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Can anyone identify this numismatist ?

dengadenga Posts: 903 ✭✭✭
image

Taken in 1975.

Comments

  • DoubleEagle59DoubleEagle59 Posts: 8,175 ✭✭✭✭✭
    RWJ?
    "Gold is money, and nothing else" (JP Morgan, 1912)

    "“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)

    "I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
  • MsMorrisineMsMorrisine Posts: 32,126 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Mom!
    Current maintainer of Stone's Master List of Favorite Websites // My BST transactions
  • BarryBarry Posts: 10,100 ✭✭✭
    I think the file name gives it away:
    http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af43/RWJulian/DPT.jpg
  • dengadenga Posts: 903 ✭✭✭
    DoubleEagle59 August 08, 2010

    RWJ?


    No.


  • DoubleEagle59DoubleEagle59 Posts: 8,175 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>DoubleEagle59 August 08, 2010

    RWJ?


    No. >>



    Rats!

    I thought I was being a smart a** by reading the file line.
    "Gold is money, and nothing else" (JP Morgan, 1912)

    "“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)

    "I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
  • ChrisRxChrisRx Posts: 5,619 ✭✭✭✭
    image
    image
  • DoubleEagle59DoubleEagle59 Posts: 8,175 ✭✭✭✭✭
    We used to smoke those wine dipped tiperellos in High School (which coincidentally would have taken place in the 70's).
    "Gold is money, and nothing else" (JP Morgan, 1912)

    "“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)

    "I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
  • StuartStuart Posts: 9,761 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It's not Julian Leidman is it? image

    Stuart

    Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal

    "Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
  • Aegis3Aegis3 Posts: 2,896 ✭✭✭
    Barry says I should guess Taxay. I guess he fell off the face of the numismatic world later than?
    --

    Ed. S.

    (EJS)
  • LanLordLanLord Posts: 11,672 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>image

    Taken in 1975. >>

    Obviously someone living on the leading edge of technology. Even has a touchtone telephone, those really didn't get common until the late 70s and early 80s.

    I guess to be honest, businesses did adopt them in the early 70s so maybe this was taken at work.
  • dengadenga Posts: 903 ✭✭✭
    Aegis3 August 08, 2010

    Barry says I should guess Taxay. I guess he fell off the face of the numismatic world later than?


    Yes. Taken in his office at First Coinvestors.

    Denga


  • << <i>Aegis3 August 08, 2010

    Barry says I should guess Taxay. I guess he fell off the face of the numismatic world later than?


    Yes. Taken in his office at First Coinvestors.

    Denga >>



    OK... please educate those who have no idea who this person is... what did he do that should make his name stand out?

    Not asked toungue in cheek... I would really like to know...
    Re: Slabbed coins - There are some coins that LIVE within clear plastic and wear their labels with pride... while there are others that HIDE behind scratched plastic and are simply dragged along by a label. Then there are those coins that simply hang out, naked and free image
  • dengadenga Posts: 903 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>Aegis3 August 08, 2010
    Barry says I should guess Taxay. I guess he fell off the face of the numismatic world later than?


    Yes. Taken in his office at First Coinvestors.
    Denga >>


    OK... please educate those who have no idea who this person is... what did he do that should make his name stand out?
    Not asked toungue in cheek... I would really like to know... >>


    Author of several outstanding references, including The U.S. Mint and Coinage. Considered one of the best researchers
    in numismatics. He vanished some years ago and his present whereabouts are unknown.

    Denga
  • The Secret Of Success Law:
    Discover all unpredictable errors before they occur.
  • roadrunnerroadrunner Posts: 28,303 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ahhh, FirstCoinvestors......the stories Stanley and Co. could tell. image

    roadrunner
    Barbarous Relic No More, LSCC -GoldSeek--shadow stats--SafeHaven--321gold
  • nankrautnankraut Posts: 4,565 ✭✭✭
    Fascinating! Thanks for sharingimage
    I'm the Proud recipient of a genuine "you suck" award dated 1/24/05. I was accepted into the "Circle of Trust" on 3/9/09.
  • messydeskmessydesk Posts: 19,642 ✭✭✭✭✭
    image

    Hmmm... no, not quite.

    Anyway, thanks for the link to the story, Hotfootspin.
  • LotsoLuckLotsoLuck Posts: 3,786 ✭✭✭
    Sorta funny to me. As a product of a hippee mom in California in the 60's and 70's we were "Krishna" peeps for a couple years. Fast forward...we inherited three boxes of Rajneesh books. A slick con man by every right. Interesting.
  • firstmintfirstmint Posts: 1,171
    The picture of Taxay at FCI is somewhat of a numismatic rarity. Taxay was only there for 6 monyths before he quit suddenly.

    In November 1975, Stanley Apfelbaum, president and owner of FCI wrote in the FCI publication Rare Coin Advisory, p.18,

    "When Don Taxay joined our firm just six months ago a long association was planned, the Colonial Coin Collectors Society was already begun, perfect, it seemed, for Don to step in and take the chief operative's job...Taxay had spent some months with the Harry Forman Company in Philadelphia prior to coming to FCI. Before that he had spent time in the Harmer, Rooke Company in New York City, and before that he had spent some time with two other firms, both located in the New York area. Don Taxay has a fine mind but his heart was never with his customers, nor the company. His resignation did not come as a surprise. His advertisements in the trade journals did come as a surprise. His "cheap shots" at FCI were undeserved and the telephone calls received by various members of our firm from various customers confirmed the fact that Taxay has only cheapened himself. Whatever integrity Taxay had built through the channels of advertising and public relations when with F.C.I., this has been damamged horribly by his blatant ego trip combined with his cheap commercialism."
    PM me if you are looking for U.S. auction catalogs
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 31,499 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>The picture of Taxay at FCI is somewhat of a numismatic rarity. Taxay was only there for 6 monyths before he quit suddenly.

    In November 1975, Stanley Apfelbaum, president and owner of FCI wrote in the FCI publication Rare Coin Advisory, p.18,

    "When Don Taxay joined our firm just six months ago a long association was planned, the Colonial Coin Collectors Society was already begun, perfect, it seemed, for Don to step in and take the chief operative's job...Taxay had spent some months with the Harry Forman Company in Philadelphia prior to coming to FCI. Before that he had spent time in the Harmer, Rooke Company in New York City, and before that he had spent some time with two other firms, both located in the New York area. Don Taxay has a fine mind but his heart was never with his customers, nor the company. His resignation did not come as a surprise. His advertisements in the trade journals did come as a surprise. His "cheap shots" at FCI were undeserved and the telephone calls received by various members of our firm from various customers confirmed the fact that Taxay has only cheapened himself. Whatever integrity Taxay had built through the channels of advertising and public relations when with F.C.I., this has been damamged horribly by his blatant ego trip combined with his cheap commercialism." >>





    .....and the horse he rode in on!!!

    image
    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • gonzergonzer Posts: 2,986 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Sorta looks like D.B. Cooper with a similar story line to boot.
  • TWQGTWQG Posts: 3,145 ✭✭
    This would make for a great movie.
  • DRUNNERDRUNNER Posts: 3,791 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Wow . .

    I have read this name often in numismatic circles/research but never knew the extent of what could happen to an individual who radically changes tacks. An amazing story . .

    Thanks . .

    Drunner
  • MarkMark Posts: 3,520 ✭✭✭✭✭
    firstmint:

    After Mr. Taxay left FCI, how much longer was it until he left for parts unknown? I ask because I remember how good (for the period) his books were and because his story is an interesting one.

    Thanks.

    Mark
    Mark


  • firstmintfirstmint Posts: 1,171
    I wrote what was confirmable about Taxay in the thread originally posted in the E-Sylum.

    It was approximately a year later (fall/winter 1976) that he apparently went to Florida for a brief time and then headed back to Poona.

    My library has an inscribed copy (to collector, Price Headley) of one of Taxay's books, which is dated 1980 (very surprising), which is the last recorded "anything" regarding the man.

    To clarify - Taxay's 1971 "Scott's Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of U.S. Coins" book had the inscription done on 5-30-1980.
    PM me if you are looking for U.S. auction catalogs
  • BillJonesBillJones Posts: 33,427 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It's not considered nice to speak poorly of the dead, but I'll do it anyway. If I had been Don Taxay I would have not have a taken a job with FCI in the first place. I never cared for their business model and would buy nothing from them but books. The way FCI did business was one of the reasons why third party grading came on the market.
    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • dengadenga Posts: 903 ✭✭✭
    When I saw Don at FirstCoinvestors it was clear that he was not entirely a happy camper at that firm although
    there were no direct criticisms. There were special phones set up so that high-rolling clients could call him
    directly about this or that matter and I gathered that Don was not especially thrilled with this aspect; some of
    the callers were apparently a pain to deal with. In my dealings with him he was a stickler for accuracy and
    integrity and perhaps something happened to cause him to leave that firm; it appears not to have been an
    amiable separation.

    Denga
  • jmski52jmski52 Posts: 22,305 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Dang! That's very interesting.image
    Q: Are You Printing Money? Bernanke: Not Literally

    I knew it would happen.
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 45,301 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Sometimes the coin personalities are more interesting than the coins.image

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.

  • MidLifeCrisisMidLifeCrisis Posts: 10,504 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Sometimes the coin personalities are more interesting than the coins.image >>


    Funny, but true.
  • Purple73Purple73 Posts: 2,016
    I was going to say Russ , I know he is nerdy but never met him in real life so I really dont know how far his Nerdiness goes.
  • LongacreLongacre Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭
    It's not Longacre (no smoking jacket).
    Always took candy from strangers
    Didn't wanna get me no trade
    Never want to be like papa
    Working for the boss every night and day
    --"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)

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