"I'm sure every major dealer can list one or more celebrities that he knows has purchased numismatic items. Here is what I have learned in dealing with celebrities:

• 1) Honor their privacy (Bill Rosenblum in last week's E-Sylum was 100% right).
• 2) Learn to schmooze with them (they enjoy conversing with knowledgeable people on mutual interests).
• 3) Never, never, never take them off your mailing list. Often they have shifting interests, which may be numismatics this week, rare books next week, and something else next month. But I found after one large purchase, and then a long dry spell, they may come back even three or four years later and, with rekindled numismatic interest, would make another major acquisition.

Malcolm Forbes bought medals from our auction catalogs. The bids would often come in telephone calls from secretaries. While his secretaries were more sophisticated than most, I dealt with some who did not understand reduced bidding and wondered why their boss won the item at less than the bid the secretary had submitted.

I will mention three celebrity coin collectors from radio broadcasting: Chris Schenkel (Bowers and Merena sold his collection), Paul Harvey (still on the air) and Robert Elliott (of Bob and Ray) fame."