 Green, usually listed as Col. E.H.R. Green, was born in London on August 22, 1868. His interest in coin collecting may have been derived from his mother, Hetty Green, who was popularly known as “The Witch of Wall Street.” Although she was heiress to one of the greatest fortunes ever amassed in the United States, Hetty lived in relative penury. Old-time dealer Thomas L. Elder recalled seeing her “when she had a small room in a plain house in Hoboken, N.J.” After his mother died, Edward inherited her fortune and enjoyed a life of luxury mixed with dissipation, as a roué and hoarder. On July 10, 1917, he married one of his favorite “ladies of the night,” the beautiful redhead Mabel E. Harlow.
Col. Green once sent Elder $5 for some catalogues, but never was a client. Meanwhile, Green was a good customer of Elmer Sears, D.C. Wismer, Henry Chapman, and others. B. Max Mehl had heard of Green’s interest in collecting, and sent him coin catalogues gratis for six years, until in 1921 Green responded with a purchase, after which he did much business with Mehl.
During the period from World War I to the early 1930s, Green bought aggressively in many areas, including boats, railroad equipment, stamps (he was the buyer for the only known 100-subject sheet of 1918 24¢ airmail inverts), all five of the known 1913 Liberty Head nickels, and as many as seven of the rare 1838-O half dollars. He also held dozens of high-grade 1796 quarters.
In the early 1930s he had residences at Star Island, Florida, and South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where he enjoyed his collecting hobbies as well as boating and operating his own amateur radio station. On June 8, 1936, Green died at Lake Placid, New York, where he had been living at the Lake Placid Club. His death was due to a “complication of diseases.” After his death it took eight armored trucks to haul his valuables to safekeeping. His estate was handled by the Chase National Bank, New York City. The appraisal of the numismatic portion of his estate was done by F.C.C. Boyd of New York City in 1938 and 1939, and a value of $1,240,299 was assigned to them (as compared to $1,298,448 assigned to his stamps by another appraiser).
Many of his estate coins were handled by Burdette G. Johnson, the old-time St. Louis dealer, who worked with Eric P. Newman, then a law student, in the dispersal. Stack’s of New York City handled many coins, and others went elsewhere.
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