Bob Simpson's Sweet Spot

CO-OWNER OF THE TEXAS RANGERSFINDS NOW IS THE TIME TO RELEASEONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATESTCOIN COLLECTIONS

By Robert Wilonsky

What drew you to collecting?

I was probably drawn through the eyes of the child. When we wenton a trip, I'd get Daddy to stop in as many towns as he wouldfor me, and I'd get rolls of coins to look at until I could get himto stop again. And so, to that little kid - I was probably 12 - thatcreated value. A lot of values that you pursue as an adult werefrom your youth. A lot of them. People ask me why I was drawn tooil and gas, because there's no history in my family of it. But whenI was little, we were on the plains around Lubbock. Daddy was acotton farmer. We'd drive by a farm and see a lot of pump jacks,and he said, "Well, you know, I almost bought that farm." And sohe created a value in me that pump jacks meant wealth, oil meantwealth. Maybe the reason we moved to it. I don't know.

Or is it possible that a reason you followedyour passions and pursuits is because youdidn't want to be one of those guys who said,Almost. I almost bought that land. I almostbought that well. I almost bought that coin.You wanted to be the guy who did, in fact,buy those things.

Yeah. In a lot of areas, yeah. I know how to squeeze the triggerwhile others watch, because that's my nature. I'm a decision-maker,acquirer, captain of the ship. And so, to me, that's fine. The onething I did learn from Daddy is not to worry about risk, becausehe was a dryland farmer. That's about the riskiest occupation inthe world.

Did you view coin collecting as risky?

I viewed it as the opposite, as a haven more than a risk asset.

When you were 12 and asking your fatherstop in a town to get you a roll of coin, whatwere you looking for?

Mercury dimes - the most famous, the 1916-Ds, were beingfound. Maybe you had a copper penny. You could still get WalkingLiberty half-dollars. And you had a chance there to get a fairlyexpensive one.

So, instead of being a kid buying packs ofbaseball cards looking for a Mickey Mantle,you were getting rolls of coins.

Yeah. And, remember, in terms of risk, there wasn't any.

Right. You're just swapping out a dollar bill ora $10 bill for a roll of coins.

And you could've made a few hundred bucks. And you're 12.

But how did you know about that at the ageof 12?

One of my brothers was a collector. I was the youngest. I usedto take some of his coins. But it helped my collection. Actually,though, I paid him back. One thing I learned as a youngster is Itended to always have money one way or another. I had my ownchickens or cattle or hogs. My brothers, particularly the oldest one,were always broke.

I'm curious how your perception of collecting has changed from that 12-year-old boyin the backseat thumbing through rolls justtrying to find that thing that may or may notbe, you know, magical, like the bronze 1943-D Lincoln penny which I know you thoughtyou'd found when you were a boy.

I thought, "I'm 16, I think I've got a $40,000 coin, and I'm rich."But it was valueless. I still have it, though. Because I just held thedream. There are some qualities that develop. Try to be the best atwhat you're doing. And try to acquire the best assets that you can.And I would caution anybody to stay away from the apparent bargains. If you'd like to have a lake lot, it doesn't do you any good tobuy a lot a block from the lake just because it's cheap.Whether it's oil and gas or land, I learned over the years to buy thebest. And the best is the most expensive. It'll also do the best in thefuture in terms of its financial performance. It goes hand-in-hand.You're doing yourselves no favor to buy the "bargain."

I assume this applies to coins as well ...

One of my favorite coins is the 1920-S $10 gold piece, probablythe finest $10 Indian piece in the world. It's in the set I'm going tokeep. But, again, the price was painful. I learned a long time agothat the best usually comes at a price that hurts. And so, I wouldtell anybody bidding here, if you see the opportunity that's uniqueto you, it's probably going to hurt to buy it, but you'll never regretit.

The only thing that hurts more is not buying that thing youdesperately want.

You'll never regret it. You can always get more money, but someof these opportunities, you can't produce another one. That's whatI would share, that wisdom with potential buyers. Here's a guythat's been doing it a long time in a lot of arenas, including theRangers. We bought that at auction. Usually, the good stuff hurts.

How has your philosophy behind your collecting changed since you were a little boy?

I'm more interested in just outright art - the beauty of the collection, of the coin. And what I would hope somebody would sayabout my collection is that, first, he had a great eye for beauty aswell as history. I think it speaks for itself.

Do you find that you are more unorthodoxthan most when it comes to collecting?

I was ahead of my time, so to speak. I have my own ability to seebeauty. I think it's just the same as artwork. I have artwork. It'sjust a natural thing. You either kind of got it or you don't.

Did you find that your ability to recognizethe beauty of a coin was there from the beginning, or was that a thing you also had todevelop?

No, it was natural. You could throw some coins out right here, andyou could tell to some degree, just for starters. I just have a goodeye for it. I didn't think of charging money, like Certified Acceptance Corporation is doing now. But that's really what they'redoing, is to give people assurance.

Let's say you've got a coin graded 66 and a 67 comes along. I can't tell youhow many times I've kept my 66 over the 67 or the 67 over the 68. Is the 68worth more? That big a gap, it probably is. But the 66 to the 67, when the 66has more eye appeal, you probably can't sell the 67 for more money than the66.

It's often said that collectors are just temporarycustodians of history. Is that how you think of coincollecting?

Yeah. It's true not only with collections but possessions in general. There's acycle you go through in life, which is: When you're younger, your perspectiveis infinity and you're immortal, and so you're an accumulator. At some point,it goes the other way, where you think of yourself more as a steward, andthen what's the ultimate resolution of this asset. Should I share with othercollectors? Leave it to my kids? What am I going to do?

We tend to over-clutter our lives and get beyond our capacity to appreciatewhat we have. I'm 72, so you reach the age where you're thinking about itdifferently. You're more aware that you were the custodian. I've kept a lot ofmy coins that I would encourage my children to never sell. But most we'regoing to share with the community, that thrill of owning that coin they getthey take home and would like to hold, like to own and then spread the joy.And that's sincere.

I keep going back to that 12-year-old in the backseat of the car on the family trips going throughcoins. I wonder what he would say to the man 60years later who has acquired such an extraordinarycollection and has decided now to part with someof those coins. I wonder if that kid could've believedthat he could amass such a remarkable collection.

No, he couldn't have seen that coming. But the concept of giving them backto the community, fellow collectors, is a maturity thing. It would never havecrossed his mind. He wouldn't have worried about it. But I think it's the rightthing to do. I've been wanting to do this for years, to some extent, but I haven't had time. It is a painful process. I spent days doing it. I am selling somethat, on a different day, I might have kept. But there are people that wouldappreciate some of these coins.

Well, absolutely.

And cherish them where I don't. It's almost just wrong to be that gluttonous.

Well, it is. But that's part of the joy of collecting, right? I mean, as a collector myself,when someone says, "I want to sell you thisthing you didn't think you'd ever be able toacquire," it's thrilling. And that's becauseyou will cherish it, and you know that oneday you might hand it down or one day youmight sell it to somebody else who loves itfor the same reasons you do.

There are some coins on down the scale, where you think, maybe, "Is there anybody that loves those?" And there are. It's just adifferent guy, a different collection, a different viewpoint. There'sno chance I could appreciate that many coins. Some of them, Iwould have three or four of the same coin - a coin that I lovedevery time I saw it, so I bought it.

The collector's curse. The fear of never seeing something again.

Let somebody else have a go at it. I wasn't buying them becauseI thought they were going to make me a fortune. I was buyingthem for their beauty. This is a passion. It's a good thing to do.I hope it continues, and I hope the youngsters pick up the value.Theirs will be a little different because they didn't sit in the backof the car looking through rolls of coins, probably. But theirswill be more of a history, beauty, investment. I'm hoping thereare other people out there that have shared this passion as ayoungster and would like to fulfill their dreams.

To read the complete issue, see:
HERITAGE AUCTIONS | WINTER 2020-2021 INTELLIGENT COLLECTOR(http://intelligentcollector.com/mag/pdf-versions/2020-2021-winter-issue.pdf)