Alan Weinberg wrote:

I found Alan Weinberg's review of the 1960s coin scene delightful. That was when I started out. Before I ever met Dave Bowers, who hired me to work for Bowers & Ruddy Galleries in 1974, I knew Robert Batchelder, because were both lived in suburban Philadelphia.

I remember his constant ad in The Numismatist, listing all the coins he wished to purchase. I never could afford much of what he stocked when I was young but he was always a gentleman, even to a kid like me staring at jewels in his case at coin shows. Years later I visited him at his bank office (he bought a bank building in Ambler, PA) and he still had some wonderful British Soho Mint coppers, which I purchased. He probably owned them for decades but when he stopped dealing in coins he simply put them away.

Weinberg mentioned that he never knew why Batchelder left the coin business. I think I can tell you why. Batchelder's wife was ill for many years, and her husband was a loving care giver. I believe he stopped doing coin shows, and went into the mail-order autographs business, so that he could always be near her. He was too much of a gentleman ever to explain his reasons to anyone. Robert Batchelder was one classy guy!

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:ALAN V. WEINBERG ON THE HOBBY IN THE 1960S(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v13n16a22.html)