John F. Jones correspondence and notes, 1879-1965

Descriptive Summary

Repository
American Numismatic Society
Extent
1.3 cubic feet (2 boxes)
Language
English
Abstract
Correspondence with fellow coin collectors, coin dealers, friends, family members, and numismatic groups, and notes on coin sales.

Detail from Chautauqua County Coin, Stamp, and Curio Club letterhead

Creator

Name
Jones, John F. (John Frederick), 1864 or 5-1961
Abstract
City engineer John F. Jones (1864 or 5-1961) of Jamestown, New York, was a founding member of the Chautauqua County Coin, Stamp, and Curio Club in 1930 and is listed as member number six of the American Numismatic Association (ANA), which was officially organized in 1891 and reorganized in 1899.

Contents

Administrative Information

Access

Collection open to all researchers.

Preferred Citation

John F. Jones correspondence and notes, 1879-1965, Archives, American Numismatic Society.

Restrictions

Copyright restrictions may apply. Permission to publish or reproduce must be secured from the American Numismatic Society.

Biographical Note

City engineer John F. Jones (1864 or 5-1961) of Jamestown, New York, was a founding member of the Chautauqua County Coin, Stamp, and Curio Club in 1930 and is listed as member number six of the American Numismatic Association (ANA), which was officially organized in 1891 and reorganized in 1899. He was also a member of the Chautauqua Historical Society. Born in Sweden, he came to the United States when he was one year old. In 1941 he sold over 5,000 coins from his collections, which he had been accumulating for nearly fifty years, to the American Numismatic Society. Jones collected coins from all over the world and built his holdings through his dealings with other collectors, such as Henry H. Howorth, C. Wyllys Betts, J.W. Bastow, and Julius Meili. In the 1930s and 1940s he wrote articles in the ANA magazine The Numismatist on topics pertaining to United States collecting, such as the 1804 dollar, postage stamps, fractional currency, and the 1856 flying eagle cent.

Scope and Content Note

Contains mostly letters received by Jones, sometimes with handwritten drafts of outgoing letters, relating to coin collecting and personal matters. Includes correspondence with the ANA publication The Numismatist, some pertaining to an article on early ANA members written by Jack W. Ogilvie (published in vol. 61, no. 8, August 1948, p. 505); correspondence with American Numismatic Society curator Sydney P. Noe regarding issues such as the selling of coins and Jones’s concern that T. James Clarke’s collection of U.S. coins would leave the country (1944); and correspondence on various matters pertaining to the Chautauqua Coin, Stamp, and Curio Club. Jones was an active buyer and seller of coins and maintained intimate correspondence with individuals that shared his interest, such as Ole P. Eklund of Spokane, Washington, S.S. Heal of Toronto, and Chautauqua club member John C. Engstrom. Included is a copy of a letter sent to Engstom’s wife regarding the sale of his collection and Jones’s advice to keep it intact (1920). Numerous coin dealers are also represented, including B. Max Mehl and Wayte Raymond. There are letters and receipts from Henry Chapman having to do with Jones’s purchase from the John Story Jenks collection and a disagreement arising from Jones’s questioning of the accuracy of Chapman’s catalogs (1922); letters from Hans Schulman regarding a dispute over payment for coins; and a letter from Farran Zerbe pronouncing himself out of the market for coins (1941). Collector Max M. Schwartz of New York is another correspondent. There are personal letters from Jones’s children and grandchildren, including one from his son Allen regarding the cleaning of coins. Other topics include local Jamestown issues such as Jones’s speaking out against an individual in a court case involving the Lake Shore Seed Company (1945), local library taxes (1957), and the relocation of the local gas company (undated). Also present is an inventory of the Charles S. Bishop coin collection that was bought by Jones together with a letter from G.L. Gifford to Bishop regarding a collection of U.S. copper cents (1883). There is a small bundle of lists of coins sold, possibly by Jones, for the years 1899 to 1929. There is also a copy of the book Las Monedas Coloniales Hispano-Americanas (1919) by J.T. Medina, and sample formats from Jones’s grandson Ralph’s proposed book Central American and Caribbean Coin Facts and Figures (1965).

Related Material

Separated Material

The following items found in the collection have been removed and placed with the curatorial collections: one shilling note (2009.58.1), ticket to the World's Columbian Exhibition, 1993 (ANS 2012.22.1), and transportation tokens. See ANS Magazine, 2012, issue 3, p. 48.

Related Entities

Collection Hierarchy

  • Series 1: Correspondence

    Scope and Content Note and Container List:

    This series comprises the bulk of the collection and contains John F. Jones’s professional and personal correspondence. His professional correspondence includes contact with three generations of the Schulman family, Jacob, Max and Hans, both before and after the correspondence documenting payment dispute. He also corresponded extensively with various editors of The Numismatist, including Burton Saxton and Stuart Mosher. A group of letters regarding John Engstroms’s collection includes correspondence with Engstrom’s widow, Nellie, regarding the disposition of the collection, as well as letters sent to other collectors interested in this collection, including B. Max Mehl and B. G. Johnson of St. Louis Coins and Stamps (Folder 17). There are also a group of letters regarding Jones’s possession of an U.S. 1841 Gold $2 ½, in which he attempts to value and sell the coin (Folder 18). Included as enclosures in many pieces of correspondence are lists of coins sent by Jones for sale or exchange, rubbings of coins that he was researching, and catalogs of coin sales from various dealers. Correspondence regarding the Pennsylvania Gas Company and the James Prendergast Free Library contain newspaper clippings as enclosures. Additional enclosures to the correspondence include a group of transportation tokens sent to Jones by Robert Lloyd of the Buffalo Numismatic Society (removed, Folder 18), and a 1947 reprint of the 1847 $.10 George Washington Postage Stamp mounted by Max Schwartz (removed, Folder 15).

    • Bowman, John, March 1935 – March 1958

    • Brand, H. A. May, 1925 – April 1926

    • Carey, M. P. March, 1921 –April 1921

    • Eklund, O. P., Sept. 1943 – April 1949

    • Gibbs, Howard D., Dec. 1930 – March 1955

    • Gillette, George, Nov. 1931 – June 1934

    • Heal, S. S., May 1923 – April 1926

    • Hopkins, N. S., July 1930 – August 1935

    • Howorth, Daniel, March 1905 – May 1919

    • Mosher, Stuart, July 1933 – Jan. 1947

    • Noe, Sydney, Nov. 1941 – Nov. 1944

    • Ogilvie, Jack, Nov. 1947 – June 1960

    • Saxton, Burton, March 1943 – July 1944

    • Schulman Family [Jacob, Max, & Hans] July 1905 – Nov. 1958

    • Schwartz, Max, Jan. 1947 – Dec. 1948

    • Zander, Randolph Dec. 1955 – Nov. 1958

    • Professional Correspondence, 1915 – 1929, n.d.

    • Professional Correspondence, 1930 – 1939

    • Professional Correspondence, 1940 – 1944

    • Professional Correspondence, 1945 – 1949

    • Professional Correspondence, 1950 – 1960

    • Professional Correspondence, n.d.

    • Correspondence re James Prendergast Free Library, Sept. 1956 – June 1959, n.d.

    • Correspondence re The Pennsylvania Gas Co., Sept. 1951 – Sept. 1959, n.d.

    • Jones, Allen (son), May 1926 – Nov. 1939, n.d.

    • Jones, R. Elizabeth “Petey” (daughter), Sept. 1928 – March 1937

    • Jones, Rose (wife), July 1930 – August 1940

    • Personal Correspondence (includes photo), 1908 - 1960

    • Sympathy Cards and Ephemera re the death of John F. Jones, 1961

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  • Series 2: Accounts

    Scope and Content Note and Container List:

    The Account Book marks the earliest records of Jones’s numismatic sales, and also includes notes regarding coins needed for his personal collection. Also located in the Account Book were a ticket to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, and a New Jersey One Shilling Note, dated 1776 (removed, Folder 30). The Charles S. Bishop Collection, and the sale of coins from that collection (Folders 32 – 43), are foldered separately, although coins from collections, notably the F. C. Brown Estate coins, are also occasionally included in those transactions. Other numismatic transactions, as well Jones’s personal accounts, are also recorded.

    • Account Book , 1879 – 1906

    • Charles S. Bishop Collection, 1883 – 1902

    • Coins Sold, 1899 – 1900

    • Coins Sold, 1901 – 1911

    • Coins Sold, 1912

    • Coins Sold, 1913

    • Coins Sold, 1914 – 1916

    • Coins Sold, 1917 – 1919

    • Coins Sold, 1920

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