The World According to Mr. Mint

Wite3 · #1 08-26-2014, 08:55 AM

I like Mr. Mint for one reason...he is a draw for people who sell...Back in my early days of collecting there used to be a big show once a year at the L.A. Convention Center. He would set up his table close to the door and people would come to sell to him. I figured out pretty quick that he was not interested in off-grade cards (especially small collections)...as people walked away from his table, I often asked what they had. I picked up some great off-grade cards like '53 Reese, '52 Robinson, '53 Mantle, e-101 Magee, etc. just by hanging around for an hour or so.

Of course, he thought I was poaching his sales and asked me to leave in a not so nice way but the promoter sided with me saying that competition is healthy.

At the National a few years later, I saw him set up again but he was buying everything and was turning the off-grade over to other dealers on the cheap (I think Bill Henderson was set up next to him and he got a bunch of stuff).

Joshua

slidekellyslide · #2 08-26-2014, 09:17 AM

I remember when he tried to take over the vintage Star Wars toys hobby....He and Josh Velinsky of Plastic Dreams in New Jersey even started an action figure grading company. I not only had to see his mug in the SCD, but also Toy Shop magazine.

T206.org · #3 08-26-2014, 09:23 AM

So that's where all the T206 Titus cards are going.

rhettyeakley · #4 08-26-2014, 11:12 AM

IMO there is not a bigger jerk in the hobby than Alan Rosen.

For a few years my brother and I would do the Pittsburgh (Robert Morris) show while I was going through Dental School and before the show would open the regular dealer traffic would stop at our table and make fairly sizable purchases. Alan was always there to make purchases and paid promptly (which was great) but if he wasn't the first one there you could see him getting seriously annoyed, and one year as I was just arriving he was at our table making himself at home going through the stuff we had just brought in and had not yet unpacked making a stack of stuff he wanted to purchase which was a bit annoying but he did buy stuff so no major problem.

Anyways, the last year I did the show Alan was not the first to our table but Terry Knouse Sr. was and I was consummating a deal with Terry when Alan began getting really annoyed and asked for his total and when I replied that I would be with him in just a second he threw my stuff on the table (pretty hard) and started yelling at me that I was an idiot and that that was a "hell of way to do business" with someone of his stature, never mind that I have done more business in my life with Terry. I told him he better leave or there would was going to be a problem.

While he may be nice at times and may increase traffic at a show I have never understood why the other dealers put up with his poaching of all walk-ins and his entitled attitude is not a good thing for the hobby. A complete waste of space that has seen his time as a dominating force in the hobby completely disappear.

gregr2 · #5 08-26-2014, 11:17 AM

Never met the guy, but from reading all this, he sounds like quite the gem!

uniship · #6 08-26-2014, 11:36 AM

my mom taught me if I didn't have anything nice to say about someone not to say anything at all. so I'm not going to say anything at all about alan rosen.

Runscott · #7 08-26-2014, 11:46 AM

Wow, Rhett almost clocked a guy!?!

Klrdds · #8 08-26-2014, 11:49 AM

At one time years ago he said he would be interested in buying my stuff , but would not sell me anything directly.
He is a polarizing figure in the hobby, but he did get it some big publicity in the 1990s that helped some parts of this hobby take off.

frankbmd · #9 08-26-2014, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klrdds

At one time years ago he said he would be interested in buying my stuff , but would not sell me anything directly.
He is a polarizing figure in the hobby, but he did get it some big publicity in the 1990s that helped some parts of this hobby take off, ........

.....not to mention the 43 home runs he hit in '53.

JohnP0621 · #10 08-26-2014, 11:52 AM

I have never met or had any dealings with Mr Rosen but I remember reading about the large purchase of 52 Topps High Number cases that he made and sold. So Many High Grade Mantles and cards came from that Find. He used to advertise all the items from the Great Finds that he made. After selling off a lot of these items I am sure that his profits were Huge and it would not surprise me if he spent all those millions on other purchases.

JP

#11 08-26-2014, 01:35 PM

I used to talk to Rosen at shows and over the phone in the mid-'80s; sometimes he was very pleasant, sometimes less so. At the time I collected mostly Topps test issues, and he helped me cross quite a few toughies off my want list.

Rosen seemed to me to have a small network of backers and silent partners, and in my dealings with him he mostly played the role of broker. I would tell him what I wanted, he would track it down, I would give him a check, and then I would receive my cards in the mail from someone else (most frequently Brian Morris).

tbob · #12 08-26-2014, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uniship

my mom taught me if I didn't have anything nice to say about someone not to say anything at all. so I'm not going to say anything at all about alan rosen.

+1. My sentiments exactly.

uffda51 · #13 08-26-2014, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbob

+1. My sentiments exactly.

And another + One.

ValKehl · #14 08-27-2014, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

IMO there is not a bigger jerk in the hobby than Alan Rosen....

+1

Val Kehl

CurtisFlood · #15 08-28-2014, 01:58 PM

Several years ago I was set up at the J Paul Show at Robert Morris U. I stopped to say hi to Al and when he asked if I wanted a copy of his second book I told him no, I read the first one. Another guy came up and he asked if he wanted a copy of his book. The guy said OK. Al then asked if he wanted his autograph. The guy said nah. You cannot deflate this guy's ego, he has more than enough to go around.

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