LEVICK, MEHL, AND BOWERS

I was honored to be featured in the latest installment of “The Numismatic Bookie,” Joel J. Orosz’s popular column in Coin World. It began with:

“Three numismatic auction catalogs are illustrated on this page, each produced in a different century. Remarkably, however, the careers of the three men associated with them as collectors and dealers form an unbroken line covering nearly all of American numismatic history, beginning in the 1850s, and continuing to the present.”

Shown and discussed first was a catalog of the collection of Joseph Napoleon Tricot Levick (1828-1908), a leading numismatic figure from the 1850s onward, whose specialties were wide and included 1793 large cents, tokens (in particular), and other series. His name usually appeared as J.N.T. Levick. Dr. Orosz notes that by the time of Levick’s passing in 1908, Fort Worth, Texas dealer B. Max Mehl was prominent, having started in the trade circa 1900. Perhaps the two may have met – or perhaps not. For certain, their careers overlapped.

The second catalog was of the Frederic Geiss Collection sold by Mehl (1884-1957) in 1947. I had the good fortune of knowing Mehl in the twilight of his life. At a dinner with him, Abe Kosoff, and Mollie Kosoff, I suggested that he write his autobiography. By that time I had read all of his catalogs and much about his life. “Why don’t you write it for me?” he suggested. With that I return to the text of “The Numismatic Bookie”:

“The third catalog, created by Quentin David Bowers (born 1938), is The Rarities Sale of July 31, 2002, featuring multiple collections. Dave has enjoyed an unparalleled career in numismatics, becoming a coin dealer in 1953, while in high school, and continuing up to the present day, in the process handling such immortal numismatic collections as Garrett, Brand, Norweb, and Eliasberg. Even more impressive are his authorial credentials, having written more than 60 books on numismatic subjects, and having served as a Coin World columnist since the early 1960s! Shortly after starting his business, Dave interviewed B. Max to learn about coin dealing from the acknowledged master. Dave imbibed Mehl’s lively descriptions, but added strong emphasis upon the history, art and romance of coinage. The results showed, for in The Rarities Sale, a 1793 Chain America cent, “sharpness of EF-40, but repaired and tooled,” went for $5,290, while an MS-63 BN lettered edge Wreath Cent sold for $18,400. Despite having already secured a central place in numismatic history, Dave continues to deal and write (see elsewhere in this issue for the latest of his nearly 3,000 Coin World columns)!

“J.N.T. Levick, B. Max Mehl, and Q. David Bowers have far more in common than the use of initials in place of their first names. Their brilliant careers as collectors, dealers, authors, and hobby builders began before the Civil War, and has overlapped, uninterrupted, to the present. These three catalogs associated with them underscore how much (particularly prices) has changed during those 16 decades, and how much (particularly rarity), has remained unaltered. And think of how young numismatists who have worked with Dave, such as Kellen Hoard, bid fair to carry that uninterrupted streak into its fourth century!”

To read the complete article, see:
Three Degrees of Numismatic Separation! (https://www.stacksbowers.com/News/Pages/Blogs.aspx?ArticleID=3201)

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