INTERVIEW WITH A MEMBER: Al Kowsky

[JeandAcre]

@El Cazador, to paraphrase a little bit of Rasta theology, 'Highly-I Unlikely-I.'

@Al Kowsky, all of this is brilliant.  I'm at a loss for words.  No less for your life story than for your ensuing, surreally solid collection.

 

Edited October 29, 2023 by JeandAcre

[Ricardo123]

Very interesting thanks for sharing a part of your life. We call you know Mister Al Kowsky !

[LONGINUS]

A superb interview, @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix — I always look forward to @Al Kowsky's posts.

Al, you own some of the finest coins I’ve ever seen. Many thanks for sharing your collection and your experience with us.

[Xeno]

Great to get to know more about you Al! I’m struck by getting the 1873 2 1/2$ gold coin for $30!! Wow!! Wouldn’t we all like those prices today…. Awesome to see you have been doing this hobby for a lifetime and have the knowledge to back it up.

[lordmarcovan]

On 10/27/2023 at 9:24 PM, Ocatarinetabellatchitchix said:

This week we’re gonna talk to a long time collector and a student of ancient coins. We are used to admire his numerous eagle-reverse tets, but every time he presents his new acquisitions to us we exclaim WOW ! Only one word to describe this numismatist: a real gentleman. Let’s learn more about Al Kowsky.

 

Can you tell us a bit about yourself, where you’re from, your family, hobbies, work…?

I was born in Rochester, NY on April 18, 1948 with my twin brother

Henry Jr. to Henry & Celia Kowsky. My parents have long since passed on, & my brother Henry passed on 4 years ago, leaving only my older sister Barbara & myself left from the immediate family. My father migrated from Bochum, Germany in 1932, & my mother was born in Rochester, NY from parents who migrated from the island Sicily. I have remained a bachelor all my life as did my brother Henry.

 

How did you get interested in ancient coinage ? What was the first coin you ever bought ?

I began collecting U.S. coins at 8 years old by searching through coins in circulation, & this was made easy by mom who worked as a bank teller. Every other week she would bring me rolls of unchecked coins to look at, beginning with pennies & gradually working up to silver dollars. Within 2 years I had an impressive collection & wanted to expand my horizon to world & ancient coins, so I had my father take to to local coin shows. At the second show we attended he bought me a 1873 $ 2 1⁄2 gold coin in AU condition for $30, & my first ancient coin, a denarius of Septimius Severus in near mint state for $15. My father worked with food most of his life & had his own restaurant at one time, so without surprise his hobby was cooking. Mom loved old things & began collecting antiques while brother Henry was a serious stamp collector. Mom's antique collection grew so large that my parents decided to move from Wisconsin St. to a home on East Main St. that had a small store front added to it. The store front turned into “Celia's Antiques” store. After a family visit to the Corning Museum of Glass, I became enamored with glass as an art form, put my interest in coins aside, & seriously began reading about the history of glass. The new interest in glass sparked a new collecting interest, antique glassware. Mom allowed me one showcase in the store for coins, medals, & antique glassware if I helped her in the store during weekends when customer traffic was often heavy. This was a great learning experience for me.

Shortly after graduating high school in 1966 everything changed for me. I received a draft noticed from the U.S. Army & knew I'd be going to Viet Nam. Rather than being stuck with an infantry unit I enlisted for a 3 year commitment in the U.S. Army Signal Corp. I became a Communication Center Specialist with a Secret Crypto clearance. My first set of orders was to report to the 4th Infantry Division, headquartered in Pleiku, Viet Nam. After a grueling monsoon season in the central highlands, I was able to transfer to a safer location in Dong Ba Thin, on the southern coast where I became a shotgun & courier driver. The Viet Nam experience triggered an interest in Asian art & history. I spent the last 18 months with the Army in various duty stations in Germany. After receiving an honorable discharge from the Army in January 1970, I returned to Rochester & got a job with Gleason Works as a machinist doing precision boring, milling, drilling, & taping.
 

Al, can you tell us more about your antiques business ?

Not happy with that kind of work, I moved to Santa Barbara, CA to start my own business buying & selling antiques. With two partners we leased a store front & opened an antique business called “The Renaissance Shop”. Business was great until the gasoline crisis of 1974 turned into an economic recession. I returned to Rochester knowing I could get a job as a machinist again & did that work until 1980. Mom grew tired of running her antique business with little help from dad & closed the shop in 1978. After a conference with my parents, I quit my last machinist job & reopened the business in my name as “Eastside Coins & Antiques”. Pictured below is a shop poster painted by a dear friend that was used for the business in Santa Barbara, & an old advertisement for my business in Rochester. I still own the coin pictured in the advertisement.

 

Along with running my new business, I began teaching continuing education classes two nights a week on antiques & collectables at Greece Olympia High School, & two nights a week at The Rochester Museum & Science Center. The heavy workload became too much for me after 6 years, so I closed the shop, stopped teaching, & did machinist work until retiring in 2010, after mom passed away. I still did some guest lecturing for groups interested in antiques. 

 

What is your favorite coin ?

I don't have a single favorite ancient coin but many, & pictured below are some of those favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many thanks for this overview of your numismatic journey. Now I would be curious to know what our reader’s favorite coins are among your collection !

Quite the constellation of stars on those NGC labels!  Amazing collection!