All this talk about A-Rod (I hear he wants to play for Lou Pinella (and the Cubs)!!) recently and you can't forget his agent's name, Scott Boras. I read an article in some coin mag in the last year that Boras' big hobby is coins. He's a big name at some business in Newport Beach, CA, although I can't remember how so.

Do you know of any celebs or politicians that collect coins and/or notes?

I wanna say Jack Black. A page on wikipedia on one of our favorite coin rarities (UHR St. Gaudens $20, I think) rumors that Dennis Rodman owns one of those lovelies.

Rupert Boneham from Survivor Panama is also a coin collector from what I have heard. (Yes, I am a Survivor junkie.)

Oh yeah! If I remember correctly, our own LostDutchman is a trusted dealer for him.

Well other than myself I've heard Tony Blair was a collector


Ciao,
AWACS

Eddie Albert was a collector.

Now that's done it. My hobby is forever tainted!

Nicole Kidman collects ancient Judean coins. Supposedly.

She also collects kooky husbands.

I wouldn't mind being kooky.

While scanning through coppercoins.com I could swear I saw a newer Lincoln variety attributed to Ron Howard... hmmm... is that the famous Ron 'Opie' Howard?

Don't know for sure, just food for thought.

Corky

Don't know if any of you are old enough to remember Jack Benny. He may not have been a coin collector but made it clear he collected money.
Wash't Bugs Bunny's Uncle a massive coin collector?

The list is long. Scan the auctions of named collections and you'll find a number of celebs.

I thought it was Donald Duck's uncle who had all the loot.

Corky

Scrooge McDuck was his name.

I wonder how these lists would compare..

1. Number of celebrities who own at least one collectible coin.

2. Number of celebrities who know they own at least one collectible coin (as opposed to their agent, financial adviser, etc).

3. Number of celebrities who own at least one collectible coin and have seen it or held it.

4. Number of celebrities who own at least one collectible coin and could tell you anything about it beyond its value.

I thought it was his agent (former agent?) Dwight Manley that bought it. If it was Rodman, I doubt he would fall into category 4 above.

He doesn't mention coins in his new book that is just out though.

I don't mention it to too many strangers either. Especially not to those who know my name.

well seeing as its called the hobby of kings, here are some of the most famous collectors (who were leaders during their time):-

Emperor Augustus
Pope Boniface VIII
Ferdinand I
Elector Joachim II
Frederick the Great
James I of England & VI of Scotland, Almost all the Stuart monarchs also collected coins
Queen Christina of Sweden
Henry IV of France
Louis XIV of France
US President John Quincy Adams
King Farouk of Egypt

5. Number of celebrities who own at least one collectible coin that they have embedded in a piece of "bling."

jerry buss the owner of the lakers is a big time collector

Some more from "around here", not kings but "celebs" in a way. Albrecht Dürer, Johann W. Goethe, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, Peter Paul Rubens were all coin collectors ...

Christian

I believe Brett Favre is a collector.

Not sure if he is an actual collector, but Harry Connick Jr's mother-in-law (Glenna Goodacre) designed the Sacagawea dollar.

I used to see him a lot when I worked at Sony Music Studios and once asked him if he got any free samples.

He just smiled and said "Not yet..."

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was one of the United States Presidents that was also an avid collector of ancients, which compelled him to commission Augustus St. Gaudens for the $10 and $20 designs.

We as numismatists should be putting our money and votes behind candidates that love coins, we could usher in a new renaissance in coin beauty.

Jascha Heifetz was an avid collector of world coins, especially gold coins from a large range of different countries. He also had an extensive Russian collection with many extremely rare items. When his coins were all sold in the late 80's or early 90's, they brought over $8 million dollars! His Russian collection was not as large as Irving Goodman's, but he made up for it in quality.

Wonder what those Russian coins would go for today?

George Brown here in the UK is busy collecting every coin he can find!

Oh come on! Give Gordon Brown a brake! He spend his whole first US visit ignoring George as if he was First Minister of Scotland!!

It's like the UKIP'ers who claim he is trying to force the Euro on us! It was Brown and Brown alone that stopped is joining it in the first place!!!

Slag him on his own merits! like his fear of making derisions!! Or his unique ability to turn every orcrstrated media event into a personal disaster

Wow! Just noticed my freudian slip! A combination of the two would be disastrous!

That was accidental? Man I never wana see inside your dreams! How could you spawn such a monster!