US Mint: The French Connection
Rittenhouse
Posts: 592 ✭✭✭✭
I like to say that I don't really collect coins, I collect little metallic pieces of history. Here's a few that illustrate part of the connection between the French and the US mints.
First up is a medal by Jean-Pierre Droz, whom Jefferson had tried to hire as the for director and to supply two screw presses. Neither came to pass.
Next are two medals by Nicolas Brenet, a very talented French engraver. The connection is Franklin Peale, who saw Brenet's medals being made in the Paris mint in 1833 as noted in his famous report of 1835.
The last is a medal by Victor Janvier, of Janvier Reducing Machine fame. The medal shows four successively smaller images of a screw press, thus demonstrating the machine's capabilities.
12
Comments
Nice, they certainly have a "French" look.
Ah yes... Medallic artistry...I really wish our coins had such art... even if it were just special coins such as commemoratives....Cheers, RickO
The "pre dead presidents" stuff did, especially the 18th and 19th century. Even the early 20th cen stuff had character. Now we got politically correct garbage.
@Rittenhouse ....I totally agree...I understand - to a certain extent - about high volume, circulating coins....cost and efficiency in manufacturing..... but special coins, there just is no excuse for the poor artwork. Cheers, RickO
Love the Janvier piece!
Yeah, got that from JK, couldn't get my money out quick enuf. There's a second promo medal for Duval-Janvier showing a minter using the old hand dies. There's some crappy ones for way too much on eBay. I'm looking for a nice piece. They're not terribly scarce so I'll find one.
There's no excuse even for the circulation issues and for the special strikes, it's really insult heaped upon insult. Look at other countries, some of that stuff is really nice. But here were stuck with dull, poorly executed designs that don;t even qualify as art. If there was any justice, the tongues of those who create and approve this garbage would burst into flames as they try to convince us this is art.
The last decent design I can recall is the 1986 5 Lib. Not exactly imaginative or striking, but at least it was fairly well done.
Outstanding pictures if I could only do half as good!
Thanks. It's new rig, only had it a few days and been fooling around. Nikon D60 with a Tamron auto-focus 60mm macro lens. I got it from Roberts Camera. A B&M that has an eBay store for used equip. Good rep, fast ship, and exactly as described. The whole set-up cost less than 500 bucks. Camera and lens from Roberts, 8G mem card from Wally World, a free USB cable from Amazon with rewards points, and two 150w LED daylight bulbs from Home Despot. I already had a copy stand.
Didn't have the lighting angle right so the one medal washed out and looks silvery. All I did was set the camera so the pieces fill the frame, use macro auto-focus mode, and self-timer. Easy-peasy.
What year was that struck? That could have been made yesterday, except that the design is too good for modern mediocrity.
It's too bad that kind of artistry is so out of favor today.
It amazed me how the giant powerful machine presses so delicately
Are you part of the PCGS management board?
1892, the only year the firm was listed as Duval-Janvier. After that it was just Janvier until his death in 1911. Here's a link to an old Esylum article by Wayne. coinbooks.org/esylum_v07n13a10.html
I haven't read anything on who Duval was. Likely he was a financial backer.
No, not connected to PCGS except by friendship with most of the principals.
While the design is "delicate," the medal is pretty much a bronze brick. About 3 x 3 x 0.5 inches. Apparently there are other sizes. Gorgeous and well executed, but then it's French and by a master. I imagine it took a few pressings from a hydraulic.
"Duval [et] Janvier medal [1902] by Alexandre-Louis-Marie Charpentier. Bronze, 52 x 60 mm. Jones (The Art of the Medal) 345."
The French patent for Janvier's reducing lathe is published in the Journal of Numismatic Research (JNR) Issue #1. Available from wizard Coin Supply. (The patent is in French with an English translation by my daughter who used to teach in Lyon.)
That's interesting. The article in Esylum by Wayne and Dick Johnson suggests 1892. Wonder who's right?
French sources are consistent with 1902. The ANS listing has 1908, but that is the only one. JK and others say "circa 1900."
Wasn’t part of the Saint Gaudens story that the Janvier was “new?” I believe Roger has nailed this one.
A Janvier reduction lather was bought by the Philadelphia Mint in November 1906. Versions had been manufactured since about 1892. Charles Barber had been searching for a new lathe for several years and was close to contract agreement for domestic construction of one with Keller Co., but then backed out.
I like it. The design and quality is amazing !!!