Numismatics Archives List

Born in Ludz, Russia (now Lithuania). He came to America in 1893. Married Ethel Rosen on August 18, 1907. Their two daughters attended early ANA conventions with them. Member of the Masons. As a teenager he worked in a shoe store.

Mehl began to run ads in The Numismatist in December 1903. At about the same time he began to issue fixed price lists. In January 1908 he began publication of Mehl's Numismatic Monthly. At the 1914 ANA convention he exhibited private gold coins, some choice cents, and five silver Indian Peace medals. He conducted 120 auction sales with 184,814 lots from 1903 to 1955. His fixed price list number 77 was dated 1953. As many as 15,000 copies were printed of several of these lists. A special fixed price list was issued for the sale of the French collection of large cents about 1930. He published The Star Rare Coin Encyclopedia and Premium Catalog.

His Star Rare Coin Book had a circulation of 70,000 copies a year in the 1920s. In 1928 he had 275,000 mail inquiries and made 30,000 shipments. He had about 40 employees. He advertised extensively in periodicals and later on the radio. He advertised that he would pay fifty dollars for a 1913 Liberty Head nickel. At the peak of his career he spent $100,000 a year on advertising.

Author of The Commemorative Coins of the United States (1937). In 1949 he and his wife attended their 35th ANA convention. He had advertised in 603 consecutive issues of The Numismatist, representing more than 50 years. He died at home in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1974 he was elected to the ANA Numismatic Hall of Fame. In 2010 he was inducted into the PCGS CoinFacts Coin Dealer Hall of Fame.

bio: Adams II (photo); NUM/NIN 4/97

photo: NUM 63 (September 1950), p. 627

obit: NUM 70 (November 1957), pp. 1304–1306 (photo); ANAHist 869 [Pete Smith, American Numismatic Biographies]