Desneux, Jules (1885-1962)

By Hadrien Rambach

Dr. Desneux was a dermatologist in Brussels. He had various personal interests, such as entomology (he wrote on the life-cycle of termites), the history of Flanders and the painter Van Eyck, but also Khmer Buddhas and Japanese Noh masks.

His interest for numismatics grew when he acquired en-bloc a collection of Greek coins circa 1930, and he then became a scholar, President of the Royal Numismatic Society of Belgium, editor of its journal, and author of articles on the coins of Akanthos, Mende, Aetna, Aegina, Macedon and Thrace. The auction of his collection of ancient coins took place in April 1971 with Hess-Leu, along with coins from other vendors.

Bibliography:

• Paul Naster, “Nécrologie. Dr. Jules Desneux”, in Revue belge de numismatique et de sigillographie, vol. CVIII (1962), pp. 331-333; John Spring, Ancient Coins Auction Catalogues 1880-1980, London 2009, pp. 132-133; Jean Deligne and Michael S. Engel, “Biographical Notes for Dr. Jules Desneux (1885-1962): A Multitalented Man of Science”, in Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, vol. 85-3 (July 2012), pp. 265-267.
• Hadrien Rambach, “Provenance glossary”, in Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 91: the George W. La Borde collection of Roman aurei – part I, Zurich, 23 May 2016, pp. [67]-[79]
• Hadrien Rambach, “Provenance glossary”, in Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 99: the George W. La Borde collection of Roman aurei – part II, Zurich, 29 May 2017, pp. 47-63
• Hadrien Rambach, “Provenance glossary”, in Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 105: the George W. La Borde collection of Roman aurei – part III, Zurich, 9 May 2018, pp. 82-105

This article was first published in a catalogue of auction house Numismatica Ars Classica.