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- From jmkleeberg@yahoo.com Fri Dec 27 14:48:10 2002
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Date: Fri, 27 Dec 2002 22:48:08 -0000
To: colonial-coins@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Colonial Numismatics] Re: Spiro Auction Envelope
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Burdette G. Johnson's company was St. Louis Stamp + Coin Co. He started in the coin
business shortly after 1900. Eric Newman got to know him when Eric was an adolescent. Eric
would go to downtown St. Louis every week to buy a coin. One day he tried to buy a
Connecticut copper from Johnson, and Johnson refused to sell it to him - because Eric did not
know enough about the coin. So Johnson lent him a book, and when Eric came back the
following week Johnson quizzed Eric about Connecticut coppers, and when Johnson was
satisfied that Eric knew enough, he sold the coin. Thereafter, every time that Eric tried to buy a
coin - he had to read a book first. Eric became Johnson's attorney and executor.
Johnson was a wholesaler of coins, since he was the major distributor for the Brand accumulation
- he consigned coins all over - to Hans Schulman, to Celina Stamp and Coin in Ohio, to Sam
Koeppell in Los Angeles. Eric Newman and B. G. Johnson were also able to buy the
collection of Colonel Green - the source of the five 1913 nickels.
There are some more details about B. G. Johnson in my preface to the sylloge of
Massachusetts silver in the Pre-Federal COAC - some correspondence that gives a good idea
of the man. He died in February 1947, when he had a heart attack on a streetcar. Curiously
enough I have never seen a photograph of Burdette G. Johnson. Eric Newman said he had
one, but when he asked his wife Evelyn where it was, and Evelyn said they could find it - if they
were to look over the house for a thousand years.
There are a number of good sources for numismatic biography. I believe Pete Smith published
his Names with Notes in book form as American Numismatic Biographies, but I have not seen it.
I have a number of sources of first resort. One is Warren Lapp + Herbert Silberman's collection
of articles from the Numismatist on large cents, which has biographical appendix - useful,
although not always accurate. Obituaries in the Numismatist are usually an excellent source.
And then one can go through indices of specialized periodicals, like Penny Wise or the Colonial
News Letter. Name auctions can be useful too - the Picker auction is one of the best sources
about Richard Picker, for example. John W. Adams' two volumes on US auction catalogues
have excellent short accounts of the auction houses - his account of Charlie Wormser is very
good.
My favorite is the bit about William Hesslein. Adams writes, "History is unkind to the petty
crook." Hesslein disappeared with a bunch of people's checks (R. H. Burnie, of California
fractional gold fame, did the same - except Burnie disappeared with the checks AND a Spanish
dancer). Eric Newman told me that around 1940 someone who had been cheated by Hesslein
caught sight of Hesslein waiting for a train in the New York City subway - the train was
approaching - Hesslein was very near the edge - suddenly Mr. Hesslein was underneath the
train - finis Mr. Hesslein. But I haven't been able to find a story in the New York Times that
confirms this sticky end for Mr. Hesslein. The New York Times tends to be snobby, though - if it
happened, it probably got a decent coverage in the NY Daily News, which isn't indexed, alas.
Moral - don't run away with people's checks - AND stay away from the edge of the platform!
John Kleeberg
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