When you were a younger numismatist did you have someone to mentor you?

bidask · September 13, 2011 12:08PM

When I was in my young 20's something I use to hang out at the coin shows at the table of Harry Forman.
That was when Steve Ivy and David Hall were proprietors dealing in coins.
He would let me stay at his table and we would talk for hours ...though I would shut up when another collector or dealer came to
his table to do business.
He use to give me coins to show and sell on the bourse.......and when I did he tipped me nicely too.
Making $50-100 in a few hours was a big deal for me then.
I learned alot in the art of negotiation and what dealers and collectors bought and sold and what they liked in coins.

An annual ANA award is named after him.

Here is a blurb on Harry:

The award is named in honor of Harry J. Forman, a Philadelphia coin dealer, author and ANA Life Member who died in March 2008. Together with partner Ruth Bauer, he ran the firm of Forman and Bauer, Inc., a respected mail-order coin business. Forman was active in increasing ANA membership and encouraging donations to the Money Museum, and became the Association’s first “grand patron” in 1982. He received the ANA’s Glenn Smedley Memorial Award in 1998, the Numismatist of the Year Award in 2000 and the Association’s highest honor, the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award, in 2001.

Do you have somene you would call a mentor?

Why?

lkeigwin · September 13, 2011 12:17PM

<< Do you have somene you would call a mentor? >>

My older brother. If I touched any of his coins he'd kick my butt. One day I spent a 1909-S Lincoln he left on his bedspread. Bought a gumball. 50 years later I replaced it with a nice XF45. He wrote back, "Thanks...it fills an old hole."

Pricey gumball.
Lance.

LotsoLuck · September 13, 2011 12:31PM

The closest I got to having a mentor was the guys that owned/worked at Yosemite Coins in Fresno Ca.

RedTiger · September 13, 2011 12:33PM

No I did not. If a "teacher" would have appeared, I was too arrogant and full of myself to have made much use of said teacher.

291fifth · September 13, 2011 12:41PM

No.

keyman64 · September 13, 2011 12:52PM

Nope. Learned mostly on my own without too many mistakes thank goodness. Although, I would say I have learned a lot from just hanging around here for the last 18 months or so...probably more than I learned in the past 30 or so years.

WTCG · September 13, 2011 1:45PM

Never had a true mentor and if anything I had a few "foils" I had to deal with along the way. I wasn't even remotely offered a job anywhere numismatic until about 2003 and the company that did is one of the top TPG companies. I won't name that company but it wasn't NGC.

Over the years I did have a few dealers here and there offer me some excellent advice and assistance. Many of those dealers are the ones I have a great working relationship with today.

TwoSides2aCoin · September 13, 2011 2:35PM

Never had a mentor , just a red book.

GoldenEyeNumismatics · September 13, 2011 2:41PM

Yes, I had (and still have) a few.

Coinosaurus · September 13, 2011 2:47PM

When I was young we learned the old fashioned way - getting screwed by the unscrupulous neighborhood coin dealer

Nowadays it's all hand holding and "everyone gets to be a winner."

Edited to add: this is a lot funnier if you use the right tone of voice

Myqqy · September 13, 2011 3:07PM

I wish i had had a mentor- there was 1 local coin shop in my town growing up, and my parents would take me there on weekends so i could buy neat little seated dimes or indian head cents.... but nobody felt like spending the time with me to show me the way of coins.... wankers...

TwoSides2aCoin · September 13, 2011 3:07PM

I wish I had stayed in coins since I was young. I had over a quarter century break.

Myqqy · September 13, 2011 3:24PM

<< I wish I had stayed in coins since I was young. I had over a quarter century break >>

I feel the same way- i was collecting from ages 7 to 12, and then i dropped out with little support around me... and then i got back into it around age 30... i could have been a numismatic genius!!!!

edix2001 · September 13, 2011 3:50PM

No, we just had our own coin collecting youth gang.

magikbilly · September 13, 2011 3:56PM

Oh yes, the old man down the block who liked selling Morgans from old red and white Chinese soup containers (with the wax paper) for $10 each taught me quickly about (what was then) called MS63 and MS65, toning and more. He told me was was ripping me off, so he let me choose. I did. Then there was a small dealer who worked in a Woolworth was it? He also liked to rip me off. He lost his little counter after a while and was selling from his house for some reason. I imagine I learned the "new math." My dad watched me turn a borrowed $10 into $80 in 15 minutes. The look on his face was priceless. I remember another slightly more established dealer who did not care about the numerical grades. This guy had a shop for years (then, he did not for some reason). Me? I cared about the new grades! I remember picking Gem Mercs from rolls (before they went into the back room for mass cleansing and dipping). One dime was $5 and I sold it for $60 or $70? Those were the days and I was about 10 years old? Thereabouts.

A few years later on, the buyer of all this had the "first" "slabbed" coins in vinyl pouches with b/w pictures and a removable coin from the ANA. First one he had was a 21-D Morgan in MS63. And a few years after, hard slabs came out. I recall buying a 1947 25C in MS67 from this dealer. He smiled as I handed him $20? and said "...that is just a 1947 quarter, and will never be anything else." His business is still there but he has long since died. The quarter seems to have done fine.

Eric

Edited to add: The gut with the soup containers did not believe in numerical grading either and took $ off for toning.

NumbersUsacom · September 13, 2011 4:48PM

Yes The Q man but only through his articles in the coin magazines I began to purchase when I was 13.

I've sincerly enjoyed all his articles and books through the years and hope that we continue to have individuals as he

who can write so interstingly about Coins and the hobby as a whole.

Thank You Mr. Bowers.

atarian · September 13, 2011 5:02PM

Not one person that i can name. Ive been here since 2003 so thats an age of 20 till now ( 28 ) . Ive learned from many . Some good some bad things. Biggest things ive learned here is on one end follow your dreams and collect what you want. and the other is there will always been some jerk that will try to bring you down and belittle you about what you like, do or collect. part of the hobby. On the paper side I can think of a few big time helpers. on the coin side just a group more than a few people.

to everyone who helped in a positive way thank you . and to those who were a negative busy body. get bent.

Im thankful many more nice people than bad.

CircOnly · September 13, 2011 7:25PM

At the age of 27 and only being in the hobby for a little over a year, I would like to think I could still find a mentor in the truest sense of the word. I have looked to a few members here for questions and advice and so far have not been disappointed. Their advice is much appreciated and invaluable.

mommam17 · September 13, 2011 8:00PM

Ray Mercer was my mentor. Commem expert.

ricko · September 13, 2011 8:43PM

No. There were no slabs or numerical grades then. Just raw coins. Collecting from change was the only way where I grew up. Lots of fun. Cheers, RickO

gonzer · September 13, 2011 9:31PM

I was fortunate (Very!) to have Lonesome John Devine take time to educate me.

Neca63 · September 13, 2011 10:38PM

Most certainly. As a young numismatist, I was fortunate to have some pretty good teachers and contributors..

My brother who got me started collecting coins in 1956.
The lady that unknowingly gave me a 1955 double die cent in my 1st grade lunch change in 1959.
Mort Goodman and Syd Kass, who when creating NECA taught me how to classify and attribute Double dies. 1963-65.
Walter Breen, who probably knew more than anyone else, and taught me about grading, die varieties, die marriages, and obsoletes. 1963-71.
Arnie Margolis the error coin maestro who was always willing to show, share, and explain error coins to me. 1967-71.
The many knowledgeable and helpful members of the Crown Point Ind. Coin Club that taught me all kinds of interesting numismatic stuff in 1963-65.

I was fortunate to have met many dealers, experts and specialists over the years that were kind enough to contribute to my understanding of numismatics.

And, I am still learning from the many dedicated numismatic historians, contributors, and writers that are still adding to the field of knowledge.

I thank them all.

WestySteve · September 13, 2011 10:44PM

Heck no!

I got ripped off by flea market vendors, coin shops, and the like more than a few times as part of my education. I often wondered if the hobby was killing itself with such flim-flammery on the noobs. Eventually, I got the hang of it.

I'm sure the learning curve isn't as expensive now that we have TPGs.

Steve

Broadstruck · September 13, 2011 11:07PM

I've been trying to remember mine and think it was Fred Jenkins out of Atlanta back in the late 80's early 90's

I'll have to confirm with Larry Shepherd if I have the name right as he recommended I call him.
Anyhow he could talk commems and I was never able to squeeze in a word nor did I want too.
If I called him back in the days of no long distance plans a 4 hour conversation was the norm.

Greeniejr · September 13, 2011 11:08PM

I had a Henway teach me a hell of a lot about grading and attribution.

BBN · September 14, 2011 12:13AM

<< 

<< I wish I had stayed in coins since I was young. I had over a quarter century break >>

I feel the same way- i was collecting from ages 7 to 12, and then i dropped out with little support around me... and then i got back into it around age 30... i could have been a numismatic genius!!!!

>>

Yeah, but "tail" was more important to me and I'm sure you from 13-30 and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

*edit to add: And now at 41, if I had to permenantly forfeit "tail" for coins, well, you can keep the coins.

kiyote · September 14, 2011 1:13AM

I was alone-- I had to fend for myself! No one taught me anything. Conversely, I never learned anything and never became a professional numismatist.

PerryHall · September 14, 2011 4:53AM

Is there anyone here that was mentored by Walter Breen?

relicsncoins · September 14, 2011 5:04AM

I never was a numismatist.........just a collector.

BillJones · September 14, 2011 5:13AM

No, I'm almost 100% self-taught.

The closest I had to a mentor was an old gentleman, Ernest Kraus, who was the manager of the coin department at the Philadelphia Gimbel’s Department Store in the mid 1960s. He gave me advice early on and offered me a job there when I was 16 years old. I couldn’t take it because I lived 100 miles away.

oreville · September 14, 2011 5:18AM

When I was 18, I was fortunate enough to have both Emory and Ambassador Norweb be my mentors. While he was not the collector, he took pleasure seeing Emory in her glory and did participate.

We brown bagged lunch nearly every week and sometimes twice a week in downtown Cleveland in the 1970's. I am saddened that I did not yet fully appreciate what Emory tried to teach me back then.

magikbilly · September 14, 2011 7:07AM

<< Is there anyone here that was mentored by Walter Breen? >>

NO. No, no. But, I wrote to Walter about Carson City Branch Mint Proof Morgans. He had some handwriting (and I had one a killer and unusual 82-CC). Mirrors you could dive into, frosting you could lick and rims to shave with. A coin that looked like it came from Millers book!

Eric

kiyote · September 14, 2011 8:19AM

<< Is there anyone here that was mentored by Walter Breen? >>

Ugh...

magikbilly · September 14, 2011 8:24AM

Hi Kiyote,

sounds like Gef has been hanging out with Charlie Sheen!

Eric

RYK · September 14, 2011 8:28AM

Even as a middle age numismatist, I have mentors. Unless you know more than everyone else in your specialty and everything there is to know, there is always someone who knows more and has more experience.

AUandAG · September 14, 2011 8:44AM

No humans, but Mr. Yeoman came in handy!

bob

JBatDavidLawrence · September 14, 2011 11:51AM

This is a great topic!

I was luck enough that my father helped (forced) me into coin collecting (he didn't care for my baseball cards) and got me extremely involved with the hobby. They were actually just awarded Glen Smedley Medals this year due to their volunteering in the hobby.

I was really mentored by the Greenville (SC) Coin Club and the South Carolina Numismatic Association. I had the opportunity to meet John Jay Pittman, Stephen Taylor (past ANA President), Grover Criswell, and scores of other legendary numismatists when I was a very young man and I am very thankful for the time that I spent growing up there.
My mother and father drove me 30-45 miles every Tuesday night to the Greenville Coin Club and that was a great experience even though I was often the only YN there. (Maybe that's why they received the award????)

After scholarship trips to the ANA Summer Seminar and to many ANA's the influences of Gail Baker (Pistareen's mother), James Taylor (past ANA Education director) and many others helped me to realize that one day I'd like a career as a coin dealer.

There were so many people that were supportive and influential in my direction and I am very thankful for each person. It's amazing how accepting the hobby was of me and I'm thankful for those who taught me to grade coins at the ANA Summer Seminar (Don Bonser and Bill Shamhart come to mind).

Lastly, I will forever be indebted to the fact that Spectrum Numismatics hired a kid that was giving up on a free graduate degree at Emory University to come work in their trading room. Having Greg Roberts, Bobby Hughes, Kerry Pieropan, and Dale Larsen around me every day was a tremendous learning experience.

Luckily I also had the privilege to move back home to be with my family to Virginia Beach, where I work with John Feigenbaum at David Lawrence Rare Coins. John is a great guy and I truly appreciate his business and numismatic acumen. It's a joy to work there and I love my career as a professional numismatist.

If there was ever an opportunity to hire a YN or to mentor one, I would definitely want to give back as that was the only way that I was able to fulfill a future career in the hobby.

OldEastside · September 14, 2011 12:29PM

Ya, I had many from Santa Barbara to the San Fernando Valley,
There was Bob and Ron and his guys on W. Figueroa St. in the
early 70's to Duane and Ron and Roger in the West San Fernando
Valley into the 90's, they all had good advice to that young cute
kid on the motorcycle in levis and the T-Shirt, that could'nt afford
anything exept Nickels, HE HE, I'll never forget them, the've done
me well.

Thats just to name a few.

Steve

Bayard1908 · September 14, 2011 12:40PM

<< When I was young we learned the old fashioned way - getting screwed by the unscrupulous neighborhood coin dealer

>>

When you were a younger numismatist did you have someone to mentor you?

Comments

Leave a Comment