Posted By:
Mark AndersonJohn, as the victim of many photoshop hooligans at work myself, those were quite funny. I love the Beatles cover and the Rat Pack. Chewbacca seems to be a favorite to post faces on around here!
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Rosen definitely set himself up intentionally in this professional wrestler type of shtick, and like it or not, it works. It's not my personality by any means, and it fascinates me that many people are indeed drawn to it. But I have to hand it to him - he does know how to put on a show.
Personally, my only interaction was many, many years ago. I was at my first NSCC and brought a few things I didn't know much about at the time. Among them was a 1932 German Olympics set that I bought from a WWII vet in my hometown. I had no idea who Mr. Mint was, but as his booth was empty at the time, I stopped to ask him if he knew anything about it. He went off on a verbal tirade that suggested owning the set made me a Nazi sympathizer. I was absolutely stunned by his reaction. I suppose with a Jewish background, perhaps he reacts strongly to anything German-related from that era, which I understand. (For the record, I am a Protestant seminary graduate who aggressively supports Israel, lived in Israel for a summer, and attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem while studying Biblical archaeology!) My interest in the set was that it featured Jesse Owens on one of my favorite all-time cards. Unfortunately, the set was stolen a few years ago along with my entire pre-war boxing collection. 
That was my first and last interaction with Alan. Possibly just a misunderstanding, but I wasn't exactly itching to go chat with him again after that.