Edward Howland Robinson Green
He was the son of the famous businesswoman Hetty Green, who was the richest woman of her time with assets of over 100 million U.S. dollars. But although his mother was so rich, he had much to suffer from it. Because if possible, the huge assets remained untouched. She was so stingy that has been dispensed with heating and hot water, which earned her the title of world's biggest miser. When Edward then as a child one day broke his leg, they let him in order to save costs, not treated in the hospital, but tried to maintain the wound at home. There was an infection and the left lower leg had to be amputated. Nevertheless, his life ran on in orderly lines. He studied at Fordham College. He was then at the request of his mother at different railway companies in which he has participated, trained. He later made a career in the Texas Midland Railroad. Finally, Green rose to become director of the Chase National Bank.
When his mother died in 1916 then began a whole new life for him. Edward and his sister Sylvia inherited 50 million U.S. dollars each, and could suddenly afford everything. While his sister lived on withdrawn and modest, Edward enjoyed the new wealth and led a life in abundance. Ned, as he was called by his mother, like presented with the self- awarded military title Colonel. He loved women and cars, but he also owned a yacht, an airfield and a private radio station. To his wife he gave an estate with more than 100 staff. He also had numerous young lover, he also gave her expensive gifts. He was also fascinated by rare stamps and coins.
The 1.90 -meter and 150 -pound bon vivant went once a week, usually on Saturdays, to New York City to the center of the numismatic and philatelic dealers. But he did not go to auctions or dealer in order to build up a collection, but the dealer came to him. He waited in his limo, and the dealers were queuing in front of his car door. In most cases, this unusual practice paid off for the dealer, because Edward Green bought a week receipts worth 20000-70000 U.S. dollars. So he wore in a few years together one of the most significant collections of U.S. coins and stamps, that has ever existed.
He was, for example, the proud owner of all five known Liberty Head V- Nickels of 1913, each of which is traded for more than 2.3 million euros today. He also had the only complete sheet (100 marks) of the legendary Inverted Jenny, a U.S. airmail stamp, in which the inner part of the subject is shown upside down by a misprint. By means of hands cutting out individual brands and block pieces, which he then sold, he went down in philatelic history. A block of four of this brand changed 2005 in New York for 2.7 million U.S. dollars to the owner. After his death, the collection was sold in 28 auctions of various auction houses. Due to the war-related economic weakness made the approximately 50,000 lots but only about three million dollars. The current value of the collection is difficult to guess by the peak prices achieved later.