B. Max Mehl, the doyen of currency traders in the United States in the first half of the 20th century
In July 1906, a local Texas newspaper published a small advertisement in which B. Max Mehl announced that he was retiring from his shoe repair business and would devote himself entirely to the coin trade due to his recent success. The ad urged Texans to find a new shoemaker! And so began Mehl's serious journey with coins…
Benjamin Max Mehl was born in Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire) in 1884. His father emigrated with his young family to the United States, and as a young boy, Max found himself repairing cowboy boots and shoes for the residents of Fort Worth, Texas. The income was meager, so he realized he had to find other ways to supplement it. His father, a master craftsman, allowed him to trade in coins in a small section of the shop, until he finally decided to dedicate all his time, effort, and money to this trade.
Max was distinguished from a young age by a natural talent in advertising, marketing and public relations, and all of these were important success factors that helped him throughout his later life. After a short period, he realized that he had to expand and that there were few coin enthusiasts in the city of Fort Worth, so he started issuing a monthly magazine about coins and regularly attended the conferences of the American Numismatic Society to increase his knowledge. Success began to favor him as he was able to obtain the collections of large enthusiasts and sell them through his auctions, which earned him widespread fame.
Perhaps Max Mehl's most famous advertising campaign was the one for the 1913 5-cent coin. He once placed an ad offering to buy the coin in any condition for $50. When there was no response, he raised the price to $100, then to $500. At the time, in the 1930s, the United States was experiencing the Great Depression, and most Americans were unemployed. The newspapers picked up the amusing story – that a crazy coin dealer from Texas was offering 500$ for a "normal" 5-cent coin. A nationwide search for the sought-after coin began, involving children, men, women, and the elderly! Even the San Francisco Streetcar Company contacted Mehl to withdraw his offer because they noticed that the conductors were disrupting the streetcars by meticulously examining every coin they received, hoping to find the 1913 5-cent coin. This disrupted all the company's lines and caused them significant losses! Despite the relentless search continuing for years, no one ever stumbled upon the piece, but Max's reputation had spread far and wide.
In 1931, Max announced that he had paid 18,500,$ for a single advertisement – a huge sum at the time for any advertisement! It is to the man’s credit that he believed in the art of advertising, so when he learned that readers preferred caricatures, he began to issue advertisements in the form of “comics.” Then he decided to use the modern technology of the time through radio programs, so he issued one that he prepared and read himself, and it continued for many years and was for a while at the top of radio programs in the United States.
Mehl's success continued, and he used this success to attract others to the hobby. He bought a huge three-story building on two corners overlooking Fort Worth's most important streets, named it after himself, and used it entirely as a currency trading office. When the number of letters sent to him from readers and customers increased, he hired 40 employees just to write replies and send coins and magazines to readers! It got to the point where the Fort Worth Post Office announced at the time that 70% of the mail coming into the city was addressed to Max Mehl alone, and they organized special trucks to transport his mail and packages several times a day from the post office to his shop. Max, of course, exploited this in his advertisements and photos of his employees in front of tons of envelopes!
Mehl's fame wasn't limited to America; it spread internationally. His clients included Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and King Farouk I. In fact, when the latter decided to sell duplicates from his collection in 1948, he couldn't think of a better person than Max to handle the task, given the immense trust he placed in him. One of the auction's more amusing anecdotes is that Max—a keen publicist—asked King Farouk for permission to use his image on the auction catalog cover to boost sales. The King refused, citing the importance and sensitivity of his position, which transcended personal interests. Undeterred, Max requested permission to use a coin bearing King Farouk's face on the cover, a request the King granted, impressed by the American dealer's resourcefulness! It's worth noting that the auction was a success, prompting the King to award Max further duplicates. Another auction of royal coin collections was held in 1951. (These are all separate auctions from the well-known 1954 Qubba Palace auction.).
When we browse through the magazines published by Max Mehl, we find that they contained approximately 60% coins for sale and 40% articles and useful information about numismatics. He had a famous series of articles introducing ancient coins and the history of coinage, featuring a picture of a modern American coin bearing an American eagle alongside an Egyptian coin from the Ptolemaic period, also depicting an Egyptian eagle. The title of this series was "The more things change, the more they stay the same." In the pre-catalogue era, Max summarized his philosophy in the following sentence: "When everyone realizes that you possess knowledge and don't withhold it from them, they will inevitably trust you, and when they trust you, they will rush to do business with you.".
In 1957, B. Max Mehl, the doyen of coin dealers, passed away. He was a man who began his life as a shoe repair boy and ended it as a friend of kings and presidents, gaining their trust. However, what old Max was most proud of was that he was considered one of the main reasons for the spread of coin collecting in America and the world.
Moheb Rizkalla
