THE NEW YORK NUMISMATIC SCENE IN THE 1930S

Conducting auctions from his 8-10 West 37th Street offices was veteran dealer Thomas L. Elder, a New York and national numismatic leader since he set up business in the city in 1904. Elder was as prolific an issuer of auction catalogues as he was of medals and metallic business cards. An irascible and outspoken personality, he was renowned for his verbal interchanges with other dealers, ANA leader Farran Zerbe, and even auction bidders in his own sales. He had no problem calling out that a bidder the saleroom was a 'deadbeat' if he had a long-unpaid bill.

Elder would try to sell his business during 1933 but failed to attract a buyer. A few years later he would relocate to Pleasantville in suburban Westchester County. Ever original, Elder advertised 'Super- Vegetables, We Sell the Seed' in the April 1933 issue of The Numismatist, journal of the ANA, along with a notice of 'A Fine Bungalow in the Blue Mountains at Tryon, N.C.' which was presumably his own. The Depression was biting in for everyone.

Still at work in the city, though hard hit by the events of 1929, was Julius Guttag of Guttag Brothers, whose pioneer efforts in cataloguing Latin American coins and Hard Times tokens were a lasting legacy for future collectors. Across the city were dealers in antiques and foreign exchange who would provide material for up-and-coming younger men just making their mark in coin dealing, such as Abe Kosoff and a few years later, John J. Ford Jr.

Conducting numismatic auctions outside New York City could be found the famous paper money dealer Barney Bluestone of Syracuse, N.Y.; Arline French in Garden City, N.Y.; Norman Schultz of Salt Lake City and Charles H. Fisher of Cleveland, Ohio, conducted events large and small.

No longer active in auctions but a continuing advertiser in The Numismatist was the aged Henry Chapman of Philadelphia, whose advertisements included the proud assertion, 'I am ANA member 28.' In Orangeville, Illinois could be found the well-established M.H. Bolender, who when not conducting mail-bid sales was a schoolteacher, and in Philadelphia was William Rabin.

To read the complete article, see: Remember When: Stack's, A Numismatic Saga Part 2 (stacksbowers.com/Blogs/remember-when-stacks-numismatic-saga.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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