Saint-Gaudens Columbian Exposition Reverse and the Double Eagle

Zoins

This thread is to discuss the multiple attempts at a reverse made by Saint-Gaudens on the Columbian Exposition medal, aka "Saint-Gaudens Dollar", before Barber was given the task.

The following article indicates Saint-Gaudens made 4 attempts:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/14941

Saint-Gaudens, who served as an advisor for the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition sculptural program, accepted the commission for the official award medal. He had completed his design for the medal by the time of the fair’s closing in November 1893. His design for the obverse met ready acceptance. It shows Columbus alighting on the shores of the New World. At the lower right are three male figures, one bearing an unfurling banner, and above them are the symbolic Pillars of Hercules with the three Spanish caravels and the inscription plvs vltra. His concept for the reverse, however—a nude male youth representing the Spirit of America—was deemed improper by United States Senate Quadro-Centennial Committee. Two variant designs with the figure’s genitals covered and a third with a wreath-encircled eagle and inscription were also rejected. In the end, Saint-Gaudens’s obverse was muled with a design for the reverse by Charles E. Barber, longtime chief engraver at the United States Mint.

Please post any info you have on this here. It would be great to have images and/or information on existing work for these 4 versions.

Update: With some images of the original Columbian Exposition reverse submission, it seems like there are some related elements to the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle design, namely the torch of enlightenment in the left hand and shield on the right. See photos below. Is this the first time Saint-Gaudens used a torch in the right hand?

Zoins

Thayer Tolles writes that the reverse may have been based on Augustus's younger brother Louis:

"A Bit of Artistic Idealism": Augustus Saint-Gaudens's World's Columbian Exposition Commemorative Presentation Medal

http://numismatics.org/digitallibrary/ark:/53695/nnan167271

Saint-Gaudens's rejected effort for the reverse features a nude youth representing the "Spirit of America ," posed frontally in a modified contrapposto stance. A pencil drawing ( fig. 3 ), now destroyed, reveals a loosely sketched design, perhaps Augustus's conception for his younger brother Louis —also a sculptor—to carry out. Saint-Gaudens relied on Louis to model the nude figure, a perfectly acceptable practice for a sculptor with numerous ongoing commissions ( Dryfhout 1982, 202). In a proof cast from the ANS ( fig. 4 ), the supple boy, "in the full vigor of young life" ( Saint-Gaudens to R.C. Preston , Director of U.S. Mint, November 17, 1893 [copy], Saint-Gaudens Papers), holds three wreaths in his left hand. He supports a tall shield inscribed "E PLVRIBVS VNVM," and decorated with an American eagle, an olive branch, and a smaller shield. In his right hand he grasps a torch. A young oak tree follows the contour of the boy's shield at the right, while at the lower left, space is provided for the name of the medal's recipient.

Sketch:

Proof Cast:

Zoins

The Harvard Art Museums have the 8 inch plaster for the reverse and their article indicates that the reverse design was previously attributed to Augustus but is now attributed to his younger brother Louis Saint-Gaudens. If this is true and the model is also Louis as suggested by Tolles, then this would be a self-portrait. The submission would also have been done by the two brother team.

https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/226789?position=0

Louis Saint-Gaudens, American (New York, NY 1854 - 1913 Cornish, NH)
Previously attributed to Augustus Saint-Gaudens, American (Dublin, Ireland 1848 - 1907 Cornish, NH)

It's interesting that Louis was born 6 years after Augustus and also died 6 years after him.

ricko

Interesting history... particularly in light of the present efforts to obliterate Columbus from our history.... Cheers, RickO

Zoins

Of interest, it appears the Augustus Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle obverse is at least loosely inspired by the Columbian Exposition reverse given both the torch of enlightenment in the right hand and the long shield in the left.

Perhaps after realizing a nude male was unacceptable due to the 3 rejections, he sought to use the same design elements on a clothed female.

ricko

@Zoins ... Good observation... definitely significant similarities... no sense in wasting good artwork. Cheers, RickO

Zoins

Also of interest, there is belief that Columbus on the obverse is a self-portrait of Augusts Saint-Gaudens due to the beard and hooked nose.

http://www.historicalartmedals.com/MEDAL WEB ENTRIES/USA/ST GAUDENS-COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION-BW549 HIGH.htm

On the obverse, the hooded figure with beard and hooked nose to the right side of Columbus is believed to be Augustus Saint Gaudens himself- - the only known self portrait.

If the reverse submission was done by Louis Saint-Gaudens as speculated by Harvard Art Museums and is of Louis himself as speculated by Thayer Tolles, then the submission would have been a two brother, two self-portrait submission.

RogerB

The Met Museum summary tells the basic story. Louis did not make the design and was not the model. Details are in the Saint-Gaudens archive at Dartmouth College. I examined this material over a decade ago.

Weiss

Well since I just got outbid at $1k...

https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-9JKG5

Zoins

Amazing and beautiful @Weiss!

Zoins

@Weiss said:
Well since I just got outbid at $1k...

https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-9JKG5

Wow, up to $17,000. I've seen this pause at $1,800, $2,200, $8,500 and now $17,000. Excited to see how high this goes.

Here's the auction description for posterity since old auction listings are removed from the Stack's site.

LOT DESCRIPTION
Outstanding 1892-1893 Columbian Expo Award Medal With Rejected Nude Youth Reverse

The Holy Grail of Columbian Expo Numismatics

1892-1893 World's Columbian Exposition Award Medal With Rejected Reverse Design. Bronze. 102.0mm (approx. 4"), 309.94 grams, 5.3-7.3mm thick. By Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Baxter-86, Dryfhout-151, Musee des Augustins-116. Gem Mint State.

A very high quality, fine casting in bronze of the World's Columbian Expo Medal as Saint-Gaudens intended it, save for some minor artistic modifications that he would have made if given the opportunity. We refer interested clients to Michael Moran's masterful 2008 work Striking Change: The Great Artistic Collaboration of Theodore Roosevelt and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, which encapsulates in a couple chapters the saga of the creation of this Expo's award medal, mandated by an Act of Congress. In a nutshell, the great sculptor August Saint-Gaudens, though without the time or attention to devote to this important commission, took it on anyway to keep it out of the hands of the US Mint's Charles Barber, who Saint-Gaudens did not feel was skilled enough to take on a project of such international significance; put in perspective, 27 million visitors attended the Expo, open from May 1, 1893 to October 30, 1893, featuring thousands of exhibitors and exhibits from 46 different countries spread among 200 buildings on 600 acres in Chicago.

Saint-Gaudens labored on the obverse and reverse designs amidst pulls on his time, focus and financial resources, culminating in the designs seen on this medal. The obverse shows a standing full length Christopher Columbus, arms outstretched, advancing towards the New World, with 3 male figures and the Pillars of Hercules and motto PLVS VLTRA ("more beyond") in the background, further symbolizing the world that beckoned beyond the Straits of Gibraltar; AVGVSTVS SAINT-GAUDENS FECIT is in minuscule letters around the 6 o'clock position. The world is intimately familiar with this obverse design, as it is the version used on the 20,000 or so award medals that were produced for the Expo awardees. The reverse exhibits a standing, naked youth symbolizing young America, holding a torch in his outstretched right hand, his left hand clutching a trio of laurel wreaths and supporting a tall shield emblazoned with a bald eagle, olive branch and the stars and bars shield, an oak sapling and sculptor's initials ASTG to right, the long Expo inscription to left, the hyphenated date 1892-1893 in Roman numerals below.

This reverse is known only on a handful of medals and progress pieces, as its design was squarely rejected by the United States Senate Quadro-Centennial Committee for its portrayal of a nude youth. At first Saint-Gaudens stood by his designs, refusing to change or compromise, feeling that the artistic community and general public would rally behind him and his designs. By the time Saint-Gaudens offered altered versions covering the male nudity with a drapery and then a fig leaf, the damage had been done, as the Treasury Department, which had final say in the matter, refused these versions too. He tried to enlist the help of the artistic community, its patrons, and the general public in his refusal to change the design, but to no avail. By the time he had decided to submit a wholly new design featuring only inscriptions and the American eagle, the design and production process had moved past him behind the closed doors of back rooms and the US government bureaucracy. In a twist of irony, Saint-Gaudens' greatest fear had come to pass, as Charles Barber was asked to create a design for the reverse of the Expo medal to mate with his Columbus obverse. Saint-Gaudens had been wholly removed from the design and production process, creating the "patchwork" medal that exists by the thousands today.

The various rejected reverse designs survives in drawings, plasters and models, most of which are in museum rather private collections. Though others may exist, this is the only two-sided medal in cast bronze featuring of the iconic first rejected reverse we know of in private hands. It has the same look and overall fabric as the 102mm example in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, gifted to the Museum by the artist in 1899, one of a trio of different sizes (102mm, 74mm, and 64mm) made for Saint-Gaudens by Parisian medal engraver Ernest Paulin Tasset, who Saint-Gaudens had found through his friend, French sculptor and art critic Paul Bion. The Musee d'Orsay examples all have a sample awarding to a WILLIAMS BRADFORD at the lower left below the Expo inscriptions. Though the current piece is "unawarded," faint vestiges of the tops of WILLIAMS are visible around the bottom of the torch and the word "TO," indicating that this casting was taken from the mold after the awardee's name was mostly effaced. Given its similarity in fabric and sharpness to the Musee d'Orsay specimen, we surmise that this was a piece made also made by Tasset in the 1890s, and remained in France until being brought to the United States earlier this year. Clearly made by a skilled artisan, this specimen features a patina of light golden tan and deeper brown and rings like a bell when lightly tapped on the edge, the mark of a fine cast.

We are not aware of other examples of this medal with rejected reverse in private hands or any that have been offered at auction in recent memory; an inferior quality and smaller (74.1 mm) uniface bronze sand casting of the rejected reverse was sold by Presidential Coin and Antique Company in its June 2010 auction, one of a clearly marked edition of 10 commissioned in 1975 by a Saint-Gaudens descendent from the Buntin Foundry in Sherborn, MA using a plaster model in the family's possession. This double-sided, 102mm fine casting of Saint-Gaudens' medal is the Holy Grail of World's Columbian Exposition numismatics, and is an important piece in numismatic history as it is symbolic of the ongoing chasm between Saint-Gaudens and the US Mint, represented by Barber, that culminated in the great Saint-Gaudens/Roosevelt coinage redesign of 1907.

RogerB

Parts of the auction lot historical description are wrong.

After failing to get approval of the reverse - objected to by a US Senator, not the Commission - SG began work on a revised reverse. He delayed submission multiple times until the Commission gave up and asked that the Mint's Engraver provide a suitable medal reverse. Barber supplied this.

By not delivering his revised design in a timely manner, SG was, in effect, removed from the job with the approval of the Sec of Treasury.

There are other errors, misconceptions and incorrect "cut and past" issues.

RogerB

Senator William F. Vilas, Judiciary Committee, examined the original Saint-Gaudens reverse model on January 18, 1894, and rejected it. This resulted in the fiasco played out in newspapers between Saint-Gaudens and Sen. Vilas’ advocates.

Next:

[RG 104, entry 235, vol.71, pp.128-129]

“To: St. Gaudens
From: R. E. Preston

Re: Columbian medal Saint-Gaudens

April 26, 1894

 I am instructed by the Secretary of the Treasury to state to you that the modifications in the reverse of the design for the medal of award of the World’s Columbian Exposition, as shown by the three replicas submitted by you, are not satisfactory, and it is his wish and desire that you should prepare as early as practicable a new design for the reverse.
 I would say that the obverse of the medal as designed by you is entirely satisfactory, and that the Department would regret to be compelled to use a reverse designed by another artist, but the Secretary feels, in view of the action taken by the Senate Committee on the Quadro-Centennial that the design of the reverse as at present would be subject to much criticism.
 I would be pleased to hear from you whether you will furnish a new design for the reverse at an early day. I will state that the reproductions of your designs by the Mint at Philadelphia will be exact in every particular.”

By June 1894:

“To: John W. Woodside
From: R. E. Preston

[RG 104, entry 235, vol.71, pp.363]

Re: Columbian medal Saint-Gaudens

June 29, 1894

 Yours of the 28th instant is received. Mr. Barber is to take hold of the reverse of the design for the World’s Fair medal and will finish it in the shortest time consistent with good workmanship.
 I hope to be in Philadelphia during the coming week.”

---

Zoins

Anyone else notice that the eagle on the reverse shield is very similar to the Saint-Gaudens original reverse for the double eagle which ended up on the eagle coin?

Weiss

@Zoins said:
Anyone else notice that the eagle on the reverse shield is very similar to the Saint-Gaudens original reverse for the double eagle which ended up on the eagle coin?

Yep. The torch, the front-facing, standing figure, the foot upon the mound, and even the oak leaves and branch are all shared devices between this medal and the $20. The eagle on the shield is definitely shared with the $10, too.

Because of all of these design elements and more, I chased it up to about $2,000. And I mentioned to some other numismatists it was the kind of piece that would either go for $100 over my last bid, or $10,000. You just don't know about something like this, tucked deep into an advanced collection being offered at once.

Wonder where it will end up, in terms of price and collection.

Zoins

@Weiss said:

@Zoins said:
Anyone else notice that the eagle on the reverse shield is very similar to the Saint-Gaudens original reverse for the double eagle which ended up on the eagle coin?

Yep. The torch, the front-facing, standing figure, the foot upon the mound, and even the oak leaves and branch are all shared devices between this medal and the $20. The eagle on the shield is definitely shared with the $10, too.

Because of all of these design elements and more, I chased it up to about $2,000. And I mentioned to some other numismatists it was the kind of piece that would either go for $100 over my last bid, or $10,000. You just don't know about something like this, tucked deep into an advanced collection being offered at once.

Wonder where it will end up, in terms of price and collection.

It's a great piece.

Glad it's attributed to a collector, Brian Dobbins. Anyone have information on him?

Zoins

Maybe @saintguru would be interested?

Zoins

Up to $22,000 and in live bidding now.

A lot of great designs cues on this piece for the eventual coins. It’s like a design study for those pieces.

Thanks for posting the link and details @Weiss!

Can’t wait to see what it closes at.

RogerB

The standing eagle came from Saint-Gaudens/Weinman Inaugural medal for President Roosevelt. The details are in Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908.

The Liberty striding forward is based on the Sherman Memorial in NYC.

BuffaloIronTail

This post was extremely interesting. Good material, and excellent follow up.

This is the way a thread should be presented, IMHOP.

Pete

Weiss

Zoins

Wow! It ended up selling for $45,600 including the 20% juice. Good to see the heavy hitters out there for this.

Anyone on the floor?

Zoins

I just ran across the following Charles Barber Collection specimen which was offered in 1991 by Stack's. This was from a catalog link posted by @Pioneer1 . From thee photos, it looks like a different specimen than the one sold in 2018 at Baltimore by Stack's where they write: "We are not aware of other examples of this medal with rejected reverse in private hands or any that have been offered at auction in recent memory".

• https://archive.org/details/fixedpricelistam1991stac/page/47/mode/1up