I enjoyed the article on Colonel Ned Green. I had never read too much about him, except his ownership of the 1913 nickels. I have read about his mother Hetty. I don't believe she was really as evil as her reputation paints her. She just had this thing in her about not spending money, except as a tool to make more money, at which she was brilliant.

If she was on the street and saw you slip and fall, she probably would be the first to help you up and see if she could aid you, as long as she did not have to spend any money. She probably inherited these traits from her father who once refused a gift of a 10 cent cigar. He said he was happy smoking 4 cent cigars, and was afraid if he smoked the 10 cent one, he would not like the 4 cent ones any more.

I found the Colonel Green/Eric Newman material utterly fascinating. Would that Eric could reminisce about his dealings with the legendary dealers' dealer, B. G. Johnson of St. Louis. I certainly would welcome learning more about Johnson and his activities.

I've seen B. G. Johnson's name referred to often enough that on more than one occasion I've wondered about his dealing activities. What was his background before becoming a dealer? Was his business in St. Louis conducted from an office or a shop (I assume the former)? When did he flourish? What was his background prior to becoming a dealer? Was he in effect a midwestern Wayte Raymond in his importance although minus Raymond's publishing and auction activities? Was he involved in other major "name" deals apart from the Colonel Green estate? Was his dealing primarily with other dealers rather than with individual collectors? Who were some of these principal dealer counterparts (I believe, for example, that Ran Zander in his early dealing days acquired a great deal of material from Johnson)? What were his specialties as a dealer?, etc., etc.

While I am generally familiar with American numismatic literature, I am not intimately familiar with it, so perhaps the answers to some of my questions concerning this eminence grise of the dealing profession already exist in print.