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by Wayne Homren, 12 Feb 1995
I thought I'd post another diary on my visit to the Long Beach show last weekend.
I arrived at LAX on schedule and was greeted by fellow bibliophile and COINS-list member Bill Yost of Anaheim. We'd never met in person, but had exchanged several email messages and phone calls. Bill and his wife were kind enough to invite me to their home for dinner, where I had a chance to peruse Bill's numismatic library.
I stayed at the Long Beach Rennaisance Hotel. If my room was any indication, the place was a bit frayed about the edges. But it served the purpose and sat just across the street from the new Long Beach Convention Center. I walked over just before 10am Friday to be there when the coin show doors opened to the public. The new lobby carpet had a "wave" design, and believe me, it's enough to make a body seasick if you look at it too long.
Helen Carmody was staffing the information booth and I asked her to let Walt Ostromecki know I'd arrived. Walt had invited me to the show to present the "Improving Your Coin Club" seminar. 33 people were preregistered, and I was looking forward to meeting them.
I stopped at Paul Koppenhaver's table to see the group of 1792 patterns on display. Gorgeous pieces, most with pedigrees as long as your arm. The 1792 "fusible alloy" cent was ex- Virgil Brand, Lorin Parmelee, and the Norweb family. There was a silver-center cent, half disme, disme, and three Washington pieces, a silver half dollar and two pattern cents in copper. I still prefer the 1783 Nova Constellatio pattern set, but this would make a nice consolation prize. . . . The set was not for sale. Anybody know who owns it?
John Bergman had a display of numismatic literature in the back of the hall. Nearby was Art Rubino with an even larger display. I bought a number of items from each dealer. John had an advance copy of the Champa II sale catalog, and I spent a good hour reviewing it, making a list of items for bid on at the sale next month.
Jack Collins stopped by the table and showed me part of the manuscript for his upcoming book on the 1794 dollar. Later I found a dealer with a beautiful 1-cent White the Hatter encased postage stamp for sale. I need one for my collection, and made a deal to purchase it in installments. My tastes have long outgrown my budget, but this will help.
Back at Bergman's table, Dan Hamelberg stopped by. Dan's numismatic library is to die for, and has just been expanded by his purchases at the Champa I sale. That evening Dan and his wife Connie and I had a great dinner at a nearby restaurant, then saw the Culver City Civic Light Opera rendition of West Side Story. An old friend is the show's producer, and she gave me a set of tickets for opening night. It was good to see her, and the show was fun, too.
Saturday morning I reviewed my notes for the seminar, and helped Walt arrange the room. 41 people showed up. After we got thru the interminable welcome speeches by the big shots who later vamoosed, the group was able to get down to business. I think it went well, and Walt says all the comments were positive so far. I'm really glad. I hope the clubs have some success. Beth Deisher spent a good bit of time covering the seminar, so there may be some mention of it in an upcoming Coin World.
Exhausted after leading the 4-hour seminar, I got together for dinner with Bill Yost and John and Mary Bergman. We went to a place called Chicago Ribs, and boy, did that hit the spot. It was an early night, since I had to catch a 6am shuttle to the airport.
Running into Mark Borchart of Bowers and Merena in the lobby, I learned that the show was pretty slow for them. However, the firm's January sales were better than ever, so the hobby must be doing something right. ANA Executive Director Bob Leuver got into the shuttle and shared a seat with me. We talked about a number of ANA-related topics.
After spending three days under sunny, 90-degree skies, my return to Pittsburgh was a shock. It was about 5 degrees the first winter storm had dumped 6 inches of snow on my car. Yuck. But the trip was well worth it, and I hope to go again someday.
I forgot to mention one of the coins in the Heritage auction at the Long Beach show--the 1795 Half Dollar from the Lord St. Oswald collection. This coin was purchased at the Philadelphia Mint in 1795. It went into a coin collection and stayed there until the 1960's. The piece is uncirculated, of course.
I sat down at the lot viewing tables and asked to see the coin. Hey--a guy can dream, can't he? The coin was surprisingly short on eye appeal. The manufacturing process of 1795 left a lot to be desired. The planchet and strike are uneven, and large die breaks mar the fields. The coin looks much less appealing in person than in the photograph.
Still, it's a wonderful coin and would be a highlight of any collection. I missed the auction, so I don't know whether it sold or how much it brought.
The MS-65 1795 "Lord St. Oswald" half dollar auctioned by Heritage at the Long Beach show brought $92,400 (including "buyer's fee"), according to Numismatic News.
Wayne Homren
from Dan Freidus, 13 Feb 1995
Wayne mentioned seeing the Lord St. Oswald 1795 half dollar. That it was purchased directly from the mint in 1795 turns out to be a fable, or at least a contrived story which may be plausible but is not documented in any way. When Wayne wrote this he probably hadn't seen the newest issue of The Asylum yet (I just got mine yesterday.) In it, Mike Hodder has an article in which he discusses research he and Jack Collins did which shows that the Lord St. Oswald whose collection was auctioned off in the early 60s was not alive in 1795, having been born almost a century later. Indeed, the only member of the family who might have had a chance to visit in 1795 was a young man who was also quite sickly and not likely to have taken such a long journey. For the details, I suggest you read either the article (the Numismatic Bibliomania Society is one of the great numismatic clubs) or wait for Jack Collins' book.
By the way, Wayne also has an article in the same issue encouraging everyone to get onto email via Internet or commecrcial services. We should all consider putting something like this in our local numismatic journals or specialized journals. We'd all benefit from the increased ease of communication. Thanks, Wayne, for taking the time to do that.
Dan Freidus
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