Remembering the good ole days. Coin dealer Goodie Bloom.

[truthteller]

Someone brought up old coin dealers of the past in Los Angeles. I remember as a kid this coin dealer, Goodie Bloom, who's "shop" was inside a department store called Leonards on Sepulveda and Palms Blvds.in West Los Angeles back in the very early 1970's. He sold coins, candy and popcorn. The display cases were right by the entrance/exit doors, so you had to pass by his coin displays. He was a rather short, polite and likeable fellow, with cokebottle glasses and his wife was a real pistol, very hyper personality, very friendly. They must have been in their 50's when I was 11 years old. He always had "grab bags" of buffalo nickels and mercury dimes for $3.00, which was a LOT OF MONEY for me. He told me to save my money and buy quality, not quantity. He sold me my first commem, Columbian Expo. 50C in VF, for $5. I remember nice BU wartime 5C for $2. Eventually, the store closed(now it's an Albertsons Grocery store), and he moved to Westwood Village and had a store there for 7 or 8 years. One day, it was gone. I never found out what happened.

 

 

 

TRUTH

[michael]

wow those where the days

 

i remember in rochester ny in the early 1970's len babin had a coin shop on west ridge road and as a kid i used to go in there and he would always show me rare coins like he would put in my hand an 1856 flyer a 37 three legged buffalo

 

all raw just in my hand with no holder or flip

 

he had a shrunken head in his shop he bought from a man that needed money back in the early `1950's when it was legal to own as such as by the late 1950's you could not import them into the country but since he had acquired the head befroeit was grandfathered in and could be legally owned

 

it was a superb head and he had it in a glass case with all the provanance of the wya where what and who of that matter

 

he had it behind the counter for many years and finally put it back out but unfortunately the first person that walked into the store threw up when they saw it

 

so he had to put it back behind the counter

 

he also had a complete set of the numismatict mag from the ana complete man he offered to give them to me and i never took him up on the offer those where the days!!

 

his wife also worked with him

 

i got older and never went back and he died in the early 1980's i remember i bought my first coin from him when i was 7 years old it was a xf 1881 ten dollar gold piece with the most huge gash in it just be,ow the date for 45 dollars and i sold it the next day to some older collector/dealer with a giant belly and a huge cirar in his mouth for 50 dollars

 

i remember asking len babin was there any coin thaT has never walked into his store to be offered for sale and he told me that he had every coin almost in the red book walk into his store since the late 1930's when he started in rochester ny with the exception of pre 1830 usa gold coins never had this type of early gold coin walk into his store for sale

 

he did say it was extremely common for proof trade dollar sets complete with the exception of the 1884 and 1885 clandestin strikes of the proof only trades walk into his store multiple times to be sold

 

he also had many other treasures in his safes i can only imagine to this day

 

truth you always start the best threads and extremely informative too

 

 

i always learn much from you

 

keep up the good work

[James_OldeTowne]

For me, it wasn't a coin dealer - it was my "seventh grade Shop" teacher, whom I'll simply refer to as "Mr. D". Maybe Dennis from across the street will see this post, as he also had him for shop class, and I'm sure could add a few of his own anecdotes....

 

Mr. D was quite a character, your typical Ozarks semi-hillbilly, short, with a large beer belly, a comb-over, and a nasally, mid-Missouri accent. He used to make fake 1944 steel cents by grinding off the obverse of a normal 1943, and the reverse of a 1944, mating the two coins, and zinc-plating the result. Remember, he had a whole machine shop available to him! The coins were fairly convincing, since they would adhere to a magnet, and he hid the seams pretty well.

 

In typical hillbilly fashion, he'd try and get students to bring in their parents' Ike dollars - for which he was paying 99 cents apiece, since they were "going to be recalled by the Federal government". Ditto Kennedies, for which he was paying $.49! Also, I remember that he was paying 2.5 times face for silver...

 

He also faked a good many coins in the day, including 1944-D cents altered to 1914-Ds, and I seem to remember a 1928 Peace dollar with the mintmark removed. I do remember several 1922-"Plain" cents that he somehow acquired for practically nothing.

 

But the good thing was, he sponsored our coin club, and did manage to get a couple of his collector friends to bring in their collections on occasion, and of course, when club met once a month, we got out of a class or two for the meetings!

 

I remember the first time I saw a $10,000 collection, and to us underprivileged, barefoot farmers' kids, that was world-class! Why, that guy even had a couple of those big pennies from the early 1800s! In all seriousness, it was here that I really began to develop an interest in coins beyond what I'd find in circulation.

 

So, Mr. D wasn't exactly the most clean-cut of mentors for a budding young numismatist, but it sure made for some vivid memories. I understand that Mr. D. is still living, and probably retired on the profits he made from buying those Ikes from some o'dem hillbilly kids....

[jom]

Michael: You bought a $10 gold piece when you were 7 years old??!!!

 

jom

[michael]

i started young jom and when i was younger i only had myself for a coin mentor and advisor so i had a wild ride and experienced many less than positive experiences that lead to get learning experiences by me

[RGT]

Michael: You bought a $10 gold piece when you were 7 years old??!!!

 

jom

 

I turned seven in 1967. I think I was getting 25 cents a week allowance. How many years would I have to have saved up to buy a $45 Eagle? I didn't actually start buying coins until 1973, but I think I was in college before I bought a coin for $45 or more.

 

Starting young is great. Having the funds to do it is even better.

[michael]

i had the best of both worlds starting young and i earned every cent i paid for coins

 

i never received an allowance if i wanted any money i had to earn it by either doing 4 paperroutes or doing all the lawn mowing in the neighborhood or whatever i had to do to make a buck

 

and if i did buy a coin for 45 dollars and needed the money to buy it and did not have it i would loan it and then after selling them coin for a 5 dollar profit i would pay the money baCK if i needed to borrow it in the first place

 

some kids are more resourseful than other kids or take advantage with the grace of God situations while making an honest buck with hard work and tenasity and good old american inganuiety

[clw54]

Jerry Beaver in downtown San Diego. Around 1970, my father bought me a 1955 DDO and my mother a 1942/1 dime from him. When we went into the shop, Jerry had several 1955 DDOs, 1942/1 dimes, and I think a couple of 1856 flying eagles, although my recollection might be wrong about that. We left with an AU 1955 DDO, XF 1942/1 dime, and years later I had them certified by a competitor. There is a coin dealer in San Diego who remembers Jerry and says he went to Florida. Ironically, the same dealer thought my 1955 DDO was fake because he couldn't see the die polish lines through a loupe. That scared me, so I used a telescope eyepiece backward and could plainly see the diagnostics.