Greg Bennick: Well, if it's any consolation, I expected to interview you from Seattle, where I'vegot professional microphones, and I've got a whole setup going on, but I was at the same coinshow that you were, and I'm actually at my parents' place on the east coast. So, instead of mybackground being all professional, I've got a background with a photo of my great-grandmotheron the shelf over there, sitting here on my laptop in the basement. And that works for me. I'mhappy to talk to you anywhere, anytime. This is fantastic. Originally, I was going to ask you aboutthe theft and partial recovery of your coins, but I've enjoyed all the things that we've talked aboutso much that I might want to shift that question a bit in case there's something you want to tellabout, because the story is well-known.

I was just maybe going to ask, what advice do you have on security for coin collectors and coindealers, just to keep people safe? And if people don't know the background, Julian went througha theft and partial recovery of some coins. Again, the story is out there if you'd like to find it, andJulian, you're more than welcome to tell us the story if you like. But really, ultimately, at the endof the day, learning how we can keep ourselves safe, or some ideas and thoughts to keep in mindabout safety and security would probably be really helpful for people.

Julian Leidman: One thing I learned over the years was, you don't leave your coins in your carunattended. And we followed that religiously when we went to coin shows. I often traveled withcolleagues. I remember traveling all over with my colleagues at Golden Eagle, who's still inbusiness in Laurel. And we would go, and there would be three or four of us in the van, and thevan would be loaded. And so, if we stopped someplace, two people would go in and eat, and oneperson would stay in the car. Well, I made a mistake. In 2009, I was returning home fromConnecticut, a coin show there. I had been there two or three times, I guess. My in-laws lived inNew Jersey, which is between Connecticut and Maryland. So, they said, 'Why don't you stop herefor dinner?' I was a little hesitant, but...

Now, going back over things, I really think I was followed from there. I don't know for a fact. Andwhen I got to New Jersey, I pulled into their home, and I stayed outside on the porch, with the car.Somebody may have driven by to his house or something like that, and I didn't really pay muchattention to it. And then they said, 'Well, let's go out to dinner.' And that's- I really should havesaid no. And so, we went to this restaurant on a busy route. I went into the restaurant, I backed intothe place where I could see the car right there, and as I was sitting down, the lights are blinking onthe car, and I said, well, I must have hit my keys in my pocket. You know, I must have hit the fobor something and it set off the alarm. So, I just clicked it and it went off. I had my dinner, and wentoutside, and the car had been broken into.

And if I had gone outside at that time, I might have stopped it, I might have gotten shot, I don'tknow what would have happened. But, in any event, I was horrified. Here's everything I workedmy whole life for, and... They got two or three cases, including a suitcase full of clothes. So, wecalled the local police. I had a friend who's son was with the FBI, I called him, and I never reallyrealized, but the FBI really has to be invited into a case by a local police agency. So, I ended uptelling the local policeman what was what. I called some of my friends, I put it out on variousnumismatic networks that this had happened. The next morning, because I couldn't really drivehome that night, I'm driving home with a broken side window in the van. I drove home, and I putout more and more publicity.

And eventually, I got a lead from somebody, and he told me that he's being offered some of thesecoins, and he mentioned a couple of coins. Very silly coins, but one of which was a valuable, a1921 Double Eagle that was encapsulated. And also, he mentioned a 1954 S Penny encapsulatedin, I don't know, MS65 or 67. Now, this isn't something that somebody would mention to you, butthat's what they had told this guy. And so, I called the FBI, who had been involved with it, I toldthem about this, and they went and talked to the guy, and realized that it probably was the samecoins. And they made arrangements to go find out where the coins were, and they were able to goand raid the place where the coins were. And it was on West 47th Street in New York City, thediamond district, where all these guys were buying and selling diamonds, and gold, and coins, andwhatever.

And this one guy, who was one that bought, evidently, all these coins, and he had to meet thesepeople in an odd place, and pay them cash or whatever. He made a good buy, but he ended upgoing to jail because he never would give up who the coins came from. And the FBI, incredibly,recovered a huge amount of the coins, in dollar value too. It could have been 80% or 90% of thevalue, which was in the millions of dollars. And so, I wasn't dead, although it did take me a longtime to get the coins back from the FBI. but they eventually, through the intervention of some ofmy friends and colleagues- Jimmy Hayes was a former congressman from Louisiana, and Jimmyhad obviously befriended other members of Congress, and so he introduced me to LouiseHoltzman from New York City, and she was able to write a letter and contact the FBI on my behalf,and I was able to eventually get physical possession.

Even though I had gone and looked at them, and ascertained that these were absolutely the samecoins, zero question about it, they were thinking they were going to have to have a trial, and they'regoing to need to have these coins as evidence, and it didn't really ever happen that way, becausethey never did find the actual thieves. Because the FBI never- they told me at the time that theynever recover more than 5% of what's stolen, and here I had something where they recovered80+% of the coins. It's absolutely incredible. And so, I was kind of back in business.

Greg Bennick: I'm just glad that you were safe during the robbery, first and foremost, and ofcourse, like you said, that you got such a big percentage back. Are there any tips or ideas you mightgive to folks just to keep in mind as they're going to coin shows, or as they become a dealer, or asthey are dealers, based on your experience, and what you've thought about since then?

Julian Leidman: Well, going to coin shows is less of a problem because nobody knows whenyou're going, or where you're going to, or anything like that. But, coming home from a coin showis a real problem. I mean, this went back to... for as long as I was in business. Before me, peoplewould leave a coin show, and they'd be followed, and they'd stop, go in to eat, and they come outand their coins are gone, or their car is gone, whatever. So, that's the main thing. If you're goingstop to eat, there's got to be more than one of you, and you have got to be in the car. There's justno question about that. So, that's my number one thing. And just watch your surroundings. Iremember coming home from coin shows in Florida, I used to go down to Florida for the monthof January and do four coin shows in Florida, the FUN show and three other little shows aroundthe state.

And so, we were returning home from one of those trips, and my friend and colleague Don Aft,who I would travel with, he's looking in the back mirror, and he sees somebody following us. So,he pulls into a gas station, and the other car pulled into the gas station. I get out of the car and startwalking toward the other car, and the other car backs up down a side road for half a mile, justtotally backs up. And we were being followed. So, you have to watch everything. I've been thevictim of sneak thieves at coin shows, where people have stolen something out of a showcase orsomething like that. So, the key is eyes and physical presence. Those are the two main things. Andwatching who you're talking to. And there's still thieves at coin shows. Just this last weekend inBaltimore, they caught a thief at the coin show.

And I had seen this guy at the Baltimore show for 10 or 15 years, and I never was in a position tolose something to him, but I've lost things to other people because I wasn't really the same eyesand ears, and physical presence that I needed to be. So, those are all very important things. SteveEllsworth, a retired army colonel, has done a lot with security, and made many presentations tonumismatic groups about security. Of course, I understood everything he said, and I made that onemistake. And I made other mistakes too. Mistakes are what cost you, really.

Greg Bennick: I appreciate the story and the insights. It's so important for people. And overall, Iappreciate your stories. You've been so generous with your time. We've been speaking close toan hour at this point, and the history and all of it has been just so incredible. I'm just so thankfulthat you were able to take some time today and speak with me, and share some of your experiencesover the course of your career. It's just been wonderful.

Julian Leidman: Well, that's very nice. I'm happy to talk to you. And I can ramble on for- Youknow, we could do this for another couple of hours too, but I don't think there's anybody thatreally needs to watch an interview that long. You know more about that than I do. So, I'mappreciative to be able to share the time with you.

Greg Bennick: That's fantastic. Well, if folks are interested in hearing more, you can drop a lineto the Newman Numismatic Portal and get in touch with me. My contact information is on thepage where you found this interview, and if people are interested in hearing more, we'll do JulianLeidman part 2. But for today, Julian, thank you so much on behalf of myself, and also on behalfof the NNP for taking the time. This has been really fantastic, I really appreciate it.

About the Interviewer
Greg Bennick (www.gregbennick.com) is a keynote speaker and long time coin collector with a focus on major mint error coins. Have ideas for other interviewees? Contact him anytime on the web or via instagram @minterrors.

To watch the complete video, see:
Julian Leidman Interview(https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/626691)

To read the complete transcript, see:
Julian Leidman Interview (Transcript)(https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/626692)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
JULIAN LEIDMAN INTERVIEW, PART ONE(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n20a07.html)
JULIAN LEIDMAN INTERVIEW, PART TWO(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n21a19.html)
JULIAN LEIDMAN INTERVIEW, PART THREE(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n21a20.html)