Do you think any of the great collectors of the past, if alive today, would particpate on the forums
SanctionII
Posts: 12,636 ✭✭✭✭✭
Foe example Eliasberg.
If so, what type of forumite do you think he, she, they would be?
Know it all.
Braggert and show off.
Academic.
Registry fanatic.
Toned coin lover.
Untoned coin lover.
Poster of guess the grade threads.
Bestower of/sharer of his.her encyclopedic knowledge of their area of collecting interest.
Overly critical of coins posted by other forumites.
Etc.
Etc.
Perhaps some of the dealers who actually have dealt with some of the great collectors of the past can chime in and give us some insight/opinion on how he/she/they would be as a forumite.
If so, what type of forumite do you think he, she, they would be?
Know it all.
Braggert and show off.
Academic.
Registry fanatic.
Toned coin lover.
Untoned coin lover.
Poster of guess the grade threads.
Bestower of/sharer of his.her encyclopedic knowledge of their area of collecting interest.
Overly critical of coins posted by other forumites.
Etc.
Etc.
Perhaps some of the dealers who actually have dealt with some of the great collectors of the past can chime in and give us some insight/opinion on how he/she/they would be as a forumite.
0
Comments
I kinda like this scrappy group we have around here. Don't really know the personalities of some past big time collectors. I'm sure some would lend their wisdom and advice, and some would be hiney holes. I guess much like this scrappy group we have around here.....
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
<< <i>I kinda like this scrappy group we have around here. Don't really know the personalities of some past big time collectors. I'm sure some would lend their wisdom and advice, and some would be hiney holes. I guess much like this scrappy group we have around here..... >>
...you may be on to something, Wesley.
<< <i>I doubt, only a very few of the big collectors currently participate. >>
Are we going off of waist size or wallet? if you are talking the latter I assure you we have some of the very biggest on these very boards.
Positive BST Transactions (buyers and sellers): wondercoin, blu62vette, BAJJERFAN, privatecoin, blu62vette, AlanLastufka, privatecoin
#1 1951 Bowman Los Angeles Rams Team Set
#2 1980 Topps Los Angeles Rams Team Set
#8 (and climbing) 1972 Topps Los Angeles Rams Team Set
60 years into this hobby and I'm still working on my Lincoln set!
<< <i>Max Mehl woulda been all over this place. >>
Perhaps so, but the question was about collectors, not dealers.
I firmly believe in numismatics as the world's greatest hobby, but recognize that this is a luxury and without collectors, we can all spend/melt our collections/inventories.
eBaystore
Obscurum per obscurius
I assume dealers of the past would be [at least some of them] quick to jump on the forums, particularly since it would allow them an additional audience from which they could seek out persons to make a deal with.
<< <i>Harry Bass probably would have as he was in the forefront of computer use, but he would have frequented it in the overnight hours, as he did most of the computer related activity at that time. >>
That's only because CPU time was cheaper in the wee morning hours back in the stone-knives-and-bearkin-rugs era of computing.
60 years into this hobby and I'm still working on my Lincoln set!
On the other hand, most of them would have some fascinating stories about how they acquired their rarities.
Commems and Early Type
<< <i>who was it that used to stand at the front of the auction room with his paddle in the air, was that John Ford?? whoever it was i believe he may have enjoyed the NutRanch™ and not been daunted by the craziness here since he apparently wasn't bashful and knew what he liked. >>
I think you're thinking of Pittman.
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>I do not think Eliasberg would be a registry fanatic. He built his collection quietly to avoid raising prices for the top pops (today's term) or ultra rarities. >>
Most of the great collectors even shied away from bidding at auction themselves and used an agent for the same reasons.
<< <i>
<< <i>who was it that used to stand at the front of the auction room with his paddle in the air, was that John Ford?? whoever it was i believe he may have enjoyed the NutRanch™ and not been daunted by the craziness here since he apparently wasn't bashful and knew what he liked. >>
I think you're thinking of Pittman. >>
Yes it was Pittman and that became known as his "Statue of Liberty" stunt.
Wouldnt that be a hoot! Imagine what he could post a few images of...!
<< <i>Max Mehl woulda been all over this place. >>
He might have bought the site and bammed all the modern bashers.
<< <i>King Farouk!!!
Wouldnt that be a hoot! Imagine what he could post a few images of...! >>
What a wonderful place from which to post as well;
Farouk's "rest house".
with us? They would have to be crazy, wouldn't they?
Camelot
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
President, Racine Numismatic Society 2013-2014; Variety Resource Dimes; See 6/8/12 CDN for my article on Winged Liberty Dimes; Ebay
I dunno - in all my other areas of interest the biggest hitters would never "waste" time with online stuff.
Best,
Eric
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<< <i>who was it that used to stand at the front of the auction room with his paddle in the air, was that John Ford?? whoever it was i believe he may have enjoyed the NutRanch™ and not been daunted by the craziness here since he apparently wasn't bashful and knew what he liked. >>
I think you're thinking of Pittman. >>
Yes it was Pittman and that became known as his "Statue of Liberty" stunt. >>
Wasn't Pittman a school teacher and his wife a secretary or she was the school teacher and he an accountant? Anyway they accomplished what they did coin wise on minimal funds.
Ron
<< <i>King Farouk!!!
Wouldnt that be a hoot! Imagine what he could post a few images of...! >>
Yup. In addition to coins, he had one of the worlds largest collections of pornography.
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>
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>who was it that used to stand at the front of the auction room with his paddle in the air, was that John Ford?? whoever it was i believe he may have enjoyed the NutRanch™ and not been daunted by the craziness here since he apparently wasn't bashful and knew what he liked. >>
I think you're thinking of Pittman. >>
Yes it was Pittman and that became known as his "Statue of Liberty" stunt. >>
Wasn't Pittman a school teacher and his wife a secretary or she was the school teacher and he an accountant? Anyway they accomplished what they did coin wise on minimal funds.
Ron >>
No. Pittman was an engineer at some chemical company but still definitely middle class.
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
John Jay Pittman was different from the other collectors in this group. He did not come from great wealth nor did he have unlimited funds to buy coins with. His forte was an uncanny ability to spot good value and the ability to determine underpriced areas in the market before they became “fashionable” or fully priced.
Pittman was born in 1913 and went to work for Kodak in Rochester, New York in 1936. He began collecting in the early 1940’s and became very active towards the middle part of that decade. Pittman’s single most brilliant decision as a collector was to attend the sale of the famous King Farouk collection that was held on behalf of the Egyptian government in Cairo in 1954. At this sale, Pittman spent a considerable amount of money and actually wound up taking a second mortgage on his home to finance his purchases. When one considers what these coins sold for some forty five years later, it is clear that this great financial risk was amply rewarded.
Here's some additional information taken from the Lear Capital website.
J.J. Pittman died February 17, 1996, one day before his 83rd birthday. By that time, piece-by-piece, set-by-set, he had painstakingly accumulated a collection which, when divided for auction, numbered more than 12,000 lots. It drew dealers, brokers, collectors, and investors from all over the country and many parts of the world.
The Statue of Liberty Play
His intense love of coins, which won J.J. Pittman many admirers, proved daunting to at least one fellow collector, Phil Kaufman, the buyer of the boxed 1844 Proof Set, recalled seeing Pittman at several numismatic gatherings. “I never spoke to him,” Kaufman said. “His knowledge was so superior to mine, I felt intimidated about approaching him.”
Kaufman was not alone. David Akers recalls an auction 41 years ago when one of the legends surrounding Pittman was born. “It was April 27, 1956 in Indianapolis,” he recounts as if it were yesterday, “during Abe Kosoff's auction of the Thomas G. Melish Collection. John Pittman came there determined to own all five Proof Indian Head gold dollars on sale—at reasonable prices. How he did so is pure Pittman and explains how he was given the nickname, ‘Statue of Liberty.’
“As Kosoff called Lot 1742, a Proof 1854 Indian Head gold dollar, Pittman stood, walked to the front of the room, turned his back on the auctioneer and faced the crowd. Then he raised his arm and held it aloft through all the bidding. He glared intently at each bidder as the auction continued. He stared them down and made them blink. He did this for all five coins and won them at reasonable prices.”
That thing with Pittman doing the Statue routine is comical. Today he would not be able to do it. Either he'd go against collectors who have way too much money and need to win for their egos, or NP Gresham would run him....