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V11 2008 INDEX
E-SYLUM ARCHIVE
REMINISCENCES OF JOHN BERGMAN
George Vanca of Santa Clarita, CA forwarded these
recollections of his dealings with numismatic literature dealer John
Bergman. -Editor
I began collecting Numismatic books in 1996. One of
the first dealers I came in contact with was John Bergman who usually had
a booth at the Long Beach Coin Show. Even though I was new to the field,
he answered my questions and took the time to explain things in a
straightforward and easy going manner. I remember him talking to me as
other seasoned collectors entered his booth and he finished up with me
first before helping the others.I collected Bowers-related periodicals and John had a clean set of "The Bowers Review", which was the first purchase I made from him. He contacted me at a later date when he acquired a run of "The Empire Review," which I also purchased, through the mail. He had asked me to let him know which "Empire Topics" I was missing and once sent me one of the issues in the mail, gratis. Over the next few months, he helped me fill in the remaining "holes" in my blossoming collection.
John was a "Gentle Giant", who had a warm smile on his face, a wealth of information, and took the time to talk to, and answer the questions of, a young numismatic bibliophile. He is sorely missed.
"Gentle Giant" is a wonderfully apt description of Bergman.
He had a heart of gold, a real Teddy Bear of a bibliophile. But he was
quick to speak his mind and could be counted on for complete honesty even
if it might ruffle a few feathers. I recall him talking about some of the
numismatic auction catalogs that Armand Champa had rebound, using say, a
cover from one copy and the text from a second. The polite bibliographic
term for such books is "sophisticated". John Bergman's term was "boogered
up".
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.
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