Jeff Zarit alerted me to the recent passing of his friend and longtime dealer Kent Froseth. He was born March 25, 1936 and died May 15, 2026. Here are excerpts from his online obituary and tributes. -Editor

"Our colleague Kent Froseth from Minnesota attended thousands of numismatic events in his career and knew many of you. He was a superb numismatist and a superb coin dealer. With his knowledge, charm, honesty and his patience.. he could put together the most fantastic deals. His laugh was large. His joy of life was great. He would remind us that...your martinis should only be made with Bombay Sapphire. He was missed after his retirement from the business five years ago. His death on May 15 is sad."

Great photo - that's a photo of boxer John L. Sullivan on the wall. -Editor

"Kent was the charismatic personality described in his obituary — always fun to be around. One of my favorite memories is the time we visited Kent and Nancy at their very Norwegian cabin near Bemidji on Grace lake, white lace curtains and bright red tiles in the kitchen, for the 4th of July!

Our son Charlie was little, maybe six or so. Kent was so excited to show him the new summer blockbuster, "Jurassic Park!" His enthusiasm was infectious. He and Nancy loved little kids and were very generous. Kent put together a Fisher-Price trike at our log cabin on Kabetogama Lake when Charlie turned three. And he bought him a tiny metal Eiffel Tower as we were leaving Paris after an IAPN Convention.

That trip we shared a flat together as we often did on international conventions, this time in Paris, and were amused to observe Kent washing his underwear in the sink every night. He apparently had packed no extras.

He relished life, enjoyed food and music, knew a lot about many things, was always generous, a terrific friend and travelling companion to my husband and me. In Bangkok he introduced us to his favorite tailor.

He and Nancy are greatly missed, and have left a hole that will never be filled."

"Kent was one of my favorite people in our industry. total straight shooter with a ton of numismatic knowledge across many areas of numismatics. One of my favorite memories was when Kent and I met up at the first international coin fair held in Oslo back in the day--the local newspaper did a story about the two of us attending the show--as it was unusual to see two Americans attending the Norwegian coin show back then!

"I have many happy memories of dinners with Kent and his two sons at various shows. He was well liked by everyone who knew him and he will be missed!"

"Though I did not know Kent on a personal level, he was always an excellent bidder and buyer in the auctions going all the way back to the Lepczyk days when he was active. I remember him always being highly knowledgeable, soft spoken and well liked by everyone. He traveled and shared tables with a close friend of mine who had the deepest respect for Kent and was good friends with him. He will be missed by many."

I first met Kent sometime in the 70's. I immediately got the first impression of his genuine kindness. I tried to drop by his booth at every show (wherever in the world) that we both attended, take a break to just talk about so many varied subjects. Because of my interest in the Scandinavian way of life, good food, and travel, our discussions frequently turned to do a deeper dive into those subjects.

I always remembering asking him so many questions, every time we spoke. He was by nature patient, and I learned something new every time we spoke.

One story I can share was around 1990, the trust department of a bank in El Paso, Texas, contacted me about the possibility of acting as an agent for a Norwegian lady who had a Norwegian gold coin collection. The lady was 85 years old and needed to liquate the collection.

After meeting her at the bank, I asked her how she had so many of these specific Scandinavian coins. She replied by saying that she and her husband, who were Jewish, had barely survived WWII. After a warning, one afternoon, they were forced to flee in the middle of the night after the Nazis invaded Norway. They literally had about 12 hours head start before the Nazis entered their town. She told me that in 1933, shortly after their marriage, her husband had a bad feeling about Hitler, and began buying gold coins from a local bank every time they had extra money. He had become a successful entrepreneur running a small food market and shoe business in their community.

She added that the coins I saw were only half of the original amount, because they had spent six months hiding and on the run, but all the while working their way towards Lisbon to get transport to America. The other half of the gold coins had been spent to save their family's life during that harrowing journey.

After closely inspecting the remaining collection which consisted of about 300 Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian Mint State gold coins from the early 20th century, I wanted to try my best to buy it or broker the collection.

Yet after five years of trying, because of the understandably strong emotional attachment, I found myself still dealing with the toughest Norwegian 85-year-old I've ever encountered. She just would not commit. Then, I thought of my friend Kent. I called Kent and explained the situation, and he flew down to Texas.

I made another appointment with the lady, went to her bank, and Kent met her, and then inspected the coins. Within an hour, she and Kent were discussing Norway, their life stories, and with Kent in his always calm and charming demeanor she had a new best friend.

She told me if Kent could buy the coins and I said sure, that we would work together on her collection. That closed the deal. To the end she remained tough. While we only made a small profit, it still remains one of the one of my favorite memories in the coin world.

Kent was indeed what we should all aspire to, he lived by the golden rule, and I'll sure miss him. One of the best!

Thanks, everyone! -Editor

RENAISSANCE OF AMERICAN COINAGE: Wizard Coin Supply is the official distributor for Roger Burdette's three volume series that won NLG Book of the Year awards for 2006, 2007 and 2008. Contact us for dealer or distributor pricing at www.WizardCoinSupply.com.