Dear Lee,

The best part of our job is that we get to meet such interesting people-and the most interesting are collectors. This month we report the story of Robert Lesser and his toy robots. But the story began for us when we taped a show with him for our TV series, “Flea Market Finds with the Kovels.”

We arrived at his New York walk-up apartment-Ralph, Terry, our two producers and a cameraman. We heard pounding. Bob came to the door wearing a paint-spattered T-shirt and jeans. “Did you forget about the TV taping?” we asked. “Oh no,” he said. “Come in. The plumber is here and you know how hard it is to get a plumber. We can’t disturb him or make him stop pounding.” So all seven of us, including the plumber, crammed into the tiny apartment.

The main rooms had floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with robots, space toys and toy boxes. The tiny bedroom’s walls and ceiling were covered with large paintings of bloody crime scenes, the original art for pulp magazine covers. I crept onto the bed to get out of the way. Ralph went on-camera with Bob, who was still in the spattered T-shirt shouting at the plumber. He was a walking encyclopedia of robot information and laughed at being called “Mint-in-the-Box Bob.” He told us where he got each toy, gave us the history of the maker, explained what made it special and then added a wisecrack. The plumber kept hammering-you could hear the pounding in the show that aired.

In the middle of a serious discussion about collecting, Bob said we had to see his latest collection. He opened the closet door and out fell dozens of wild neckties. He immediately insisted that Ralph wear one. Ralph refused a tie picturing a nude and settled for another covered with toys. Bob said Ralph had to wear it for the rest of the show: No tie, no more talking.

The taping was hysterical. There were nonstop jokes, shouts to the plumber, and a sort of jigsaw puzzle directed by Bob to move six of us, a camera and sound equipment whenever we needed a new shot.

We still tell stories about Bob’s plumber and his bloody pictures when recalling our TV fun. Robert Lesser is one of the brightest collectors we know, although art critics would scoff at his pursuits. He had a huge collection of comic art and toys, wrote the definitive book on the subject in 1975, then sold that collection, probably to make space for robots. He advised us to buy pulp art because it would soon gain in value. We didn’t. He was right.

Few today think of Bob in his other “lives” as a nuclear researcher, playwright or salesman. Some envy his collecting savvy and the money he must have made. To the world of collectors, he is an author, researcher and inspired collector who spotted trends before the rest of us. He is also known as “The Robot Guy.” We wondered why he was selling his toys and if he would find something else to collect. He explained to Old Toy magazine that he decided to sell because he had all the great robots and space toys: “If you’re a tiger hunter in Kenya and you’ve shot all the tigers, you know what? You’re not a tiger hunter anymore.”