Mr. Mint -- Alan Rosen

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Posted By: Show Attendee

What's the story with Mr. Mint (Alan Rosen) these days ? Is he still buying cards ? I see him at shows, but he's always reading the newspaper. He seems to be keeping a low profile. What's he up to ?

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Posted By: JimCrandell

He still sits in his chair at the closest spot to the entrance and runs up to anyone who is carrying a package and appears to have cards for sale---tries to buy them for cash for the lowest price possible and flips them as quick as he can.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Does anyone really take him seriously?

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Posted By: leon

I just thought of a great scheme for the National.........wonder what he would offer for a few of my decent type cards? Low ball maybe? Should be interesting.....thanks guys

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Posted By: barrysloate

He probably wouldn't know what they were. If it's not Topps, Bowman, or Hartland Statues, he's in a bit over his head (I always wanted to take a set of Hartlands, arrange them like ten pins, and then smash them with a bowling bowl. Not my favorite issue, to be sure).

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Posted By: Anonymous

Not even MRS. Mint pays attention to him!

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Posted By: jackgoodman

I once heard Mr. Mint tell a walk-in that he had made an offer to, that the offer was only good at that moment. That if the seller wanted to walk around the show offering his cards to other dealers, and ended up returning to Mr. Mint's table, that Mr. M's offer was obviously too high and he would not offer that much if they ended up back at his table.

Psychologically, not a bad gambit and keeps the seller/walk-in from getting competing bids.

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

is Mr. VG now.......saw him buying a crapload of 1950's sets in VERY substandard condition. He was paying dimes on the dollar and these people selling have these star struck eyes. Then VG flips the cards to Verkman or some other dealer for 10% to pay his bills.

On another note....at the last Anaheim national, he had little Mr. Mint beanie babies with the beard and all. My buddy and I were staying with a friend and we each got a couple of those beanie babies each day and then stuffed them in unlikely places in my buddie's appartment. He was finding those damn things for 2-3 weeks. Kind of like a Mr. Mint treasure hunt. Microwave.....planter.....freezer behind the ice cream.....

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Posted By: barrysloate

A lot of people sell to him to get their picture in SCD. What they don't realize is that they could consign their collection to an auction house, get thousands of extra dollars for it, take out their own full page ad in SCD with their picture, and still have lots of money left over. He preys on the weak.

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Posted By: J Levine

At the last Anaheim National (the one where I was holding the Wagner that I still think may be trimmed), my friend stood right in front of Mr. Mint's table and offered $5 more than what he offered several people. This went on for 5 minutes before Rosen called a show rep. and had my friend moved. The argument was extremely funny and involved words like "free-market" and "capitalistic values." Never saw Rosen's face get so red.

-Joshua

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Posted By: Rhys

I do not know why anyone sells to him. He is rude, arrogant and knows nothing about the cards he deals in to be considered one of the big names in the hobby.

I had to laugh at him and his "new look" at the last show. He should change his name from "Mr. Mint" to "Mr. Midlife Crisis" and just do away with the formalities.

My brother's wife was at the Fort Washington show with him and she had seen some of his ads from time to time in SCD. When she saw him in person she came back to my brother and said in complete honesty, "I had no idea Mr. Mint was Arab". I strongly recommend checking out his new look at the next show he attends.

He is a complete joke and the day he leaves the hobby everyone will be better off for it.

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Posted By: Ben

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Posted By: barrysloate

Do you know that a few weeks ago SCD had one of their reporters write an article solely about his new appearance? Now there's some breaking hobby news for you. That's really scraping the bottom of the editorial barrel.

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Posted By: Josh K.

can we get a before and after shot posted.

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Posted By: DJ

When I was at the Trop World show back in 1989, I remember seeing a group of collector's whisper to each other 'That's Mr. Mint!' and it was like they ran into Rock Hudson.

Who the hell is this guy that makes him special? Does he not sell pieces of colored paper like the rest of us?

He is so rude to common people that wait in their long lines to get their 'authorized' Alan Rosen memorabilia signed. He was handing out items at a show once and there were like fifteen people in line. He was signing their items and all of a sudden he simply stopped and said 'I'm not signing anymore'. There were like seven people in line!

Further proof that SCD isn't much of a factor anymore and something I don't even bother with.

DJ

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

"Mr. Mint" is the biggest joke in the entire hobby. I can't believe anybody actually deals with this guy. He is so overbearing, pompous, and arrogant-that he literally is impossible to be around. My brother (Rhys) and I do maybe 1-2 shows a year, usually the Pittsburgh Robert Morris show--I'm living here in Pittsburgh now. Last year we arrived late to the show and waiting for us sitting on our table was Mr. Mint. I had never actually talked to the guy before-only seen is big, overhyped face in every Krause publication I have ever laid hands on waving wads of cash around. Anyways, somebody told him that we were going to be there and that we had some older stuff. So as we are bringing in our boxes, he is making himself at home going through whatever boxes he wants, making a big stack of stuff that is "Rosens stuff." Then Terry Knouse Sr. (whom my brother & I know well) comes over and starts talking to us and asking us about cards, and he starts looking at a few stacks, and Rosen gets all red in the face and beligerently asks us to keep everyone else away from our stuff, because "he was there first, and hadn't looked at everything yet." So, Terry just sets the stuff down and asks me to "come get him when the Rosen is done" (pretty classy move on his part-I don't think I would have been that polite.) So, Rosen keeps going through our stuff, and biting off anybody's head that dares to approach our table. Once he is through, he asks for a price on everything, and we ask him to wait a minute while we think about it. He gets all mad and says that he doesn't have all day. So we seperate my stuff from my brothers stuff and my brother starts giving him some prices, and after some eye rolling, they ended up striking a deal on $2000-3000 worth of stuff. Then he asks me, and naturally I marked everything up on the him, because he had just pissed off our potential customers, not to mention our friends (like Terry). And then he starts telling my brother, that my prices are too high and that I should be giving him a good deal because he is "Mr. Mint". That was last year.

This year we decided to do the Pittsburgh show again, but only at the last second. So we arrived at the show, and thankfully Mr. Rosen hadn't gotten the heads up that we would be there. So we started unpacking our stuff, and while doing so we sold several things to some of the other dealers like Wayne Varner, etc. Mr. Mint strolls along about 20 minutes later, looking a little ticked, and starts looking through our stuff. This time however he "wasn't there first" and couldn't tell everybody to go away. About 15 minutes later he hands me a stack of 5-10 items and asks what I want for them. Another gentleman had asked me about some items he was interested in a few seconds before Rosen so I politely told Rosen that it would take me a minute or so to get done with the other gentleman, and then I could get him a price. He gets all red and throws the items on the table and says "forget it..." and as he is walking away he says "...hell of a way to do business, man." As he is leaving I asked him what his problem was but he just left.

Not too sure what we really did to piss the guy off, but now we have a reason to never sell to the guy again. I don't know everyone on this thread but hopefully most here that have met my brother or I would agree that we are decent guys with decent stuff, with fair prices, and aren't too hard to deal with. I don't know if he was mad that we hadn't gone to him first, or that we weren't in a big hurry to have Alan Rosen explain why we should be his wholesalers, but anyways Rosen showed his true colors, and thankfully there were 5-10 other dealers that witnessed it.

Honestly, I can't believe that he has lasted in the hobby as long as he has. Everyone that I have talked too about the situation, has similar stories to tell about the guy. Why do people put up with his crap? It is pretty funny though if you go back through old dealer surveys in the VCBC Rosen had one of the lowest scores annually, and always had among the worst scores in "friendliness" and "knowledgeable". Anyways, I'm done ranting, but Rosen is a friggin' joke.
-Rhett

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Posted By: barrysloate

That's a good story Rhett and just about everyone who has dealt with him has been treated the same way. The last time he and I spoke was about 20 years ago. He screamed at me over something he didn't like and that was it for me. Somehow he gets away with it all by relentlessly advertising, and notice in all of his ads he has this big phony smile on his face and he looks like everyone's favorite uncle. But in person he is completely different. I guess novices see him as sort of a celebrity and sellers like the idea of getting paid in cash, and somehow he has been successful in convincing a lot of people to sell to him. Likewise, he's made a legion of enemies, and you know what- he doesn't care.

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Posted By: DJ

This is going to be a long thread.

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Posted By: Josh K.

Wow - that was some fast photoshop work. Impressive indeed.

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Here's Mr. Mint's "New Look"...

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Posted By: john/z28jd

True story,former all-star 3rdbaseman for the Indians from the 40's-50's Al Rosen changed his last name to Capone so he wouldnt be confused with a individual with the reputation of Alan Rosen

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Posted By: DJ

The sad thing was that I didn't create that card.

I'm enjoying this 'Alan Rosen Photo Album'. Let's keep this going!

Any photos of him NOT holding money? Those are the 'rare ones'.

DJ
Edited to add: Very funny John!

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Posted By: robert a.

This is the best thread in a LONG time!

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Posted By: John_B_California

For all of his faults, he's still a brilliant marketer. How many dealers in any business (cards, coins, stamps, antiques) have branded themselves this well? When he steps outside and eats a hotdog at the National, people think he's a rock star.

He reminds me in some ways of Donald Trump. Lots of flash, cash and hyperbole. Trump has his ice water and fragrance, Rosen has his baseballs and bobble heads. I'm waiting for the Mr. Mint Visa Check card....

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Posted By: jackgoodman

His new look seemed awful familiar:




edited to add name

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I saw his antics firsthand at a show in SF in 1989. He gets people as they come through the door, loudly. Once the laydown is finished, he says "the briefcase please" and his bobos hand him a briefcase of cash. He then counts out the hundreds as fast as humanly possible (proving to all who see that money is no big deal to him--being as familiar with big cash as he is lets him count it rapidly--or proves he works part time as a teller at a casino), pushes the stack at the awed mark, and says take it or leave it. I saw him pick up a few hundred 1950s cards for $5,000 or so at that show. By the next morning, the lot had been subdivided into two $3,000 lots and wholesaled to two other dealers (Rosen was bragging about the flip to his minions, so I know the numbers). He hates grading with a passion not just because of the Olbermann incident but because he can't **** all over the walk-ins' cards for condition if the cards are slabbed, nor can he hype his overgraded stuff with any degree of credibility to the real collecting public. What remains alluring for the walk-in yokels about him is (1) cash and no records, and (2) he buys it all without bitching or cherry picking. Of course he pays diddly for the "all" but the yokels don't know that. We could all learn a bit or two about marketing from this money-monkey.

And I think the knee-cap sucking article in SCD on his new look was a low even for that rag.

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Posted By: DJ

I met Howie Mandel after a College show. He was such a nice guy and took the time to talk to his fans.

Shouldn't it be the other way around?

DJ

Is having a completely orange head the new trend?

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Posted By: Josh K.

Excuse my ignorance, but what was the Olbermann incident?

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Posted By: dennis

http://www.t206museum.com/page/periodical_5.html

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Posted By: Julie

I wrote it up for VCBC...one thing i gotta say: he said it was mint, and it's mint.

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Posted By: Richard Lloyd

No matter how you slice it he adds a BUZZZ which
helps the hobby and makes it fun!!!

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

FUN!!! -Are you friggin' kidding me!?! What is FUN about what Rosen does? I admit it is FUNny to talk about the guy, but I wouldn't say that what he does is FUN or in any way GOOD for the hobby.

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Posted By: dan mckee

Alan is very knowledgable and pays well often. I sold him several hundred tobacco cards a few years ago and got a very fair price. Take him a few cards Leon, you may be surprised at what he offers you. Alan is also a very nice guy, I have known him a long time. Dan.

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Posted By: Richard Lloyd

I do not know Mr. Mint and from an outside point of view..He adds Energy when he is at a show because of his marketing of himself over the years!! people see him and know who he is... his marketing has helped the hobby through many articles...Now, as far as he business practices go.. I do not know..

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Posted By: dan mckee

Rhett my young friend, ask any icon in the hobby and most if not all will tell you that Alan was very good for the hobby. He practically saved it single handedly long before you thought about getting in.

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Posted By: Jim Crandell

I certainly don't buy the Mr. Mint is good for the hobby bs. The guy has made a living buying cards cheap from unknowedgeable collectors and labeling cards mint that I have found to be anything but. Certain mint sets I have bought from him have come back with an average grade near 6(ex-mint). Other mint cards have had creases. I bought a 48 Leaf Dimaggio that was advertised in an auction either nrmt-mt or mt--came back psa 4. Same thing with a 38 Goudey Joe D--psa 4. A T206 McGraw labeled as mint was creased.

Dav

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Posted By: Rhys

Dan

My brother and I have been buying and selling cards at shows where Rosen was set up as well since 1988, I know that is not the "true origins of the hobby" but it is a pretty long time ago and before he was the self proclaimed king of cards.

I 100% disagree on him adding ANYTHING good to the hobby. Exactly what did he save it from? Being a hobby where money was secondary to the fun of it? If Mr. Mint had not ever held a baseball card in his hand for a second of his life are we really to believe that our hobby would be worse because of it?

I genuinely would like to know, what did he save the hobby from, and how has he EVER done anything positive for it?

Rhys Yeakley

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Posted By: Julie

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Posted By: Rob

"He hates grading with a passion not just because of the Olbermann incident but because he can't **** all over the walk-ins' cards for condition if the cards are slabbed, nor can he hype his overgraded stuff with any degree of credibility to the real collecting public."

Didn't I see an ad of his in SCD maybe a little over a month ago about his 'find' of unopened packs? He was selling them slabbed and graded.

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Posted By: barrysloate

He ran auctions where the final bids were secret even if you requested them and closed at midnight on the button, so if you called at the end you couldn't get through. I can say with certainty he then awarded certain lots to his best customers even if someone else was high at one minute to twelve. I know several incidents where people were shut out even though they won the lot. Is that good for the hobby?

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Posted By: Julie

impossible to get through for the last 45 minutes. Oh--and no callbacks! "We only have three people here, manning the phones,"--this is the guy who appeared on the cover of SCD for like HUNDREDS of years! EVERY WEEK!

So, you don't know if you've won until TA TAAA!

The next day, he personally calls all the winners! I was sitting in the living room with my other half, feeling fairtly pleasaed that I didn't have to pay 800+ for a Cracker Jack Brown (I said, this was several years ago!)--when he calls. "This is Alan Rosen. You hasve been successful in your bid of $800 (+) for the 1915 Cracker Jack Mordecai Brown." Goof grief--Bob can't know I spent over 800 on a baseball card!.. "ER..what's the damage?" He tells me. "Mmm...Mint, or Rosen?" "Rosen" "Thank you very much. Goodbye. "Goodbye." Nice card, huh?

Hee...

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Dan, I don't have a problem with you or anything like that, and I don't mean to attack anyone that likes Mr. Mint. I am glad that there are people out there that he treats well, and that he is nice to. That explains why he is still in the hobby, and people still deal with him. I personally have had very bad encounters with the guy, and have spoken with numerous people that have had similar, or worse experiences with the guy. I just don't understand why he doesn't treat everyone with the respect that he apparently treats others with. It is not just me, numerous people on this forum apparently feel the same way, or have had similar experiences with the man.

Dan, I've met you before, you were very nice to me and my wife. And when my wife asked me how I knew you, I simply told her "he is one of the coolest guys from that forum that I go on the web sometimes." I don't really understand why I feel like you are attacking me. If you are getting defensive because you feel I am attacking a good friend, I can understand that. I just don't understand why you would take a shot at me. I don't want to make anybody angry about this issue, and I am not angry at anyone either.

I'm not some young whipper-snapper that doesn't know a Goudey from a Diamond Star. I have been involved in this hobby actively since I was 10 years old. I feel I have consistently provided a lot of help to people on this forum, and have provided a lot of information about uncatologued cards, new set information, and have a good track record with every deal I have made with members of this forum. I began collecting cards in 1986, and set up at my first show in 1988 with my brother. Personally, I don't feel like I owe anything to Mr. Mint. He is one of the few early dealers that is still in the hobby, but how exactly did he save the hobby? I don't buy it.

I'm not making crazy allegations about the guy, I'm speaking from first hand experience here. I don't appreciate being treated the way he treats me and other people. My mother always told me you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat strangers, and I think that is a very valid statement.

-Rhett

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Posted By: JimB

When he was so vehement against grading (and I was a poor grad student), I bought cards in his auctions that he listed as mint that were raw. They were Cracker Jacks, etc. This was the early days of grading. They would sell in his auctions for half the price of graded examples at the time. One I remember in particular was a 1915 CJ Speaker. I won it for $1100, sent it to PSA, got an 8, and sold it to a dealer for $2,250. Not bad.
JimB

P.S. He has been incredibly rude to me in my two or three encounters with him at shows. But I appreciate the ego that convinced him he could single-handedly stop the grading craze. It helped me earn a little extra cash in grad school. He finally gave in when he realized there was money to be made.

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Posted By: dan mckee

Hey guys I wasn't attacking you, that is why I said my young friend. I was just making a statement that I have heard several times over the years from many people who were in the hobby in the late 70s and early 80s when the hobby was dead. Barry, I am sure Al isn't perfect like me, easy guys, I am just kidding, but he did alot of good. He brought tons of material out of the woodwork with his advertising and buying. That is my opinion. Rhys, I wasn't attacking your brother but I commend you for jumping in at his defense, that is a good trait. Rhett, you are a super nice guy, I remember meeting your lovely wife and joking with you that I would trade my collection to be your age again. That is where the "young friend" came from. I am very good friends with Al and Dave (Al's right hand man) and just thought I would say something positive about him that I felt. Hey this isn't the first thread I have been shredded in and I am sure it won't be the last.

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Posted By: PASJD

From my limited perspective, whatever you think of him, and whatever his personality, Rosen certainly helped popularize card collecting, and was responsible for finds of a lot of high grade material. He deserves some credit for that, doesn't he?

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Posted By: DJ

Julie, Alan called you? What a thrill? What was he like? Was he all business?

I think Alan is nice if he has use for you. He goes about his ways like 'Crazy Eddie' willing to pay top notch prices for your items at shows, but he doesn't exactly treat the success (mostly do to marketing and the friggin SI article) as he should. He should be fortunate that...I hate saying this but it's true, he was the 'FACE OF THE HOBBY' in the mid-to-late-eighties. Maybe 'fame' went to his head!

DJ

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Posted By: john/z28jd

So what youre saying is,if it werent for him i could probably buy Old Judges for $20 each instead of $200 for vg commons?

Well now i feel foolish for saying anything bad about him!





Woah look at the stick man dance,i dont feel bad anymore,thanks ADD!

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Posted By: Jim Clarke

I've only tried to deal with him one time. I bid on approx 6-8 items in his auction that ended right after 9-11. When the entire country was in Shock and Awe... I made last minute bids and opened up many lots. The person who answered the phone (not Al) said you are the last caller... I said, I hear the phones ringing in the background... He said, Alan says if you do not place any bids to hang up and the auction is closed.... The next day I called Alan to introduce myself to him and find out my total.. After he gave me the totals... I asked him why he did not honor the ten minute rule as printed and that was not fair for consignors.... ALAN SAID... YOU WANT TO SEE NOT FAIR... KEEP YOUR MONEY AND YOU ARE NOT GETTING THE CARDS...CLICK! I filed a case to the SCD which they did crap about.

I ended up getting half the cards I bid on (Rose postcards) from a private sale he did with another person. He had them advertised at mint (graded SGC 50 later), got them at a cheaper price!!!

Dan, I respect your opinion... But Rosen he is a BURNED OUT COIN DEALER JUNKY THAT FOUND A NITCHE IN A CAN'T MISS MARKET.

After reading this GREAT thread... I think I will have Tammy walk in like a nobody with some 19th century cards un graded and ask him what they are worth... I'll tag along as her boyfriend to watch and tell her we need to get other opinions before committing to sell. I love playing with the hard core closer that does not have any people skills whatsoever... JC

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Posted By: Josh Evans

I have known Alan Rosen a long time
I used to sell him stuff back in the late 1970s when I was a kid and in some small way he helped put me through college (at least helped pay for beer)
His second baseball show was my first (I had been in the antiques business for many years before that)

Yes Alan Rosen was then, and sometimes still is a big a-hole
One of the biggest
As for his business practices I am sure there is some merit to some of these horror stories but there are also two sides to every story
At least some of the stories (!)

However, you must put Alan Rosen in proper historical perspective
This guy “made” the baseball card business
On the money side he made money for all of us
He made your stuff worth more
He brought countless new people into the field
He brought out of an attic that card you sold last week

On the “stuff” side he drew out a ton of cards
Tons
The stuff that now sits in your collection and you love

He (and others) did the work that we all now draw benefit from
Yes he benefited too but he still deserves his due
You should see the other side

Those are saying he was a jerk I cannot disagree with
I have had more fights with Alan then just about anyone
He attacked me with a baseball bat at a show (true)
And I am sure I did plenty to antagonize him through the years

But after all these years we have forgiven each other and moved on and we are now friends again
We have both mellowed (thank God)

I guess my point is you don’t have to like him
But you should respect him on some level
And anyone that thinks that Alan is still not a force in this business does not have a clue
If he is a joke than he will probably have the last laugh

By the way, I just hate it when this Forum attacks people on a personal level
My father always told me whthat when you get personal in an argument you lose that argument
How Alan’s wife Marnie feels about him (by the way a lovely lady who was always nice to me even when Alan and I were battling) has no place in this Forum
It is childish and mean

Josh Evans

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Posted By: DJ

Josh,

You know what my Dad told me?

Treat people the way you want to be treated.

What did Alan's Dad teach him?

Be a schmuck your entire life and the worst thing that can happen is fifty-plus posts about their meager experiences with you and always wave around money with that s--t eatin grin.

DJ


edit to say: P.S Josh, I don't think we can be this way with anyone else in the hobby. It's like air and water, everyone has an Alan Rosen experience. I think perhaps some good can come from this and he will read this and change his ways. What do you guys think?