Harold Shaw Bareford, 1894-1978

Harold Shaw Bareford was born April 21, 1894 in Millville, N.J., the youngest son of William Albert Bareford, master glass blower, and Mary Carey Shaw. He died suddenly at home on April 10, 1978 after spending a typically full day at his New York law office. High School valedictorian in 1912, he graduated in 1916 from Cornell Law School. During his college years he met Harriett Grace Hine, also a 1916 graduate, from Ithaca High School. They were married the following July.

He was commissioned in the Field Artillery at Plattsburg in November of 1917 and served until December of 1918. He joined the law firm of Thomas & Friedman and soon became a full partner. In 1920 they joined the legal staff of their client, Warner Bros. Pictures. In 1929 he was made General Counsel, Assistant Secretary and Director of Warner’s. In 1 943 he took a leave of absence to go on active duty as a Captain in the Coast Artillery. Discharged as a Major in 1945, he returned to Warner’s, and on his retirement in 1959 he resumed full time private practice.

He was an active Mason and gave freely of his time to various charitable organizations. He was an avid hunter, fisherman and golfer nearly all his life.

Harold Bareford became a serious numismatist after the second World War and was a member of the ANA and the BNS, a fellow of the ANS and the RNS, and a member of the 1969 Federal Assay Commission. He was an officer from its inception of the Metropolitan New York Numismatic Convention, serving with such numismatists as Raymond Gallo, Vernon Brown, Martin Kortjohn and Edward Hessberg. He was also President of the New York Numismatic Club from 1959 through 1961. His presidential gold medal is appropriately the cover theme of this catalogue of his United States gold coins.

This collection was sold December 1, 1978.