What top-drawer collector, past or present, is regarded as the most eccentric?

IGWT

And how was the reputation earned? Just curious. I'm not sure why this question popped into my head just now.

skeeterhawk

Off the top of my head 2 collectors come to mind.

The first is Virgil Brand who was active in collecting both US and foreign coins and at one time owned multiples of some of the most rare coins known to exist at the time.....I seem to recall that he also had a passion for patterns as well. As I recall from reading QDB's book about him, his family was in the brewery business and he died from eating rotten cheese. A very fascinating read if you ever have the opportunity to read QDB's book on the man's life and habits.

The other one that I thought of is Redfield who was active in the Las Vegas area. He may have been considered more of a hoarder then a collector. He had a distrust for banks and as a result he stashed his money in the basement of the shack he called home located in the desert outside of town. He also hoarded canned goods and at the time of his death the coin hoard was discovered.........all were silver dollars as I recall....in the basement and many of the canned goods he had stashed away with his coins had leaked onto the coins. A-Mark out of California bought the hoard and marketed the coins under the Redfield name.....this was before the introduction of the TPG services that exist today.

291fifth

Probably Virgil Brand. He apparently did little but order coins in his later years. At the time of his death there were apparently a month's worth of unopened packages awaiting him.

firstmint

Son of Hetty, "Col" Edward Howland Robinson Green certainly qualifies.

After Brand died in 1926, Green became the monopoly buyer for U.S. & Foreign material, not just in coins, but in stamps, and other unmentionable things.

speety

First name that popped into my head was Brand as well...

PerryHall

What about Walter Breen?

Longacre

People say Longacre is an odd duck because he refers to himself in the 3rd person.

seanq

The most eccentric collector I've ever met was Pete Bishal, his nickname "DaNutt" was well deserved.


Sean Reynolds

messydesk

I don't think Walter Breen was a collector, and yes, Pete "DaNutt" Bishal was indeed eccentric. Perhaps it had to do with the secret mission Kennedy personally sent him that earned him the metal plate in his head.

BillJones

Virgil Brand has to be oddest of the lot. I read that he would buy coins, put them in a box and never look at them again.

Redfield was eccentric to be sure, but I don't view him as a collector. He was more of a hoarder.

Pete Bishal (a.k.a. "dah nut") was quite odd. He used to take tables at local New England shows, and to look at him you never would have realized that he was an expert in the field. He came off looking like a bit of a bumpkin. In his younger day, he could have been a character on the TV show "The Big Bang Theory." I remember one show where he put his head done on the table and slept all day, snoring loudly, until the show the show was done. I don't know if he was "sleeping one off" or had stayed up all night the day before.

Breen was a prime example of the eccentric, very troubled genius who had problems coping with everyday life. He had far more demons than any of us will ever know, which accounted for his extensive drug use and totally unacceptable behavior. I liked the man with out knowing all of his problems and genuinely enjoyed his writings which in my library date back to the early 1950s.

As for modern collectors, most people who buy or a sell modern coins at very high prices think that I'm beyond eccentric.

yellowkid

Eccentric collector? That's hard to believe.

COALPORTER

<< <i>Eccentric collector? That's hard to believe. >>




hehehe....can you have one without the other ?