One day in the 1970s a gentleman came to my office, then in Los Angeles, and introduced himself as Oscar Pearl. I asked if he was the Oscar Pearl whose collection of large copper cents was offered at fixed prices by Numismatic Gallery (Abe Kosoff and Abner Kreisberg) in 1944. He verified that he was one in the same. We chatted about his earlier involvement.

Oscar began his career in New York as a banker, then went to work for Burroughs, a maker of business equipment, after which he set up a successful dealership in used equipment. After selling his cents he continued to collect, but quietly. He moved to Italy where he became involved in some sort of situation in which he preferred anonymity for his own safety. By the 1970s that had cleared, he was back in the United States, and all was well. He consigned coins to us which we sold at auction. I do not recall hearing from him after that. No doubt he contacted some others as well, who may have information today.

I met Oscar Pearl in the office in New York during my apprenticeship. Though he sold his collection through Numismatic Galleries (Kosoff and Kriesberg) he always had interest in Large Cents. He would meet Dr. Wiiliam Sheldon occasionally at Stack's, discuss the copper coins, and I believe he contributed to Early American Cents by Sheldon, did work for the Society as a researcher, but I do not remember him much after that. The name was legendary in Large Cents and I do remember people like Bareford, Doug Smith, Louis Werner and others of that period who considered him as a source of information for their collections.