HARRY BENNETT WILBER (1872-1945)

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V21 2018 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 12, March 25, 2018, Article 16

John Lupia submitted the following information from the online draft of his book of numismatic biographies for this week's installment of his series. Thanks! As always, this is an excerpt with the full article and bibliography available online. This week's subject is coin and stamp dealer and publisher Harry Wilbur. -Editor

Harry Bennett Wilber (1872-1945), was born on March 6, 1872 at Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, son of John Bennett Wilber (1830-), a wealthy lumberman and hardware merchant, and Mary Alice Wilber (1837-).

He worked in his father's hardware store as a schoolboy where began collecting coins trading the unusual, old and odd ones for his pay. Typical of schoolboys in the 1880's he traded tobacco tin tags for stamps, coins, and other tin tags. Later on he began selling them through advertisements in magazines.

By 1890, he was established as a printer of philatelic literature. In 1891, he published Dealing in Postage Stamps by Alvah Davison. Also A Directory of the Principal U.S. and Canadian Stamp Dealers. Vol. 4. 4 vols. Philatelic Library. Cambridgeboro, PA: H.B. Wilber & Company, 1891

On January 25, 1893, he married Mary Stanislaus May (1872-1919) at Jamestown, New York. They had four sons : Harry Russell Wilber (1893-), John Roland Wilber (1896-1987), and Paul Francis Wilber (1898-1979), and Theodore Joseph Daniel Wilber (1908-1989).

By the late 1890's, in addition to his publishing work and dealing in coins, stamps, and curios, he was also the manager of Sayles Opera House, Cambridgeboro, Pennsylvania.

To read the complete article, see:
WILBER, HARRY BENNETT (https://sites.google.com/a/numismaticmall.com/www/numismaticmall-com/wilber-harry-bennet)

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 philatelic auctions in the U. S. and Hong Kong. Check NumismaticMall.com frequently as dozens of new items with estimates will be posted daily until everything is sold.

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