provenance of the idle rich.
60 years into this hobby and I'm still working on my Lincoln set!
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC
<< <i>I beg to disagree with the above statement. In Max Mehl's time no one could be absolutely certain that only five 1913's existed. He took an educated guess, a risk, maybe because he did his homework it was a risk he was willing to take to truly find one more and pay for it and get tremendous exposure at the same time. I call it pure genius what he did, and I believe it is a true testament to him, his intelligence and his numismatic ideals to further the hobby and himself as a great dealer ( and I mean that in the most positive way). >>
Well said. It was indeed a no lose proposition for Mr. Mehl.
<< <i>B Max Mehl advertised that he would pay $500 for a 1913 Liberty nickel in order to sell his paperback book for a dollar which was a lot of money during the depression. He knew full well that all five 1913 Liberty nickels were in well established collections and that no one would ever find one in circulation. He gave many people false hope that they could stike it rich during a time of desperation. He sounds like a bit of a con artist to me. >>
Sort of like the folks at your state lottery...
league as P.T. Barnum. He was a master of the trade.
Camelot
<< <i>B Max Mehl advertised that he would pay $500 for a 1913 Liberty nickel in order to sell his paperback book for a dollar which was a lot of money during the depression. He knew full well that all five 1913 Liberty nickels were in well established collections and that no one would ever find one in circulation. He gave many people false hope that they could stike it rich during a time of desperation. He sounds like a bit of a con artist to me. >>
Five are "known." Since their production was undocumented, more could exist. Sounds like you are parroting Breen's dislike of Mehl. And there were MANY valuable coins
in circulation in the 1930s, some spent in desperation.
<< <i>
<< <i>B Max Mehl advertised that he would pay $500 for a 1913 Liberty nickel in order to sell his paperback book for a dollar which was a lot of money during the depression. He knew full well that all five 1913 Liberty nickels were in well established collections and that no one would ever find one in circulation. He gave many people false hope that they could stike it rich during a time of desperation. He sounds like a bit of a con artist to me. >>
Five are "known." Since their production was undocumented, more could exist. Sounds like you are parroting Breen's dislike of Mehl. And there were MANY valuable coins
in circulation in the 1930s, some spent in desperation. >>
True dat... And there were an awful lot of perfectly good 1910 Liberty Nickels tooled (some better than others) to look like 1913's
Check out my current listings: https://ebay.com/sch/khunt/m.html?_ipg=200&_sop=12&_rdc=1
For example In another of Mehl's catalogs solely devoted to Commemoratives listing the many of the newly issued Commemorative coins that were being churned out by the Mint then for every cause (seems like history is now repeating) he commented on the newly issued 1936 L.I. Commemorative. He admitted that he didn't know who the "Burly looking gentlemen and the Indian"were supposed to represent.
Gee the coin was on the market for a time and he didn't know anything about it? This gives me reason to doubt quite possibly Mehl might not have known all the facts behind the issuance of the 1913 nickels when he first made offers for them. I have no idea what year the sham was revealed and brought to light? Maybe he wasn't a Barnum but I admire him as he did manage to get everones attention to look at their coins.
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i picked this one up from the 'Bay......maybe i'll luck out and mine will have a coin(s?) inside
www.brunkauctions.com
<< <i>About 35 years ago, I passed on a coin in a Max Mehl flip. I've regretted it ever since. I believe he was an uncle to former member Mark Feld. >>
Yup... though he may be Mark's great uncle. I think we should start calling him B. Mark Feld... just because.
<< <i>
<< <i>About 35 years ago, I passed on a coin in a Max Mehl flip. I've regretted it ever since. I believe he was an uncle to former member Mark Feld. >>
Yup... though he may be Mark's great uncle. I think we should start calling him B. Mark Feld... just because. >>
....Everyone wants to Be Mark Feld.
It's hard to believe smoeone that long ago might be an uncle. ...a great uncle or great great uncle maybe.