Michael Hodder and Q. David Bowers
Mrs. Norweb had become a shrewd and canny collector by early 1954, even though she had been active in person on the auction and convention scene only since 1952. She was aware that Abe Kosoff and Sol Kaplan wanted to buy the 1913 Liberty nickel for their own account, and she knew that if they did one or the other of them would offer her the piece later, at a substantial increase over what they had paid for it in the Farouk sale. Consequently, just before the sale of lot 1695 she approached Abe Kosoff and asked him to buy the coin for her account. This put Abe in the difficult position of having to choose between buying the coin to resell to her later, thus realizing his profit but possibly alienating an important client; or fulfilling his client's wish but losing the substantial profit he could expect on the resale of the piece. Abe wisely chose the latter course, and instructed Sol Kaplan to buy the coin. Sol was the successful bidder for the lot. He in turn sold it to Abe at his original cost, and Abe thereupon sold the 1913 Liberty nickel to Mrs. Norweb, again, at his cost. Mrs. Norweb's strategy saved her a large amount of money she would otherwise have had to pay to acquire the coin, and also taught Kosoff, Kaplan, and the other dealers at the sale that she was a formidable personality, one not to be taken lightly in the business.
The April 1954 issue of The Numismatist included Abe's review of the Farouk sale, which makes interesting reading, as much for what it leaves out as for what it includes! The same issue featured reviews of the sale as they appeared in The Egyptian Gazette and the international edition of the Herald Tribune. The Egyptian Gazette noted that most of the bidders at the sale were dealers, who " ... bid very calmly. They included three women, one of whom spent the time silently knitting to relieve her apparent boredom;' The woman referred to was Mrs. Norweb, whose skill with handicrafts was exceptional. She was by no means bored, however. She was, rather, silently knitting, watching her strategy successfully unfolding. She did not need to appear excited or even interested in what what going on. Her bids were in and she knew she was going to return to Cleveland the owner of the 1913 Liberty nickel, as well as many other coins from the Farouk Collection, from rare half cents to gold, no matter what else happened at the sale.
The Mature Collectors
Although Mrs. Norweb and John Ford met for the first time in the summer of 1952, by the time of the 1954 ANA Convention they had become friendly on a personal basis. Even before that, in early 1953, John had acted as her agent in the acquisition of at least one major collection, which was obtained abroad. This was the Tennant Collection, which Mrs. Norweb purchased en bloc for over $6,000, paying New Netherlands $1,000 plus John Ford's expenses during his trips.
One coin purchased by Mrs. Norweb in 1954 has an interesting story connected with it. This was a specimen oft-he rare Canadian 1921 half dollar. Jerry Eisenberg, who had a coin company on 46th Street in New York City called Royal Athena, owned the coin. His father had bought it while on a trip in Ireland, where he found it among other non-Irish coins in a lot. Eisenberg's father paid sixty cents for the rarity! John Ford bought it from Jerry Eisenberg for $200. The Charlton Guide To Canadian Coins, the equivalent to our own Guidebook, had just been published, and the 1921 half dollar was listed there at $250. Ford sold the coin to Mrs. Norweb for its catalogue value, $250. Thirty years later the identical specimen was sold at auction for $17,600!
The 1954 ANA Convention was held in Mrs. Norweb's home town, Cleveland; the auction was conducted by Mike Kolman's Federal Coin Exchange. John Ford was invited to stay with Mrs. Norweb at her family home in Bratenahl, an adjacent suburb of the city. Ford was shown much of Mrs. Norweb's collection, asked to grade all the U.S. coins and compare his grades to the grades listed on the inventory cards, and make appropriate observations. Ford advised Mrs. Norweb about which coins she could realistically hope to upgrade, and which ones she might as well deaccession.
Earlier that year, Ford and Mrs. Norweb had visited with each other at the Central States Numismatic Society Convention, held in Chicago. There, Ford introduced Mrs. Norweb to Horace Louis Philip Brand, one of Virgil Brand's heirs and owner of a substantial portion of the former Virgil Brand Collection. Horace was actively selling coins, but, as his letterhead proclaimed, he "sold only to dealers;' Ford's introduction paved the way for Mrs. Norweb to acquire coins directly from Horace Brand, instead of having to go through another dealer to reach the source. Between her contact through New Netherlands with Jane Allen Brand, and her introduction to Horace Brand arranged by John Ford on behalf of New Netherlands, Mrs. Norweb was tied into the major portion of what remained of the Brand Collection in 1954, which was substantial. Some Brand coins had already entered the collection, in 1937, through her purchases from B. Max Mehl, who had bought Brand coins from B.G. Johnson, among others. Today, many of the Norweb Collection rarities, especially in the U.S. colonial field, trace their pedigrees to Virgil Brand, and through his collection, to the outstanding sales of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Horace Brand agreed to let Mrs. Norweb and John Ford look over his inventory, and they made plans to spend a week in Chicago as soon as the ANA Convention ended. Following the ANA Convention, John Ford and Mrs. Norweb spent a full week at Horace Brand's vaults in the Chicago Board of Trade Building, going through his holdings and choosing the coins she was interested in purchasing. These were primarily Latin American coins. They would arrive at the bank shortly before opening time and stay until closing time, eating lunch in the vault. John Ford remembers being impressed with Mrs. Norweb's knowledge about coins. He also remembers that she could eat a pastrami sandwich and drink beer out of a paper cup, just like "one of the boys;" yet, when Horace Brand would enter the vault and click his heels in the Prussian style, Mrs. Norweb could proffer her hand for kissing as if she were back in the diplomatic service. She had an easy way of getting along with whatever different type of person she was dealing with at the time, and seemingly could slip from stiff formality into loose conviviality in the blink of an eye.
By 1955 Mrs. Norweb had been actively buying coins in face to face transactions or in person at auction sales for three years. She was beginning to become more cautious than she had been before, and a distinct air of uncertainty was noticeable about her then. She plainly felt she had been taken advantage of by certain other professionals, and the closeness of her relationship with New Netherlands Coin Company, and her personal relationship with John Ford, grew stronger. New Netherlands became, more than ever before, her primary source for coins, coin information, numismatic books, and coin supplies. While she bought actively from other dealers, such as Art and Paul Kagin of Hollinbeck Coin Company, by 1955 New Netherlands Coin Company, in the person of John J. Ford, Jr., was firmly ensconced as the Norweb family's numismatic advisor in the area of United States coins. A similar relationship was enjoyed with Fred Baldwin, of Baldwin's, London, who acted as the Norwebs' advisor for foreign coins.
Ambassador and Mrs. Norweb had a particular way of doing business with the coin dealers they patronized. Mrs. Norweb never bargained over a coin's price. Her style was direct and forthright. If she was interested in a coin, she would ask its price. If she felt the price was reasonable, she would buy it. If she did not think so; she would thank the owner for the opportunity of looking at it, and walk away. John J. Ford thought that this way of doing business stemmed from Mrs. Norweb's anxiety about being taken advantage of by a seller. Dave Bowers, who got to know Mrs. Norweb after 1955, agreed. Both Bowers and Ford also felt that her buying style betrayed a very sophisticated collector at work.
Once everyone she dealt with got to know her style, it soon became evident that pricing a coin up to its highest potential retail value was a sure way of losing its sale to Mrs. Norweb. By 1956 she had been in the marketplace long enough to have a good feeling for the true value of the coins being offered to her. Asking for the last dollar from her was guaranteed to lose her business, so anyone interested in selling to her was sure to price his coins at something lower than full retail value. This obviously saved the Norwebs a fair amount of money in the long run.