"The Rare Coin Score" and other fictional numismatic adventures

[DaveG]

This 4th of July weekend I had pleasure of reading "The Rare Coin Score" by Donald E. Westlake (under his pseudonym Richard Stark).

 

For those of you for whom the name Donald E. Westlake is unfamiliar, I suggest his Wikipedia page.

 

The book was published in 1967 and its plot revolves around a gang of thieves who are assembled to rob a major coin convention in Indianapolis (a Friday through Sunday event, featuring about 100 dealers).

 

The gang of thieves is assembled by a coin dealer who has a sudden need for a lot of money. He has fingered other robberies before, of individual dealers, when he has had cash flow problems.

 

(I have to say this part of the book put reports of recent dealer robberies in a whole new light for me - I found it rather unsettling.)

 

I have to say, Westlake either was a coin collector or he did his research thoroughly. The fairly short (144 pages) book doesn't have much numismatic content - perhaps 3 or 4 pages in total - but what's there was written by someone who knew what he was talking about.

 

While in the planning stage of the heist, the thieves are discussing how to gather the coins, as they plan to rob the bourse floor at night after all the dealers are set up. They discuss just taking the coins out of the cases and putting them in large bags.

 

The coin dealer who is helping them cautions them against this: "You take valuable coins, you just drop a lot of them in a canvas sack, carry them off someplace, dump them out on a table, you know what you've done?"

 

"Tell me."

 

"You've lowered their value, by maybe twenty-five per cent. Coins are more delicate than you might think. They rub together, knock together, the value goes right down. You go from unc to VF just like that."

 

Westlake also has a couple of pages written from another dealer's point-of-view: he arrives at the show, drops his coins off at the security room, arranges to sell a couple of coins to another dealer, with whom he then goes bar-hopping.

 

If you're looking for a short, rather hard-boiled type of crime novel and can make the adjustment to the mid-1960s, I recommend The Rare Coin Score.

 

As for me, I'm looking forward to be catching up with Lawrence Block, Donald E. Westlake and John D. MacDonald this summer!

[RWB]

"As for me, I'm looking forward to be catching up with Lawrence Block, Donald E. Westlake and John D. MacDonald this summer! "

 

Well, I intend to immerse myself in the 6-page biography of Ronald McDonald....

[DaveG]

Oh, sure - you may say that, but none of us believe it - not for a minute!

[TonerGuy]

I have always thought why arent more people robbing coin shows instead of banks...

 

Usually coin shows, especially local ones are very light on security. I will have to read this book, Thanks for the recommendation. Now if they would just turn it into a movie ! ...

 

 

[RWB]

Anyway, last time I checked my rare coin score was 3 to 2 in the bottom of the 7th.

[Conder101]

Almost sounds like this book was used as a guide for a real life coin show robbery in the late 70's. Happen in the south, forget which state, but after the dealer set up ended the crooks came back that night. They got the guard to let them in, overpowered him, and then backed a step van up to the loading dock and simply unloaded the entire bourse floor into the truck. They just dumped the coins from all the cases in a pile in the back of the truck. Then they drove off.

 

They did catch up with the thieves just a few hours later and recovered the coins. But can you imagine the headaches trying to determine who owns what?

[wheat'swheats]

I have always thought why arent more people robbing coin shows instead of banks...

 

Usually coin shows, especially local ones are very light on security. I will have to read this book, Thanks for the recommendation. Now if they would just turn it into a movie ! ...

 

I have yet to go to a coin show (except in a few states) where at least 6 out of 10 dealers weren't packing. Crooks don't like those odds

[Conder101]

But the dealers aren't there after closing. And often there is only one guard at night. Restroom breaks or shift change is a good time to hit.

 

Then there are other things that can happen. At one show I ran the dealer/club member hospitality area was in a screened off section of the bourse floor. The next morning when I arrived I found the security guard outside wandering around the parking lot drunk and the show floor doors unlocked and open.

[TonerGuy]

I have yet to go to a coin show (except in a few states) where at least 6 out of 10 dealers weren't packing. Crooks don't like those odds

 

Most coin dealers I know are 50+ yrs old and out of shape. Hitting a person with a bullet fired from a handgun takes lots of practice, even at close range even under ideal circumstances. Being robbed at gun point is not ideal.

 

If I were the type of person to rob something with a gun I would like my chances with a 50 yr old coin dealer with a handgun who probably hasnt been to the range in weeks to years rather than a trained security officer at a bank with several weapons and an alarm backup.

 

And Im sure anyone who planned to rob a show wouldnt do it alone. Or as Conder says, they would do it after hours.

[DaveG]

Do banks actually have armed guards?

 

It's something we see in movies all the time, but I've lived in the NYC area since 1985 and I've never been in a bank around here that had an armed guard.

 

(Actually, I can't recall ever having seen an armed guard in a bank - not as a kid, not when I was in college, nor when I was first working.)

 

I agree with you, though. If I ever saw anyone pull a gun at a coin show, I'd hit the floor - out of fear of being shot by mistake!

[RWB]

"I have yet to go to a coin show (except in a few states) where at least 6 out of 10 dealers weren't packing."

 

Yep. Very common problem on Sat afternoon, but sometimes even on Friday. Packing so early can be a problem for the security staff at a large show, or directly for the dealers at small ones.....

 

[comicdonna]

Frustrating for buyers, too.

[RWB]

(I wonder if there are gun shows where people carry coins to ward off thieves? Yap money or Swedish plate?)

[DaveG]

Yes!

 

I can imagine the scene:

 

Dealer: "Well, as long as you're robbing me, let me tell you about the really interesting die variety of this Morgan dollar you're stealing."

 

Robber: "Just put the coins in the bag."

 

Dealer: "Are you sure you want me to do that? If the coins bang together, you'll lower their resale value."

 

Robber: "Just put the d*mn coins in the bag and shut up!"

 

Dealer: "OK, no problem. But, let me tell you about this really interesting die variety. . ."

 

Robber: " Just keep your d*mn coins and get away from me, you weirdo!"

 

Dealer: "Are you sure you won't let me tell you about this really, really interesting die variety? Wait, why are you running away?"

[coinman_23885]

Most coin dealers I know are 50+ yrs old and out of shape. Hitting a person with a bullet fired from a handgun takes lots of practice, even at close range even under ideal circumstances. Being robbed at gun point is not ideal.

 

I respectfully disagree. The dealer need not aim for a specific spot necessarily (e.g. head); he or she only needs to fire in the general direction of the torso, which is pretty large, and fire. In most cases, this will be enough to deter a robber. The goal is to subdue or deter, not necessarily to incapacitate. Being old and out of shape has nothing to do with it, as long as the dealer is able to maintain composure and keep a steady hand.

 

Moreover, with the sophisticated hand guns on the market today, it might not matter. My former employer (who holds a federal firearms license) told me about a particular type of revolver that can fire 4-10 shot gun shells that is readily sold in the United States today. With buckshot, it is like three or four bullets/pellets that disperse simultaneously, increasing the odds of hitting the target. It gets around the federal prohibition against sawed off shotguns only because it has rifling in the barrel. The point of this is that you would only have to fire in the general direction, and a hit would surely incapacitate the robber.

 

With all of this said, I do agree with poster about safety concerns. I too would hit the floor if I saw a dealer brandish a firearm for fear of being shot by a stray bullet.

[RWB]

Ahhhh...the ol'e "kill 'em with VAMs" approach....deadly and effective...Much like the lethal joke from Monty Python.

[DaveG]

As I intended, I spent some time catching up with Donald E. Westlake and Lawrence Block during my recent summer vacation.

 

While I found that Westlake's Dortmunder didn't have any numismatic adventures in the first two books about him, I discovered that Lawrence Block either is a coin collector or is friends with one.

 

I read Block's first four books about Bernie Rhodenbarr, a New York City-based burglar. Bernie's adventures are usually described as "comic", but I found them to be so only when compared to hard-boiled crime novels. This is, his adventures are a bit "light-hearted" but not really funny.

 

So much for the introduction; now, for the numismatic content!

 

In his third adventure, "The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling" (published in1979), Bernie is performing a "targeted" burgling of a house. Although he's only there for one item, he takes a look around and, among other things, finds a coin collection:

 

"I opened one box at random and found it was filled with Barber quarters and halves, all Proofs or Uncirculated specimens. Another box contained superb Large Cents catalogued by Sheldon numbers."

 

Now, that's my kind of burglar: one who knows the difference between Proofs and business strikes and what a Sheldon number is!

 

Unfortunately, that was the only numismatic reference in the book.

 

Bernie's next adventure, "The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza" (published in 1980) is much more exciting, as its story revolves around the theft of a 1913 Liberty nickel!

 

Bernie takes the coin, along with other items, during a burglary. He takes the stolen items to a fence, who takes one look at the coin and asks:

 

Is it genuine?"

 

Bernie responds: I just steal them, I don't authenticate them. I suppose I could have dropped in on Walter Breen or Don Taxay for a professional opinion, but I figured it was late."

 

Wow! Numismatic name-dropping! This is the right book for me!

 

The fence provides a nice description of the Liberty nickel series and a summary of what was known about the five genuine 1913 Liberty nickels at the time. During the summary, he name-drops Samuel Brown, Col. E.H.R. Green, B. Max Mehl and John Work Garrett. He also discusses the way the coin might have been altered to appear to be a 1913 Liberty nickel.

 

Later on in the book, Bernie makes reference to a "Bowers and Ruddy auction", "Coin World" and the American Numismatic Society, of which he says: "The A.N.S. is a high-minded outfit, more interested in scholarly matters like die varieties and the historical context of numismatics than such crass considerations as price." (Sounds like he really knows the ANS, doesn't it? )

 

All this, along with a few other references to rare coins, adds up to a very satisfying numismatic-related read!

 

One final, comic, note: The copy of the book I borrowed from my library is a first edition, and the cover shows a burglar running away, clutching a giant-size coin. Unfortunately, the coin he's carrying has the design of a Coronet half eagle dated 1913.

 

Oh Well!

 

I guess no one gave the cover artist a picture of a Liberty nickel!

 

Now for the $64,000 question: Does anyone know if Lawrence Block is a coin collector?

[Conder101]

(Actually, I can't recall ever having seen an armed guard in a bank - not as a kid, not when I was in college, nor when I was first working.)

I must be older than you because when I was young the banks DID have armed guards.

[dadams]

Now for the $64,000 question: Does anyone know if Lawrence Block is a coin collector?

 

Not sure that he is a coin collector, but in an afterword to Lucky at Cards he states:

 

" I knew something about coins, and knocked out a book on coin investment that Frederick Fell published. I sold articles to a batch of numismatic magazines: Coins, Numismatic Scrapbook, and The Whitman Numismatic Journal."

 

He actually became editor of The Whitman Numismatic Journal in 1964.

 

The coin investment book he mentions was written under the pseudonym John J. Abbott in 1965 and is titled: Fell's Guide to Investing in United States and Foreign Coins (see Catalog of Copyright Entries 1965 )

 

I think he is actually a stamp collector.

[DaveG]

dadams,

 

Thanks for that!

 

If he isn't (or wasn't) an active coin collector, it sounds like he knows (or knew) more about coins than most collectors!

 

Block makes a few stray references to stamps in the books I've read, but nothing to match his numismatic references.

 

By the way, are you a fan of Block or (just) a skilled Internet searcher?

[dadams]

DaveG,

 

I am indeed a fan of Lawrence Block and most particularly in those starring Bernie Rhodenbarr. Long, long ago and still I have been a book collector - my first focused collection was BiblioMysteries, or those mystery novels where a rare book, librarian, professor, bookseller, etc. has a role in the plot. I think that it was in the Kipling book where Bernie bought a bookshop. Of course, my favorite would be The Burglar in the Library. I still add occasionally to the collection and have a few hundred such. Bookwise a few thousand.

 

Over the last few years I've been selling books to buy coins.

 

I do admit to utilizing my search prowess to find out about Block's numismatic background.