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The E-Sylum: Volume 12, Number 49, December 6, 2009, Article 10

MORE ON HUBERT POLZER

John Merz writes:

Apropos your consignment to auction of the 3rd & 5th editions of the Redbook inscribed to Hubert Polzer by Yeoman, there are others floating around the numismatic universe. I used to own several Redbooks inscribed to Polzer. Last January, Charlie Davis sold the 10th, 12th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 20th, 22nd and 23rd Editions that I had consigned.

I still have a 1st Edition inscribed to Polzer by Yeoman, which I bought from a Remy Bourne auction about 10 years ago. The best that I could do in Googling Polzer is that he was a coin dealer in Milwaukee, and a former President of the Central States Numismatic Society.

I'll bet John's copies of Polzer's Redbooks came out of the same Kreuger sale. I couldn't afford to buy all of them at once, so I concentrated on getting the rarest ones. I missed out on the 1st. Had I known how nice they all were I might have tried harder to win the first ten editions.

Below are images of Polzer's 3rd edition Redbook, showing the page with Richard Yeoman's inscription. -Editor

Yeoman Guide Book 3rd Ed Yeoman Guide Book 3rd Ed Inscription

Jeff LaPlante writes:

Mr. Polzer was a past President of the Central States Numismatic Society. He knew Yeoman because they traveled in the same circles. See www.centralstates.info/history6.html

John and Nancy Wilson write:

In the late 1940s & early 1950s when I (Nancy) started to collect coins with my brother, Charles Opitz, we bought all of our coins from Hubert Polzer. He had a jewelry/coin shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attended the Milwaukee Numismatic Society where he met Richard Yeoman. My brother, Charles, and my dad would visit the shop every Saturday or two and buy coins for us. I always insisted that I get the exact same coins as my brother because then I knew I was getting good coins.

Hubert's son-in-law, Pete Forrester, normally waited on us. We each got our complete uncirculated Peace dollar set for $65.00 from him. Our 1940, 1941, & 1942 proof sets were $20.00 for the set of three. He offered us a complete uncirculated type set of U.S. commemorative half dollars for $400.00, but my dad said that was too much. Indian head cents were 75 cents for roll of 50 (1.5 cents each) and my double head Washington cent (1783) in fine condition was $3.00. A proof Stella was $700.00 – I did not get one. I did get a beautiful uncirculated Isabella quarter for $15.00.

Later Hubert sold the coin shop and started to collect antique toys. I saw his collection, which he had in the house next to his residence. It took the whole house to hold the collection.

When I was writing an article for The Numismatist about Pittsburgh collector John A. Beck, I learned that Beck also had TWO homes: one for his wife and family, and one for his collections of Indian artifacts and other curiosities. So Polzer's not the only collector whose collection outgrew his home. -Editor

John and Nancy Wilson add:

Hubert Polzer's name is on the back of the official ANA medal from the Milwaukee convention in 1986. Information in the August 5, 1986 Numismatic News says regarding Mr. Polzer: "Promoting numismatics among the advanced and beginning collectors came naturally to Polzer. He influenced a generation from his shop in Milwaukee during the 1930s and 1940s." Portrayed on the face of the medal were Henry Granberg, Chester Krause and R. S. Dick Yeoman. Besides Mr. Polzer's name the reverse of the medal named sixteen other Wisconsin numismatists.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: FANNING NUMISMATIC LITERATURE AUCTION III CLOSES DECEMBER 3, 2009 (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v12n48a02.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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