Of possible interest to collectors of Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition medals and so-called dollars.
RogerB
Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
I recall some questions about Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition medals several months ago. This letter might help. (The pages are press copies of a typed letter.)
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And thy right hand shalt not know what thy left hand is doing! Amen!
There is indeed a lot of interest in these So-Called Dollars. It's been reported that the dies for the official medals were done by George Morgan so I wonder if he is the engraver that is referenced in these letters. Also seems this is evidence that the dies may have been created at one of the US Mints. Is there any info on which Mint created the dies?
Looks like the signature belongs to Frank A. Leach:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_A._Leach
Alaska. So here is my closest so called dollar
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I know my pictures suck now but next week I will be in new place with my first full room office to set up a station to take real deal photos.
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@Kkathyl....Very nice medals... Those are two I have not seen before.... Cheers, RickO
@Kkathyl I think this is the first time I've seen an amusement ride on a medal. Nice assortment. Peace Roy
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There are some 1893 Columbian Exposition medals with the original Ferris Wheel.
"It's been reported that the dies for the official medals were done by George Morgan so I wonder if he is the engraver that is referenced in these letters. Also seems this is evidence that the dies may have been created at one of the US Mints. Is there any info on which Mint created the dies?"
The phrase "the Engraver" refers only to the "Engraver of the United States Mint at Philadelphia" who was Charles E. Barber. He was the only person with that title, so it was Barber who thought law prohibited creation of the design and dies at Philadelphia.
Only the Philadelphia Mint was allowed to produce dies of any kind.
Given the tone and quotation fro legislation, it is reasonable to feel that the Philadelphia Mint produced the exposition dies. Notice they are covered by counterfeiting law.
This is a 1974 official US Mint medal where the dies and galvano were produced by the US Mint, but as allowed under Section 4 of the law they were then released to a private firm, Interama Medallions to strike the medals for the Spokane Expo '74.
An interesting graphic art design by George Tsutakawa. Clouds, sun, trees, river and rocks representing the environment and Spokane falls.
This is a 5.5 ounce gold plated (vermeil) 2.5 inch .999 silver medal, only +/- 400 were edge numbered and minted this way.
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
The complete archive volume from which the opening letter was extracted will be available later this week on NNP ..... OOOpps --- does that make it a forbidden commercial ?
Nice obverse on the medal. The less said about the reverse the better.
Maybe you would prefer his design for the Seattle Exposition in 1962 with a space theme?
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
Obverse meaning left and reverse meaning right?
The truth is, the vermeil medal with the "reverse" that can't be discussed, was actually placed in the oversize holder sideways (oh, the horror) and is being reoriented by our hosts as we speak.
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
That’s a great piece. My first year in Alaska was 77 and was downtown during the celebration. I remember it was very cold but had a great time for the fur rondy. Thank you for sharing Kathy.
Here is a National Commemorative US Mint medal about Alaska. The Philadelphia mint mark is by his left foot
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
Obverse being on the right - a creative design; Reverse on the left - a nothing design.
Ah, that makes more sense. I thought you might have meant something like that because PCGS has the obverse on the left.
It this instance, although the official issuing entity might technically be the obverse, the design side is so vastly superior that no sensible person would display anything else as the obverse. But -- just an opinion. some commemoratives are in the same boat; although the Iowa and South Carolina folks got around it by making both faces so abominably ugly that one might prefer the edge to either obverse or reverse.
A quick review of Vol 376 suggests that several old assumptions about the Alaska-Yukon medal might be incorrect. This might include the designer, place of manufacture, reasons for changes, etc.
Anyone can access the file via NNP.
Can you provide a link?
NNP link here: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/512703
A casual look shows #172, 237, 238, 249 and others relate to the AYP medals. Here's a sample concerning the Engraver.
Suggestion: NNP really needs a much, much better search/find function. People should be able to use plain language, key words, or references to get to materials - and - not have to wade through 50 copies of the same thing.
Another good find by Roger, thanks. I have the Shevlin/Hyder book So-Called Dollars from the Pacific Coast Expositions and went to a presentation by Jeff Shevlin on the subject.
I have many of the non-AYPE medals and badges designed and made by Joseph Mayer and Brothers, dating back to 1898. I will be doing more research in coming years on the Mayer brothers. In addition to medals, they manufactured many street clocks still in use, sterling flatware, holloware, and souvenir spoons. Their art was an important part of the material culture of the Pacific Northwest.
The incoming letters to Leach might be in RG104 E-229 Boxes 269-285 which cover letters received during CY 1909.
Great reads Roger.
I found the book: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/566713
I also noticed that NNP seems kind of hard to navigate. It would be great to have all these OCRed and made searchable.
Lived 25 years in Anchorage and never bought any of that stuff. Did buy a good size container of gold nuggets from up Chicken way.
OCR, at least in it's present commercial versions, does not work well on these. Irregular character spacing, smearing and other defects result in low word recognition rates. I've tried to get some folks interested in simple ways to improve recognition, but no one is interested - no real money to be made, I guess.
PS: Readers can download the volume and do their own OCR using Acrobat or other PDF-accessing programs.
The second letter is interesting in that it says "dies made by Mr. Barber". Does this indicate George Morgan didn't engrave the dies as is commonly stated, or that Barber still could have "made" the dies engraved by Morgan?
Keep looking for additional letters. Sure sounds like Barber was going to make the dies for medals struck in the Treasury exhibit....but --