BENJAMIN BELL (1976-2017)

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V20 2017 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 20, Number 22, May 28, 2017, Article 20

Regarding the article about dealer Benjamin Bell in the Summer 2017 issue of our print journal The Asylum, James Higby writes:

I saw the photo of Benjamin Bell in last week's E-Sylum. I presume that photo was from his new partnership in Arizona, announcing his passing on April 10, 2017. He was one of my closest numismatic friends when he was partner with Josh Moran at Civitas Galleries in Middleton WI. He was my go-to person for both buying and selling world coins for the entire time he was there.

He was a rare personality who could talk many topics in depth. One time when I was visiting Civitas we got to discussing music, and he broke out his violin and played a song for me. Where else does that happen? His parents were avid prairie preservationists and had a tiny plot of native plants in front of the store that they tended when they came up from Washington IL to visit him. I shall mourn Ben's passing mightily.

I recently moved to Arizona to work full time at World Numismatics’ headquarters. These past few weeks have been very exciting for us, yet that joy has been clouded by the recent passing of our colleague Benjamin Bell. Ben passed away on Monday, April 10, after a long, hard-fought battle with cancer, his loving family at his side. Well educated in traditional historic studies, Ben worked as a numismatist at Classical Numismatic Group and was the co-founder, co-owner and President of Civitas Galleries, Ltd. In a world where many numismatists have grudges against one or more of their colleagues, Ben was one of only a very few loved and respected by everyone, and was duly considered one of the rising stars in professional numismatics. By our great many conversations, I can attest to his deep love of coins, extensive knowledge and impeccable work ethics. He was snatched far too soon from the coin world, and will be dearly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his parents, Rob and Rebecca, and his sister Rachel.
—Carlos Jara

Ben was a client of ours for quite some time before I really started to get to know him. The first thing that struck me about him was that he had a universal appetite for books that resembled my own. He’d always put together a small pile of books from our shelves when we’d see him at shows, and you’d never be able to guess what he’d select. While other customers were predictably focused on U.S. or Greek or Russian coins, Ben read about everything numismatic. A book in German about Polish coins would be sandwiched in his pile between a new publication on Roman portraiture and a mostly obsolete catalogue of Latin-American coins. A look at the last invoice we sent to him (promptly paid, as usual) shows that he bought books on late Roman coins, Australian ingots, Mexican coins, Renaissance medals and Bulgarian coins—all in one sale. A book written in Slovak about Celtic coins was also included. Ben was quiet and unassuming, but he was a gentleman and he knew his stuff. I’ll miss him.
—David Fanning