The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 15, April 11, 2004, Article 14

AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE DUPONTS

  Alan Luedeking writes: "On Friday April 2, I was fortunate
  enough to be invited to box seats at the Nasdaq 100 Open
  in Key Biscayne. As I settled down to watch the men's
  semi-final match, I was introduced to a couple sitting in front
  of me, who turned out to be none other than Willis H. DuPont
  and his wife Miren.

  Between changeovers I couldn't resist mentioning coins to
  him. I congratulated him on his recent recovery of the 1866
  no-motto dollar. I then ventured to ask him if he still collected
  now and was disappointed to learn that he does not. He did
  tell me that his favorite recovery thus far has been the
  Linderman '04, and that of the still missing pieces, the one
  he'd most like to get back is the Stella.  This came as a bit of
  a surprise to me. I had expected him to mention some exotic
  colonial coin or pioneer gold piece, or maybe something from
  the Mikhailovich collection.  I must in fairness say that the
  subject of his lost coins is very far from Mr. DuPont's favorite.
  As he is an extremely low-key gentleman, not at all prone to
  overindulging in conversation, it took me much longer than it
  should have to pick up on this fact.  As a result, I'm afraid he
  did not enjoy the company of his box-mate nearly as much
  as I did the pleasure of meeting him and his lovely wife. In
  hindsight, I regret having importuned him with my questions,
  but who could pass up the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of
  talking coins to the man who owned the greatest coin
  collection ever stolen?  Let's hope he eventually gets all of his
  coins back, though after nearly 37 years the prospects are
  indeed grim. (For those who'd like to know a bit more about
  this collection and the circumstances surrounding its robbery,
  I suggest Edward C. Rochette's excellent article in the
  February 2000 issue of The Numismatist)."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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