NEIL SHAFER'S COIN SHOP TALES

The various letters about Chicago coin shops intrigued me since I, too, went around to many of them as a youngster in the mid-1940s. Here's whom I remember: On Saturday after my violin lesson I would tuck the case under my arm and hop the streetcar to the Loop, as downtown Chicago is known, was not far from where I had the lesson. I went to Ben's Stamp and Coin where Harlan Berk is now and went through the dime box of world stuff, always finding a few I wanted.

On south Dearborn there were some- L. Ronning was a favorite as he had great stuff in his misc. boxes, James P. Randall was not much of a place for me as he had such high-priced things in his window like early U.S. gold. I recall Lou Castelli, I believe upstairs somewhere. Leonard Stark was one I met somewhat later as I believe he was not among the earlier dealers there. Tommy Ryan and John G. Ross were others that I believe I also met later on. There was also Bebee on south 63rd street but I never got out there while he was in Chicago.

Krasowski at Kraso Coins way out on 95th St. used to attend some sort of meetings - maybe it was Chicago Coin Club, which Dick Yeo, Ken Bressett and I used to go to regularly. Those were fine meetings with many of the stalwarts that occupied the Chicago numismatic arena for years.

There was someplace upstairs that was run by some older folks. I don't remember their names but I do remember and still have the first shield nickel I ever owned. It has a hole, some strong bumps and dents that took away most of the date, but some details are not badly worn,- and I was simply delighted when they gave it to me free. I just stared at it in amazement- a real shield nickel, and it was mine!

The All-Nation Hobby Shop was another place that had interesting items. I had learned someplace that Confederate notes had different redemption times. I had a 2-year note and wanted to get a 6-month piece to go along with it. (I did not know of the 1-year notes yet.) All-Nation had a selection of Confederate pieces but they wanted 75c or $1 and I wanted one for 50c as I had a very limited amount of money. So I looked through the notes and finally found one in fairly decent shape, a $5 of 1861, for the 50 cents. Many years later, after I traded it off for something else, I found that it was among the very rarest issues! The old classification was Bradbeer 221.

On another street there was the store of H.L.P. Brand (Horace Louis Philip). Little did I know that he was the brother of famed collector Virgil Brand, and that the items he was selling were most likely from that great collection. He was some old fellow and I did not go there a second time.

Yep- those were the days when everything you ever wanted was available and not very costly either.

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
BEBEE BUYS A BANK BUILDING: COIN SHOPS IN AMERICA (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n40a19.html)
MORE COIN SHOP TALES (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n41a13.html)
MORE COIN SHOP TALES (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n42a09.html)

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