Albanese, John S. (1898-1969 )

John S. Albanese, a prominent New Jersey mineral dealer in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, was born in New York on April 8, 1898. As of 1940 he was employed mainly as an electrician in a roller bearing factory. Although he had little formal education, he became an expert on the minerals of Franklin, New Jersey.

John began his mineral business in Newark in 1941, selling Franklin specimens--his first ad in Rocks & Minerals is in the August 1941 issue. He suspended his business in August 1942 to join the Service during the war, then reopened in December 1945. In October 1946 he held his first big exhibition and sale at the Hotel Shelton in New York. He relocated to Union, New Jersey, in March of 1953. John had two children; his daughter Helen helped out at mineral shows and his son John Jr. became a geologist and moved out west.

John published articles on various minerals in Rocks & Minerals, Earth Science, and The Mineralogist from 1955 to 1967, and published a 149-page book entitled Notes on the Minerals of Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey, originally issued as a newsletter in eight installments from October 1959 to July 1961. His last ad in Rocks & Minerals appeared in the February 1968 issue.

John S. Albanese died in Union, New Jersey in February 1969. His daughter Helen then sold off his collection and remaining stock over a period of several years, in order to provide a source of income for John's widow, also named Helen (1901-1994), who survived John by 26 years. She resided in a convalescent center for her last 7 or 8 years, and died at the age of 92 in 1994. John's daughter Helen, now 86 years old, resides today (2015) in Caldwell, New Jersey.

References:
HAUCK, R. (2001)John Albanese--a mineral dealer from New Jersey. The Picking Table, 42,. no.1, p.18.
WERTZ, R. C. (1969) Current events. Rocks & Minerals, 44, no.5, p. 366.
BLACK, Ken (2015) [nephew of John Albanese] Personal communication.
Social Security Death Index
Federal Census, 1930, Newark, New Jersey