Walter Breen is gone and should be forgotten.

The post on Water Breen, Stanley Apfelbaum, and his ads in Coin World brought back memories to me. In 1975 I decided to sell most of my coins, and just collect numismatic literature. I chose Apfelbaum's firm to do that.

For some reason, even though there were other consigners, Apfelbaum, and/or Herb Melnick decided to name the sale catalog after me. Soon full page ads started to appear in Coin World, which was MUCH larger at that time. At first I was thrilled to see my name in such bold print but after the 3rd or 4th week, I started to be a bit embarrassed by all that publicity.

However name recognization seems to long endure. A year or two ago my brother from California was deer hunting in Kansas. At a dinner he started to speak with a man next to him. The man asked his name, and he said Ralph Hirt. The man asked about his family, and was told. "I have a brother David" The man then said "Oh, the rich coin collector!!" My brother answered, "Well, I guess Dave is doing ok, but I don't think he is rich.

Following up on David Alexander’s note in the last E-Sylum regarding Breen’s use of “piece de merde” in Coin World - an examination of issues from 1965 indicates that Breen’s final installment in the ”Bristles and Barbs” column was in the August 18, 1965 issue, titled “Collectors Should Beware in Buying Treasure Gold.” A check of that and several columns previous did not reveal the existence of “merde,” or any other vulgar language. While there is no reason to doubt Alexander’s memory of his discussion with Coin World staffer Jay Guren, the story may be apocryphal.