Jonas Adler AKA Joseph Jonas Adler (1859-?), was born on April 23, 1859, at Cincinnati, Ohio of Prussian-German Jewish immigrant parents, Heinrich "Henry" Adler, ametalworker. Jonas entered the metalworking trade and worked as a brass finisher and tinner or tinsmith. However, we do not find his father Henry Adler, a metalworker, listed inCincinnati City Directories 1859-1861.

Adler, Jonas, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Coin dealer, swindler. He issued a Fixed Price Catalogue in 1879. On February 21st, 1879, he was proposed as a member of theWestern Pennsylvania Numismatic Society. Adler was a part-time coin dealer who would later catalog an auction sale of 225 lots of United States and Foreign Coins and Medals, atthe D.F. Henry auction house at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 30, 1879.

Though he was a proposed member of the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society it ended as a status quo. "The President appointed Mr. J. E. H. Kelley as teller - a votethen being taken and Mr. Kelley announced that more than three (3) votes had been cast in the negative." Members Morgan, McKnight, Kelley, Gies, Sermin, Shipman, Kirk,Comingo, and Rode were present. Article VII of the Society Bylaws states that three negative votes shall prevent the election of a prospective member." Apparently he hadalready developed a reputation for himself. His coin sale of April 1879 would be his first and last auction.

Ed Frossard wrote in the July 1879 issue of Numisma:

Fig. Arrest of Jonas Adler for taking property of E. E. Cotton. This is the case Ed Frossard referred to in Numisma. Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Thursday, July 3,1879, page 2

The September 1879 issue of Mason's Coin Collectors' Herald included an open letter to Adler:

Fig. Jonas Adler bought or attempted to buy coins pretending to be a member of the Numismatic Society of Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Daily Post, Saturday, March 6,1880, page 3 The 1880 U. S. Census places him in Claremont Prison or Allegheny County Workhouse working as a tinner or tinsmith.

The November 1884 issue of Numisma states:

He was married on December 31, 1885, to Julia A. McCarthy (1864-). In 1887 the Pittsburgh City Directory lists him living at 74 River Avenue.

In 1888, Joseph J. Adler, a Tinner, lived at 60 Rush Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Another criminal record of his at the Allegheny County Workhouse cites his name as of J. J. Adler, Jewish, sentenced to two years for "False Pretenses" on November 7,1888, shows he was released on August 26, 1890.

In 1907 the Pittsburgh City Directory lists a Joseph Adler, a Tinner, living at 60 1/2 Logan Street. Unfortunately another Joseph J. Adler, (1870-1924), born in Russia, alsoworking as a Tinner, lived in Pittsburgh who arrived in the U. S. A. in 1904, making the distinction between the two difficult. The other Joseph Adler was married to RebeccaFienstein and they had at least one son, Harry.

To read the complete article, see:
ADLER, JONAS(https://sites.google.com/a/numismaticmall.com/www/numismaticmall-com/adler-jonas)

For more information on WPNS, see:
The Early History of the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society (http://www.wpns1878.org/history.html)

The entire inventory of the Lupia Numismatic Library is for sale. Individual items will be available before the remaining archives are broken up into parcels sold at philatelicauctions in the U. S. and Hong Kong. Check NumismaticMall.com frequently as dozens of new items with estimates will be posted dailyuntil everything is sold.

All inquiries will be given prompt and courteous attention. Write to: john@numismaticmall.com .

For more on Adler and the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society, see:
Wayne Homren Archives: The Early History of the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society(https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/538820?page=14)