Essays In Appreciation


Stanley Kesselman is an attorney whose career has been primarily as a stock broker with a New York firm. As a part-time coin dealer during the "early years," he worked closely with Harry Bass to develop his collection during the period 1965 through the early-1970s.



Harry Bass

Stanley Kesselman

Harry Bass was not only the biggest coin buyer of his era, he was also a father figure to many of the younger coin dealers. He therefore had the opportunity to impose his wisdom and experience far beyond that which a typical coin collector would on the hobby and its young people.

His main contribution to the hobby was his adaptation of the Sheldon Scale to coins other than large cents.

PERSONAL STORIES --

First Time We Met

I saw this guy spending a lot of money at a Stack's auction so I went up to him at the related coin show and introduced myself. Harry said he was happy to make my acquaintance since he had heard of me. I asked him what he collected and he replied, "All U.S. gold coins with special emphasis on varieties."

I said, "Do you mean coins like the 1846D, double D variety?" He looked at me and asked, "How do you know about that?" He said he had just discovered it; so I thought I was talking to an idiot because everyone knew it already existed! Meanwhile he thought he was talking to a genius because I knew it existed even before he discovered it! He was amazed and I was getting seared.

Shortly after, we realized that I was talking about the $5 piece which was known to everyone and he was talking about the $2.50 piece which no one knew existed except Harry Bass, who did discover it. I learned I wasn't talking to an idiot and he learned he wasn't talking to a genius!

Haircut Story

During the 1960s I always let my hair grow long in the style of the time. When Harry saw me in New York, he couldn't stand the long hair. I told him I had no money for a haircut to which he offered to lend me the money. I took him up on the deal and said, "Okay, give me $10.00." He then reached into his pocket and gave me a hundred dollar bill. I said, "What's this for?"

He replied, "If I just give you $10.00, you would forget all about it and I would forget about it and I'll never get repaid; but with $100.00, you will probably remember and I most certainly will!"

INHERENT CONFLICTS IN OUR RELATIONSHIP

Harry and I got along for many years but our relationship was doomed to fail because even though I was a dealer I still loved coins. In 1976 I bought at auction the 1815 $5 gold piece with Harry Bass being the underbidder. When he found out I had bought the coin, he was deeply hurt and our relationship was never the same.

From my perspective I just had to buy the coin because in my generation of coin collecting, I had never seen another one like it, and the last coin to appear at auction was the same coin which had appeared twenty years earlier. I was prepared to pay much more than what I did pay, and when he heard that, he got even angrier!


CONCLUSION

As with "Citizen Kane," great people have conflicts. It can't be avoided. Harry Bass had many personal conflicts but in my opinion he was definitely great. Any faults he had were not his but what society had done to him which unfortunately took a lot away from his happiness during his life.