ARTICLE PROFILES DR. ARNOLD R. SASLOW

Arnold R. Saslow calls his place Ye Olde Curiositie Shoppe. It's in South Orange and it's worth a trip to get a handle on what he actually does there - but getting a handle on the man is also part of the kick.

Saslow once had a fine career as an epidemiologist, but now he is a professional numismatist and antiquarian, collecting the rare, the unusual and the ancient. He buys and sells domestic and foreign coins, stamps and paper money, the bread and butter of his business. But he's also into Greek and Roman, Egyptian and Judean ancient coins and antiquities, pre-Columbian and African and ethnographic objects.

"I'm kind of a crazy guy,'' Saslow said. "If I like something and it makes sense, I buy it.''

Like the skull of a prehistoric cave bear 30,000 years old - recently sold. One of the chariots from the "Ben Hur" movie set was a prize catch, but he had to leave it at the auction house. The thing was too big to fit through the front door of his store.

Saslow goes with the flow, collecting a hodgepodge of items that are as curious as the man himself. His ring tone plays "Indiana Jones" theme music. Money in his wallet is face up, sequential in order and facing in the same direction. He's a witty, intelligent 69-year-old guy, who'll mix up the names of his kids, but he'll remember 40 Roman emperors in a row and tell you when they ruled and the names of their children.

Remember the movie "Outbreak,'' in which an infectious disease specialist tried to contain a deadly virus? Saslow did that kind of work for real with the Center For Disease Control when he was stationed in Alaska from 1968 to 1971. From there he did research on infectious diseases with the University of Pittsburgh before joining the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. He led field trials there for the pneumovax vaccine, exhausting work that caused him to burn out and take a sabbatical.

It was a trip to London that led him to change careers. Saslow was checking out auction shows in London and met Ira Goldberg, a Beverly Hills coin dealer who asked for Saslow's help in representing his company at auctions in Europe. From 1977 to 1980, Saslow traveled the world, buying and selling ancient rare coins on behalf of Goldberg's company. He got up to speed learning the multibillion-dollar industry from experts and attending hundreds of auctions. He feasted on exhibits and an untold number of auction catalogues at the Louvre, at British museums and other institutions.

When he came back to the States, Saslow started out on his own, dealing privately in Greek and Roman coins and art. He opened his current store in 1993 after a short stint working out of a gallery in New York.

"Most people know a little bit about everything in our business,'' said Economopoulous, co-owner of Pegasi Numismatics, a company with offices in Pennsylvania and Michigan that buys and sells ancient coins. "But he knows a lot about a lot of things.''

"I'm interested in the history of mankind,'' Saslow said. "Everything from the Stone Age right down to modern times. Anything that anyone has ever seen in a museum that I happen to like, if somebody offered it to me, I'd probably buy it. Then I would worry about selling it later.''

To read the complete article, see: Carter: From African tribal masks to Samurai swords, South Orange curiosity shop buys and sells it all (blog.nj.com/njv_barry_carter/2012/06/carter_from_african_tribal_mas.html)

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