Dick Johnson writes:

Treasure is a relative thing, depending entirely upon the person seeking it.

Which is why at Harlan J. Berk Ltd., you can walk in to the small shop at 31 N. Clark and walk out a delighted 7-year-old clutching a worn Indian head penny fished out of a bowl of old coins for $1.50, the start of a lifetime of collecting, or a satisfied 60-year-old clutching a gold stater of Alexander the Great you have searched for all your life, a steal at $5,000.

I was drawn to Berk because the kid who used to save wheaties - Lincoln pennies minted before 1959 with wheat stalks on the back - still lurks within, and I was charmed that, while you can't find a toy store in the Loop, there is still a place selling cardboard books to press your Mercury dimes into.

But, spending a morning with the dapper and knowledgeable Berk, I very quickly realized that the extraordinary aspect of the place isn't as an oasis of nostalgia but as a treasure house of ancient wonders - Berk sells coins, yes, but also antiquities: Roman marble, Corinthian helmets. Each has a tale.

"This is Minoan," Berk says in front of a large, sand-colored casket with the tangled cartoon of a sea beast on it. "A cuttlefish, or squid. When the Minoan society was destroyed, Greeks came in a thousand years later, saw homes without roofs and [pictures of] bulls inside - the Minoans did bull leaping - so the Greeks said, 'Oh, this must be a labyrinth.' The whole thing of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur was a misinterpretation. This is better than the one in the Met."

We're standing in the warren of rooms behind the store, cluttered with centuries-old maps, Egyptian funereal objects, Neolithic burial statuary, oddly smiling figures, plus 17,000 books with titles such as The Red Figured Vases of Apulia - reference works, not for sale, though interested members of the public are allowed to consult them.

"It's hard to keep the place in order," Berk says.

To read more in the complete article, see:Coin dealer wise to world treasure(www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/10270689-452/coin-dealer-wise-to-world-treasure.html)