The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 52, December 29, 2002, Article 4

KENNETH RENDELL QUIZ ANSWER

  In response to last week's quiz question about Ken Rendell,
  P. Scott Rubin summed up the answer neatly as follows:
  "Rendell was a coin dealer before he was an autograph
  dealer.  Well known during his time in the numismatic
  field."

  Mark Borchardt writes: "Ken was very closely connected to
  numismatics in the late 1950s. He and Dave Bowers were
  very close friends, and remain good friends today.  Ken
  issued a fixed price list of copper coins around 1958 or so.
  A couple years ago, I bid on a lot in a mail order auction,
  the lot being described as a single copy of Ken's price list of
  large cents.  When I got the lot, I actually received two
  copies of this list. After contacting Ken regarding this, and
  learning that he did not have a copy of his own fixed price
  list, I forwarded the second copy to him.  Ken was an early
  member of numismatics' Rittenhouse Society, and recently
  attended one of the annual ANA breakfast meetings (in
  Chicago in 1999)."

  Dick Johnson elaborates: "Ken Rendell was a teenage coin
  collector who attended the 1952 ANA convention in New
  York City.  At that convention a small group of similarly-aged
  enthusiasts met for the first time.  We all became life-long
  friends. That group consisted of Ken Bressett, Dave Bowers,
  Walter Breen, George Fuld, Grover Criswell, Ken Rendell
  and myself.  Each of us have made our own contributions to
  numismatics in our own way.  Later we formalized that close-
  knit association by forming the Rittenhouse Society (named
  after the first Director of the U.S. Mint).

  This organization still exists today with only one new member
  added a year. We are not as snooty as this exclusivity sounds,
  however.  Our original intent was -- and that tenet continues
  to the present -- to encourage young enthusiasts to really
  become interested in numismatics enough to make a significant
  contribution to the field.  I would be hard pressed to
  enumerate the total number of books and articles Rittenhouse
  Society members have published.

  One of my proudest moments was to vote with my peers into
  Rittenhouse Society membership two years ago your E-Sylum
  editor, Wayne Homren. This is exactly the caliber of person
  it takes to become a candidate for membership.  And in no
  small part have you, the subscribers to E-Sylum, thrust on
  Wayne the responsibility he so adequately fulfills.  Wayne
  helped bring us old-timers and numismatics into the 21st
  century with his electronic medium!

  I don't believe Ken Rendell's feet touch the ground -- he is still
  in constant motion.  My last phone call with him had to be
  scheduled in advance with his secretary and it came from a
  cell phone in a taxicab in New York City between trips with
  clients, auction houses and his retail establishment on 57th
  Street in NYC.  He has long since reached the pinnacle in his
  second chosen field, that of autographs and documents.  His
  first love was coins, as it was with that small group of
  youngsters over fifty years ago!"

  [You never know what E-Sylum readers will come up with.
  That was very interesting.  All I had in mind to mention was
  Rendell's Fixed Price List on Hard Times Tokens.  I wonder
  if Ken has one of those in his files?   I know I do, but I'm
  having trouble locating it.  It's in one of my ephemera binders,
  I just don't know which one...   I don't think I've seen
  Rendell's large cent FPL.  Heck, I may already have one of
  those somewhere, too.  -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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