JIM BISOGNANI REMEMBERS ED LEVENTHAL

I fondly remembered one of my early and lifelong mentors, Ed Leventhal — "Mr. J.J. Teaparty" — who recently passed away. My dealings with Ed and the Boston coin shop J.J. Teaparty began 37 years ago, almost to the day, as it was just before Labor Day in 1983 that I first met Ed and saw in person that iconic simmering teapot hanging out front of the shop's Bromfield Street location.

I wasn't dealing much in coins back then, but I did have a small collection of US and foreign coins. Just before noontime on that fateful Friday, I put together a handful of better coins, which were expendables, that I calculated to be worth $500 or more. The key to this group was a nice, red Proof Indian Cent.

My wife and I took to the road from Portsmouth, New Hampshire to visit a few well-known coin shops in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Upon entering the first shop, I was offered $175 for the group. Dismayed, I visited another shop in town and was offered $145. I felt defeated and returned to the shop that offered me $175 and tried to persuade them to offer more — no luck.

I knew that the coins I had were worth around $500 or more, so before I left the shop, I asked if there were any other coin shops around. The dealer shot back, "If you want to battle the Boston traffic, you could try J.J. Teaparty on Bromfield Street. They might offer you a bit more. They are open until 5 p.m."

As it was after 3 p.m., I told the Mrs. that we better head to Boston. We pulled into Malden Station and took the Orange Line "T" to Haymarket and headed up to Bromfield Street. Upon being "buzzed" into the quaint and somewhat confining shop, I was greeted by Ed. We exchanged pleasantries, and he asked what he could do for me.

I then proceeded to pull out the handful of coins that I wanted to sell from the red 2x2 box that held them. Ed took the coins and carefully examined them. He referred to the Greysheet on a few of the US coins and then pulled down another catalog for the world coins. Ed then totaled up the numbers and said, "I will pay you $680." In response, I said, "I can't believe it!" Ed replied, "What, not enough?"

I smiled broadly, and said, "I have to tell you this: I just visited a few dealers in Wakefield and was offered $145 by one and $175 by the other." Ed blurted out, "For all of this?" Then Ed smiled, scratched his head and said, "Well, maybe I'm paying you too much." We both chuckled. I then said, "If I am ever in a position to do more business, I will come here." Ed thanked me and noted, "That is the way we try to do business."

To read the complete article, see:
Jim Bisognani: Early Fall Surprises (https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/8540/)

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