In the category of coin dealers I miss, I will say Bill Von Elm of Country Lane Rarities--we used to see his ads in the classifieds in Coin World; Barry Sutherland of Oxford Coins; Jack Kleinman who worked with his brother. All were true gentleman. FJ Volmers in the Midwest were great dealers; Bob Merrill at Heritage was a great guy, I remember a few others at Heritage that have were true gentlemen who have since retired.
30 years or so ago, I used to deal with a guy in Teaneck NJ, Lou Fattel, who ran a stamp & coin shop with his retired father. He was knowledgeable and had quality stuff at good prices. He got me really hooked on Canadian coins too. Prior to meeting him I had only a passing interest in Canadian, and then only silver dollars. I still have many of the coins I bought from him long ago. I had most of them graded and I was VERY pleased with the results.
There was an old man with a coin shop just outside Nashville, TN and he died. His wife closed the store.
Ben Marlenee in Des Moines. He was a great guy. I thought he was just the best coin shop in town, but after he retired I would here about him nationwide as he was respected across the country. Ran a great shop, always willing to teach if you were willing to learn. The great dealers are like that. I used to hang around for hours, and it always amazed me when hot shots or know it alls would come in and he would try to teach them something and they would just brush off what he said and ignore it. God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason, and if you are ever fortunate enough to find a great dealer to be around shut up, listen, and truly educate yourself. Chris
I should also mention Ray Mercer of "Pennyweights" in New Canaan, CT. He sold to a lot of wealthy folks, retired around 1997, he made a ton of money selling to Wall Street commuters. Also memorable to me were Dave Almstead in Andrews, NC; he had some very interesting stories as a former special forces officer in Viet Nam.
