Mount Kisco Gold & Silver, Inc., Mount Kisco
If there’s one thing that gets Neil Berman excited about his job as an expert numismatist and coin dealer, it’s when he discovers a rare item that he feels compelled to preserve for generations.
Earlier this year a customer walked into Berman’s business, Mount Kisco Gold & Silver, Inc., with a plastic bag containing close to 400 parts belonging to a rare 19th century pocket watch made in Switzerland.
Berman, who apprenticed with the world renowned Dutch numismatist and coin auctioneer Hans Schulman, said that after some initial research he discovered that the watch was brought to the United States after World War II and that only one similar pocket watch still exists – at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
He is currently in the process of restoring the watch, and once the work is complete, he intends to donate it to a museum.
The rare find says a lot about the kinds of artifacts and other objects that cross Berman’s desk on a regular basis. Berman specializes in the buying and selling of coins, currency, diamonds and gold and silver, as well as jewelry and watches.
There’s so much more, however, that this New York City native is willing to trade, including precious and semi-precious stones, stained and art glass, original paintings and art posters, prints and photographs, political buttons, military uniforms, statues and figurines, unusual machine tools or gauges and old musical instruments.
His Main Street office is a treasure trove of memorabilia, including several portraits of Abraham Lincoln, an array of decorative military items from the American Civil War, a $10,000 Confederate bond and a passport circa 1840, among other collectible items.
With close to 50 years of experience in the business, Berman is adept at finding buyers for such items. Ninety-nine percent of the merchandise that passes through his hands is sold within days, sometimes within hours of receiving it, he said.
“We get an enormous volume of stuff,” said Berman, who also has years of experience in jewelry design and manufacturing. “But what makes it all work is that I know where to sell all of it and I know exactly what I can get for it.”
The author of “Coin Collecting for Dummies” and “The Investor’s Guide to United States Coins,” Berman not only has a cadre of reliable dealers to sell items to, he conducts plenty of research on much of the inventory he receives.
He prides himself, however, on being one of Westchester’s go-to collectors, always offering the most accurate and fairest prices. That also includes being honest with people who think they have a valuable item on hand but don’t. Berman usually knows within minutes whether or not an item is worth purchasing.
While the buying and selling of valuables is all part of his day-to-day business, it is the possibility of finding that next great thing that keeps him going.
“Every now and again, something will happen that makes things interesting and makes me realize that much of this is more important than I am,” Berman said.
Mount Kisco Gold & Silver, Inc. is located at 139 E. Main St. in Mount Kisco. The store is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call 914-244-9500 or visit www.bermanbuyscollectables.com.
Colette Connolly is a copywriter and p.r. expert. She owns Connolly Communications, which is based in Bronxville, New York. Colette specializes in providing content-rich, SEO-optimized press releases, articles, newsletters, brochures, and customer success stories.
