Somebody post something interesting (educational) please-I’m bored

CalGold

CG

ksteelheader

Gobrecht, Christian. The name of Gobrecht, the third person to occupy the post of chief engraver at the Philadelphia Mint, is well known to collectors today and is reflected in such popular terms as Gobrecht dollar and The Gobrecht Journal, the latter being the publication of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club. Among pattern coins his contributions are at once important, beautiful, and extensive. Most familiar are his Liberty Seated coins, first made in pattern form in 1836, and continued across the denominations of half dime, dime, quarter dollar, half dollar, and silver dollar for years thereafter. Throughout the middle range of the last century, the Liberty Seated obverse as well as Gobrecht's perched eagle reverse were used as obverse and reverse dies for hundreds of different pattern varieties, often with the other die being the work of James B. Longacre or one of the Barbers.

Separately, Gobrecht's flying eagle is an American numismatic icon. First used on the 1836 pattern dollar, it later appeared on many other patterns as well as regular issue 1857-1858 cents. Years later, on June 28, 1906, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the famous sculptor who had been commissioned to redesign the entire American coinage spectrum, wrote to President Theodore Roosevelt, stating that for the reverse of the $20 coin he was going to use: "a flying eagle, a modification of the device which was used on the cent of 1857. I had not seen that coin for many years, and was so impressed by it that I thought if carried out with some modifications, nothing better could be done. It is by all odds the best design on any American coin."

Not only did Gobrecht's designs stand on their own, but they spawned many later versions by others, including Liberty Seated figures created by Longacre, William Barber, and possibly even by J.A. Bailly.

Christian Gobrecht was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania, on December 23, 1785, the son of the Reverend John C. Gobrecht who had come to America in 1755 from Germany. Gobrecht's mother, Elizabeth Sands, traced her lineage to Plymouth colony as far back as 1642. He married Mary Hamilton Hewes on May 31, 1818. After serving an apprenticeship in Manheim, Pennsylvania, he became an engraver of ornamental clock works in Baltimore, later moving to Philadelphia in 1811, joining the banknote engraving firm of Murray, Draper, Fairman, and Company, circa 1816. In 1817, Gobrecht made improvements to his 1810 invention of a medal-ruling machine by which a three-dimensional medal or bas-relief object could be converted to a two-dimensional illustration for use in a publication using a linear process. In 1824, he prepared dies for the Franklin Institute medal of the same date, signed GOBRECHT F. below the bust of Franklin.

He furnished dies to the United States Mint as early as 1826 and in September 1835 was accepted as an assistant engraver to William Kneass. Shortly before, on August 27, Kneass had a debilitating stroke, and all pattern and die work from that time onward was done by Gobrecht, including the creation of the 1836 Gobrecht dollars and, most probably, certain 1838 pattern half dollars (that have been called Kneass heads for many years). From December 21, 1840 until his death on July 23, 1844, he served as chief engraver. He is most famous for his silver dollar design of 1836, featuring the Liberty Seated obverse which would soon become a staple in American numismatic history. This coinage design was based on sketches prepared by Thomas Sully and Titian Peale. The obverse design remained on all silver coins for many years, including the half dime (to 1873), dime (1891), quarter (1891), half dollar (1891), and silver dollar (1873). He also created the Liberty Head (or Coronet or Braided Hair) motif that was first used on the $10 gold coin of 1838, and soon thereafter on the half cent, cent, and gold $2.50 and $5.

Much more could be said about Gobrecht, but as within the year we featured his biography in a special article, we refer the reader to Rare Coin Review #126, November/December 1998, "Christian Gobrecht: American coin die engraver extraordinaire," by Q. David Bowers.

Louis

LIBERTY CAP HALF CENTS -
HEAD LEFT (1793 ONLY)
by Ron Guth

The Mint Act of 1792 provided for the establishment of a Mint and the coinage of a variety of different denominations. Despite concerted efforts to implement the Act, the Mint was only able to produce Half Cents and Large Cents in 1793.

The first design type for the Half Cent consisted of a head of Liberty facing left, with flowing, untied hair. Over her right shoulder, Liberty carried a cap atop a staff. The word "LIBERTY" appeared above her head; the date below. The reverse consisted of a wreath of laurel leaves tied together with a bow at the bottom. The words "HALF CENT" appear inside the wreath and "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" surrounds the wreath. The fraction 1/200 appears beneath the bow, representing the denomination.

The obverse design borrowed heavily from the front of the Libertas Americana Medal, issued by the French in 1782 to commemorate the surrender of the British at Yorktown and Saratoga during the Revolutionary War (interestingly enough, the Libertas Americana medal was designed and promoted by none other than the American inventor and statesman, Benjamin Franklin). The cap carried by Miss Liberty was a powerful symbol of freedom in both America and France. American patriots, including the Sons of Liberty, wore knitted Liberty Caps during the Revolutionary War. The French, when they invaded the palace of Tuileries in 1792, forced King Louis XVI to wear a liberty cap. The staff, in ancient times, was a spear; in 1776, it was a Liberty pole. Clearly, the impression the Americans wanted to express on their first coin was their love of liberty and freedom.

The Liberty Cap - Head Left design was used only in 1793.

CalGold

Nice posts guys.

CG

stujoe

What happened to Black Diamond?



I have read a few articles that cast some doubt on the story, but Black Diamond is believed by many to be the model for the Buffalo nickel. Whether he was or wasn't the model, he is linked to the nickel in coin lore and probably always will be.

When Black Diamond died, The Numismatist reported that he was sold to a meat packing company, which was able to get 750 pounds of meat from him. The company sold the meat as Black Diamond steaks. I have seen one reference that said that they were served at Delmonico's Restaurant in Manhattan. Apparently, they were sold for quite a bit of money.

Further, his head was mounted and was, until 1978, put on display at the firm that took over the original meat packing company. The head made at least one appearance at an ANA show in 1985. I am not sure if this picture was taken then but I suspect it was:

http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/4044/diamond.jpg

I am not sure where his head resides now but it is interesting to know what happened to him and that a part of him is probably still around today.

References:
Twisted Tails by Robert R. Van Ryzin
The Numismatist
Fortune Magazine
http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/4044/fullhorn.html

CalGold

I understand he was quite delicious.

On a similar note, the eagle that was the model for Mr. Gobrecht's flying eagle dollar reverse and cent obverse is said to have been "Pete." Legend has it that he was sort of a pet of the Mint. One day he is said to have landed on a coin press that was running and was killed by the machine.

CG

Betta285

This was my essay for Johnz's contest;


The Morgan Silver Dollar
The Legacy of a Legend

It is 1877 and assistant engraver George T. Morgan is sitting down at his desk contemplating a new design for the U.S. dollar coin. Little did he know that what his creative mind would produce would eventually evolve to be one of the most popular U.S. coins ever minted.
Ask the average U.S. citizen what a Morgan dollar is and most will reply by explaining that it is golden in color. If you were to ask any coin collector, regardless of their specialty, what a Morgan dollar was, most could accurately tell you the years they were minted, the silver content and a brief history of the coin. U.S. coin collectors as a whole have completely fallen in love with these coins. Many collect them by date, others collect them by mintmark and some just hoard these coins and acquire which ever coin appeals to them. One thing universal to all collectors is that everyone admires these coins for their beauty and will always show respect for one of the greatest coins ever produced, the Morgan dollar.
In 1876, Mint Director Henry Richard Linderman began a hunt for designs to be placed on the new silver dollar which had not even been authorized by congress yet. By 1877, the authorization of a new silver dollar was almost a sure thing and progress concerning the coin’s design accelerated. The Seated liberty design had drawn much denigration by the public and a change to the nation’s coinage was clearly necessary. In early 1878, the authorization of the purchasing of silver caused an increase in design progress by the mint’s engravers. Chief Engraver William Barber, assistant engraver George T. Morgan and little know outside artist Anthony Paquet began to furiously generate possible designs for the new dollar. Early patterns were coined into half dollars and a few dollars produced mainly by barber. After both Morgan and Barber had produced a few pattern pieces in early 1878 it was time for Mint director Linderman to choose a final design. On February 21, 1878 Linderman wrote from his office in Washington to Superintendent James Pollock at the Philadelphia mint stating that after reviewing the designs by both Barber and Morgan he had finally made a decision:
“Morgan and Barber both show high skill and artistic taste. I selected the one with the lowest relief, requiring the lightest power to strike.”
The chosen design would obviously turn out to be Morgan’s. On Feb. 28th 1878, Linderman wrote to the Superintendent Pollock requesting that working dies of Morgan’s designs be made to be sent to the three mints then in operation, Philadelphia, Carson city, and San Francisco. This also being the same day the Bland-Allison Act was passed, authorizing the U.S. treasury department to purchase $2,000,000 to $4,000,000 worth of silver bullion each month. Within a week, several Morgan dollars had been struck, including two proofs which were delivered to the Mint cabinet on March 7 1878. The mint also produced three specific coins on March 12 designated to be delivered to President Rutherford B. Hayes, Secretary of The treasury John Sherman and Mint director Linderman, along with 300+ other coins destined for circulation.
The public’s initial reaction with this coin was not a positive one. In April 1878, the editor of the American Journal of Numismatics published his opinion of the coin in one of his articles:
“The long line of monstrosities issued from the United States Mint, certainly receives its crown in the new dollar.”
Another publishing went as far as to compare the eagle depicted on the reverse of the dollar to a hen. This reaction to the new dollar was typical throughout the nation, many also criticizing the eagle’s design, but over time, the coin was accepted.
The first year this coin was minted it experienced many design alterations such as changes in the number of tail feathers located on the eagle from eight to seven, modifications to the eagle’s breast feathers to make them appear more rounded along with various other alterations.

The rest is on a floppy which i can't find right now

stujoe

Good article. Something I didn't know but picked up out of the Morgan Dollar Red Book recently was that Morgan Dollars were called Bland Dollars during their own time...in reference to the Bland-Allison Act.

Not too hard to see why that name didn't stick when they became marketable collectibles.

100proof1957

American Bison hair absorbs light !

ms70

Poor Black Diamond. They should've just buried him intact and with respect.

coachleonard

Morgan Dollars are fast disappearing! Millions have been melted and many more reside in private collections!