ANOTHER 1933 DOUBLE EAGLE SIGHTING REPORTED

Silver Spring, Md., dealer Julian Leidman credits his mother with cultivating his interest in coins when he was 11. His parents tried first with stamps, but that never took hold. Leidman enjoyed looking through his coins, filling holes in his Whitman coin folders, trading or selling his duplicates with friends as well as with Charles French, a local coin dealer in Troy, N.Y.

French had a national coin auction business, and he and his associate, Les Zeller, helped foster Leidman’s burgeoning numismatic interests.

The Leidman family moved to the suburban Washington, D.C., area while he was in high school. In his new surroundings, he met future lifelong friend Albert L. Bonan, who had started a coin business with his father. Leidman said he eventually took over Bonanza Coins.

As he extensively traveled to coin shows and auctions, Leidman said, he developed an interest in higher graded early U.S. coins and patterns.

Along the way, he met Q. David Bowers, Jim Ruddy, Jerry Cohen, the Stacks (Harvey, Norman and Ben), and Lester Merkin.

In the early 1970s, Leidman said, he became close with Mike Brownlee, Stan Kesselman, and Harry W. Bass Jr.

In 1975, Leidman and Brownlee met with Kesselman in California to purchase a collection of Coronet and Saint-Gaudens $20 gold double eagles from noted collector R.D. “Ted” Naftzger. The collection was eventually sold to Jeff Browning, one of Brownlee’s customers.

Leidman said he had been left back at the hotel while the deal was consummated, but was able to look through the coins upon Brownlee and Kesselman’s return.

“When they returned to the hotel, they left the coins with me, except they took one coin and wouldn’t let me see it and went and got some lunch,” Leidman said. “I was looking thru the coins, desperate to see the secret coin, when they came back. They had actually left the secret coin in the 1927 envelope as it was the commonest date at the time and knew I wouldn’t have bothered to look at it. The secret coin was a 1933 [double eagle]. Jeff purchased the coin, as well. Unfortunately, he died at a very young age, and his collection remained unsold until 2001.”

In 1976, Leidman said, he was able to purchase $1 million of the Wilkison gold patterns from A-Mark, including the six-piece 1872 Amazonian gold pattern set. Leidman said he sold the Amazonian gold pattern set in 1983 in a private transaction.

1872 Amazonian gold pattern set

Leidman said upon Browning’s death, the 1933 double eagle went to a friend of his that had a minor interest in the entire collection. “It was subsequently sold in the 1980s to the anonymous collector that now owns it,” Leidman said.

To read the complete article, see:
United States pattern coins specialty for professional numismatist Julian Leidman (www.coinworld.com/insights/julian-leidman-specializes-in-united-states-pattern-coins.html)

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