By Wayne Homren for The E-Sylum eNewsletter….
Each week, CoinWeek, in collaboration with the Numismatic Bibliomania Society, brings you a highlighted feature from the current volume of the E-Sylum eNewsletter.
Last week I mentioned in my Numismatic Diary that David Schenkman was looking for information on Joseph Barnet. Below is the token and envelope that sparked his question. Thanks, Dave. -Wayne Homren, Editor
Joe Barnet is well recorded in magazines of the 1930s and 1940s. “Abe Kosoff Remembers,” [a] copy of which is not at hand as I send this e-mail, probably tells of him. He was a dealer … in the field of Civil War tokens, a great resource.
Indeed – there are about a dozen listings for Barnet in the index of the 1981 book Abe Kosoff Remembers. The book is a compilation of Kosoff’s Coin World columns. Dave passed along a number of facts about Barnet from his research file. A few are shown below. Thanks! -Wayne
- 1901-06: Listed in The Numismatist as new ANA member #304
- 1902-08: From The Numismatist: Barnet solicited want lists for 19th-century Proof coins
- 1904-01-08: Issued catalogue of American and foreign coins, medals, tokens and fractional currency
Don Erlenkotter writes:
Joseph Barnet was inducted into the Civil War Token Society Hall of Fame in 2003. He’s listed on the page for the Hall of Fame on the CWTS Web site.
Here’s the listing:
Joseph Barnet was a major collector and researcher of Civil War tokens during the first half of the 20th century. He is noted for bridging the years from Hetrich and Guttag to the Fulds. Barnet did extensive research into [locating] maverick Civil War merchants. He produced a supplement to Hetrich and Guttag’s work in 1943-44, updating that book and adding information previously unpublished. Barnet amassed a wonderfully diverse and high-grade collection of Civil War tokens, which eventually found its way to George and Melvin Fuld in 1948. (www.cwtsociety.com/halloffame.html)
Don adds:
I did a bit of digging on Joseph Barnet and was able to come up with some documentation of his background.
The key piece of information is the 1940 census for Kings County, NY, which identifies him as a dealer in coins.
There’s a genealogy for this family on Ancestry.com which seems to be mostly correct. However, it misspells Joseph’s name as “Jesue” as taken from the 1880 census. There’s nothing more on him in this genealogy.
From several passenger lists on Ancestry.com I found the information that Joseph Barnet was born in New York City on 18 June 1868. There’s an entry in the New York City death index for Joseph Barnet, age 80, who died in Kings County, NY on 29 November 1948. This seems right for a man who phased out his numismatic activities in the mid to late 1940s. Obtaining a copy of the death certificate here would complete the documentation of this linkage.
Thanks! This is great information. -Wayne
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