An act of kindness and generosity

1Bustcollector

An act of kindness and generosity.



Many of us truly enjoy those few and far inbetween days when we are patiently awaiting for the mail to arrive at our doorstep from purchases we make from our favorite dealer or online websites. We can all just imagine opening up those special packages filled with beautiful little round discs we call coins. One by one, we add to our collection.



Well, this story is not about a coin but it connects to coins. Back in 2012 Dick Graham published his new book "A Registry of Die Varieties of Reeded Edge Half Dollars" With Introduction and Edits by Thomas S. Bush, PHD. I'm not sure how many were printed, but knowing it is a niche market I would assume under 500 copies. Never the less, I had made plans to purchase a copy but somehow time drifted on and I missed out on his excellent book.



In the ensuing years I had spoken to collectors throughout the community that had started building their own personal set obtaining one die variety by one die variety. Each time I had asked if there was possibly an extra available copy I could possibly obtain but it appeared they had been sold out fairly quickly. I even waited for time to pass sufficiently to possibly warrant obtaining a used copy that might hit the market. Well, it just wasn't in the cards for me and as I understood, Dick Graham had no plans to reprint in the near future.



Fast forward to the Anaheim ANA coin show on August 8-13, 2016. This show was another avenue I could pursue in person not only for coins but also for that diamond in the rough...Dick Graham's book! After four days of pounding that hard concrete floor asking around and leaving my number with various dealers I decided I had made my want list known, although I'm sure I missed a few contacts.



Meeting up with everyone at the show was something I had been looking forward to this time around. I have been extremely busy with personal life and this show was a blessing in many ways to get away from it all sort of saying.



And that's when it all just fell into place. I was at Rich Uhrich's table looking at the new purchases he had when Brad Karoleff walked up to say hello and talk about the things of today. We chatted for a brief amount, exchanged the normal pleasantries, and yes, I remembered to ask him if he might know of a spare copy of Dick Grahams book. He said "you know, I think I might have a copy at the shop". What! I said. "Yes, I think I might, once I get home I'll check for you". Wow! That would be great I said.



The coin show finished up for me on Friday mid-day. I had a long drive back home and I needed to be on the California freeway by a certain time or its all over - stop and go 3 hours of traffic OVER! I'm happy to report all went well and I made it home in a decent time.



About a week had passed since the ANA and I had returned to the days of everyday life at home completely forgetting about my book requests I made at the show. Then, on the following Friday it all happened! The doorbell rang, the dogs barked and I managed to get to the Postal carrier who was holding a package at the doorstep. Oh, a package! Christmas comes early, I said. He laughed.



Well, he handed me the package, I said thank you, closed the door and quickly opened up the package. Hmm, I don't remember ordering anything by expedited service, that's unusual. Who sent this? The senders name that appeared was from Brad Karoleff himself. As I unwrapped everything there it was! An totally brand new spiral bound copy of Dick Grahams Reeded Edge Half Dollar book. Hooray! I finally got my own personal copy.



After briefly paging through the entire book I came to my senses and sat down to send off a thank you email to Brad and write out a check for the invoice. Problem was I couldn't find one. I guess even Brad can forget sometimes - you know with his non busy schedule he leads in everyday life. (I'm joking, Brad, I don't know how you do it all in the time allowed!).



In any event, I write my thank you email telling him: Thank you very much for sending the book! I appreciate it very much, but that he forgot to send an invoice as it was not inside the package. (I looked twice). I sent it off and waited for his reply response thinking how funny it was that he must have been in such a rush and forgot the darn bill.



Brad soon replied: "There is no bill usually associated with a gift". Please enjoy with my compliments.



I can't tell you all enough who is reading this story what it meant to me the kindness and generosity Brad displayed on that day.



Thank you Brad!

sparky64

Just a fantastic story.



Great to have a tale like yours come through the fog of negativity and greed we seem to have become accustom to.



Your a class act Mr. Karoleff.

AUandAG

Kudos all around!!

Coinosaurus

That's great. Thank you for reminding me to mention to Brad about this book I don't have

hchcoin

I have had a few similar experiences with Brad including him tracking down the bust dime book for my son. He is a great guy and great mentor. One of the most generous people you will ever meet inside or out of numismatics

tradedollarnut

Awesome!

Justacommeman

Thanks for taking the time to share this great story!



mark

bjamin

I met Brad at the show for the first time. He is a class act, truly cares about the collectors that he deals with and from what I can see because he is a true collector who is also a dealer and has walked in our shoes and understand us, very similar to how Rich Ulrich and Dave Perkins also treats their clients.
I happen to like dealers who were collectors and continue to be collectors as opposed to dealers who are dealers only and don't care about the coins that they place or match with their clients and consider coins to be a means to an end and couldn't really careless about them.

Yorkshireman

Brad is truly a gentleman (and a scholar).

hchcoin

Originally posted by: Yorkshireman
Brad is truly a gentleman (and a scholar).

and has a great sense of humor.

Baley

Brad is tops in my book, I too received a very nice gift from him and remain very appreciative.

Definitely one of the extremely good guys in the coin world

3keepSECRETif2rDEAD

Nice Work Brad!!!

TwoSides2aCoin

Beautiful people abound. There aren't enough reports of how good it really is.

ricko

Really great story....always like to hear these 'good news' experiences here...Cheers, RickO

EVillageProwler

Very nice story. Congrats on getting your white whale. That reminds me: I need this book too. Hmmm...

OldEastside

Friggin Awesome

Steve

coinhack

Nice story. Thanks for sharing.

alohagary

Awesome

BryceM

We dwell too much on the negative. If we would look for it, there's lots of stuff like this happening all over. Great story & thanks for sharing.

golden

Originally posted by: Justacommeman
Thanks for taking the time to share this great story!

mark

JJSingleton

Always nice to read positive things in our hobby. All too often all we read about are the bad experiences.

With Introduction and Edits by Thomas S. Bush, PHD

That would be our forum member TomB. I need to remember that he is "Dr. Tom", not just "Tom".

USMarine6

Great story.

logger7

A couple years ago I was feeling pain from what I paid for a couple bust H10cs, I bought them at a higher grade, though they were original, only graded in mid-AU. Brad bought them way above Greysheet, I think he said his daughter was getting married, he was in a good mood, or liked the coins. Nice guy, not your typical dealer.

thebeav

That's really nice !