The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 43, October 26, 2003, Article 9

BENJAMIN MAXIMILLIAN MEHL ARTICLE

  The Fort Worth, Texas Star-Telegram recently published
  an article about the city's prolific coin promoter, B. Max
  Mehl.

  "A small, lively Fort Worth man gained an international
  reputation as a rare-coin dealer, a reputation that lasted
  through much of the 20th century and still exists posthumously.
  His name was B. Max Mehl."

  "Mehl was also a natural advertising and public-relations
  expert. Born in Lithuania in 1884, he started in the United
  States as a teen-age shoe clerk. But he was always interested
  in rare coins. It was in December 1903 that he ran his first
  coin advertisement in the Numismatist magazine. The next
  March he published a booklet called Catalogue of Fine
  Selections of Choice United States Gold, Silver and Copper
  Coins, Private and Territorial Gold, United States Fractional
  Currency. This was possibly his  first publication, (and
  certainly the one with his longest title).

  Soon, he began publishing his own monthly magazine. He
  even started a radio program beamed to countless coin and
  stamp collectors avidly listening to this brand new broadcast
  medium.

  By 1910, his innovative advertising caused the Fort Worth
  Post Office to double the number of mail carriers on Mehl's
  route. Mail addressed to him that first year accounted for
  more than half the business of the Fort Worth postal system."

  "The headquarters of B. Max Mehl's coin and catalog business,
  which he built in 1924, is still a south Fort Worth landmark on
  the corner of Henderson Street and Magnolia Avenue. The
  brick-and-limestone, three-story building has a unique design. '
  B. Max Mehl's name is prominently inscribed in the limestone
  in the center of the building.

  The building is scheduled for renovation and is listed on the
  National Register of Historic Places as well as being on Fort
  Worth's list of Most Significant Buildings."

  To read the complete article, see
  http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/7074077.htm

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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