RICHARD LOBEL INTERVIEW PART TWO

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V26 2023 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 26, Number 21, May 21, 2023, Article 9

Greg Bennick's latest interview for the Newman Numismatic Portal is with London dealer Richard Lobel. Here's the second part, where Richard talks about moving from Boston to London. -Editor

Greg Bennick: That's fantastic. Well, were certainly kindred spirits. I was asked to leave university as well and then worked out an agreement with the university and stayed. So, that's good to know that we're in good company today. Now, how did you move from Boston to England? How did that come about, and when was that?

Richard Lobel: Well, I graduated university finally. Instead of taking four years, it took six years because of dropping out and all the rest. And I got -- I have a degree in international business and macroeconomics. And I was supposed to go to Harvard Business school for my MBA. And I thought about it and I said, no. I don't really want to study. I love coins. And I thought, and this was the big mistake. I thought I spoke the language in England. It is totally different. It's a bit risqué In America, a woman's fanny is her bum, her backside. In this country, it's the other side of her anatomy. And I was with a group of guys, and I said, oh, she was really cute and I pinched her on her fanny. And they looked at me like, what have I done? I moved here October 2nd, 1968. It was the end of the 60s. It was still a swinging place. I had $5,000 but I owed the bank and my aunt $8,000. So, basically, I was broke when I moved here. But I didn't care. I loved it. The moment -- I'd been to England once before in 1964, I loved it. There's something about it. It's the age, and it's -- you can walk down the same street every day for a year, and every day you'll see something different. And it's....

Richard Lobel: It's a beautiful life over here. In America, the people you work with, the people who live next door to you are your friends. Well, they're not really. Are they? They're people you know. Over here, it took me seven years before someone called me a friend. But I knew that they really were your friend. If you were in a fight, you didn't have to look around, that person would be there with you. And I can appreciate the honesty of this country, and they don't call you your friend because you work with them or you live next to them. If you are a friend, they really are your friend. I've had some friends here for more than 50 years and I'm still friendly with them.

Greg Bennick: Oh, that's wonderful. All of that is especially in the way that we too easily use platitudes and words like friend in the United States. I think that's really a telling point about the culture there. Now when you move there, did you intend to open a coin store or did you…

Richard Lobel: No. Absolutely not. No. It was a time of sex, drugs, rock and roll. I was very wild as a youth. I have to admit this. I've calmed down somewhat. Yeah. No, I won't go into it, but I was very wild. And I came over on a ship because I was in no hurry. I came over in third class. You shared four people in a cabin and your toilet was down the hall. But it didn't matter because it was -- you're in no hurry. And I got off the ship in Southampton. In those days, they had a boat train. They actually met the ship, and then went up to London. And everything was new. And the first place I stayed was a place absolutely perfectly named. It was called Wits End House, because you're at the Wits End. And it was a pound a night with breakfast. I never made it up for breakfast.

Richard Lobel: And then in the middle of that, I found out that they had a heater in the room, which you had to put a Shilling in there in the middle of the night. Otherwise, you'd be cold. It was great. And I still tell the story about the navies, the guys working in the street digging the holes would wear ties because it was, you know. And I was running around London in pink and white gingham shorts. I didn't care. I loved it. I mean, I was free. I was 3,000 miles away from my family. I could do whatever I wanted and by God, I did.

Greg Bennick: I love this. And I love that you've already reframed the early history of Coincraft for me. And that in my mind, I was thinking, maybe he started Coincraft in Boston, but what I realized is you started your interest in coins in 1955.