Alan Rosen "Mr. Mint", what's his business angle?

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Posted By: boxingcardman

Since the hobby's grading standards have evolved and have taken the frothy BS option away from dealers, Rosen's presence in the hobby itself has done a 180. Back in the day, so to speak, he used to be a major retailer. At large shows he would have a set-up like Levi Bleam's looks today, with many minions staffing it, a briefcase full of cash, and lots of self-promotion. He would conduct regular auctions of his best "finds" to sell at retail and he also had a network of wholesale dealers he fed with his discards.

In the late 1980s I attended a large show at the Moscone Center in SF where I got to see him in action in his heyday. Here is how his shtick worked when he was at his peak: A walk-in with a box of 1950s cards stopped at his table. Rather than asking "what do you want for these?" like most dealers would, Rosen sat down with a pen and paper and inventoried the box, assigning values as he went. At the end, he tallied up the numbers and told the guy that was his offer. I remember watching this transfixed and being very impressed with how professionally he conducted himself as compared to other dealers. As I recall the lot was around $5300. He then said loudly "the briefcase please," at which point one of his bobo's handed him a metal attache case. Rosen opened it, pulled out a big stack of Benjamins, and rapidly counted out 53 $100 bills. He then told the guy that he was not interested in having him shop the offer, so it was take it or leave it time. The guy stared at the cash and the cards for a long time (he'd said it was a childhood collection, and I believed him because he looked like he was going through hell), then took the cash and walked. The next day, I overheard Rosen talking about the deal with one of his stooges. He said that he'd broken the cards into two lots and wholesaled them for $3,000 each to some other dealers, a quick 10% profit. Since the cards were pretty distinctive, as I walked around the show I found them with other dealers. As far as I could tell, the cards had been broken down at least once more and wholesaled (I heard one of the dealers saying he'd bought half a lot from some other dealer for $1750). In the end, as far as I could tell, there were at least four lots out there with a "value" of around $7,000.

The thing that I took away from watching it was the professionalism, which I realize is a funny thing to say since many here think of Rosen as a joke, which he kind of is when sophisticated collectors are involved. But when it came to dealing with the public, it was great salesmanship. Unlike most dealers, who behave like the Cheshire Cat when a walk-in comes by, Rosen put the seller at ease by doing everything on paper and above-board, and making his offer a firm one. It was a very effective technique.

All that changed with price guides, the internet and 3rd party grading. As noted above, the market has effectively put Rosen out of business except in instances where people truly cannot do for themselves, and grading killed his auctions. He now targets the ignorant and wholesales the booty to other dealers in his network.

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