COLLECTOR BUDDY EBSEN DANCES A JIG

Although we didn’t socialize much outside the office, we did get to know what made each of us tick. We discussed our favorite numismatic icons (Keith’s was the 1822 Half Eagle), how we both got started with coins and the auction sales we had attended. I fondly recall Keith’s favorite sale. It was a Superior Galleries Auction sale, held at the Century Plaza Hotel May 31-June 2, 1987, and the headline collection was that of actor Buddy Ebsen (from the Beverly Hillbillies show).

Ebsen was quite the serious collector. He even co-founded the Beverly Hills Coin Club and had amassed a significant numismatic cabinet. Keith, who was attending for Coin World as the Trends editor, described how after each coin brought a higher price than expected, or just for sheer joy, Mr. Ebsen would get up and break out a few dance moves to raucous applause and appreciation of those present. Keith said, I had to get Buddy to sign the auction catalog for me.

   

The image of Buddy Ebsen doing a little jig after some especially pleasing auction results stays with me to this day. I relayed to Keith that just a few months after that sale, I attended my first Long Beach Expo in the fall of 1987, and I picked up an early Half Eagle from the Ebsen collection. (I wish I still had it.) Keith said, Hey, I was there, too. We could have run into each other.

To watch Buddy bust a move, see:
Buddy Ebsen on Broadway (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U8l-drqj1E)
Buddy Ebsen dancing 1978 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2cc9g8DMFU)

To read the complete article, see:
Jim Bisognani: A Truly One of a Kind Friend (https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/9404/Weekly-Market-Report-September-9-2021/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
COIN WORLD TRENDS EDITOR KEITH ZANER (https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n32a09.html)

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