Regarding the article about dealer Benjamin Bell in the Summer 2017 issue of our print journal The Asylum, James Higby writes:

Benjamin Bell
March 8, 1976 - April 10, 2017

Memories of a good friend...

I recently moved to Arizona to work full time at World Numismatics' headquarters. These past few weeks have been very exciting for us, yet that joy has been clouded by the recent passing of ourcolleague Benjamin Bell. Ben passed away on Monday, April 10, after a long, hard-fought battle with cancer, his loving family at his side. Well educated in traditional historic studies, Ben worked asa numismatist at Classical Numismatic Group and was the co-founder, co-owner and President of Civitas Galleries, Ltd. In a world where many numismatists have grudges against one or more of theircolleagues, Ben was one of only a very few loved and respected by everyone, and was duly considered one of the rising stars in professional numismatics. By our great many conversations, I can attestto his deep love of coins, extensive knowledge and impeccable work ethics. He was snatched far too soon from the coin world, and will be dearly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his parents,Rob and Rebecca, and his sister Rachel.
-Carlos Jara

Ben was a client of ours for quite some time before I really started to get to know him. The first thing that struck me about him was that he had a universal appetite for books that resembled myown. He'd always put together a small pile of books from our shelves when we'd see him at shows, and you'd never be able to guess what he'd select. While other customers were predictably focused onU.S. or Greek or Russian coins, Ben read about everything numismatic. A book in German about Polish coins would be sandwiched in his pile between a new publication on Roman portraiture and a mostlyobsolete catalogue of Latin-American coins. A look at the last invoice we sent to him (promptly paid, as usual) shows that he bought books on late Roman coins, Australian ingots, Mexican coins,Renaissance medals and Bulgarian coins-all in one sale. A book written in Slovak about Celtic coins was also included. Ben was quiet and unassuming, but he was a gentleman and he knew his stuff. I'llmiss him.
-David Fanning

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
ASYLUM SUMMER 2017 ISSUE PUBLISHED (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n21a02.html)