V.D.B and F.G. Strange Parallells in Initials
BuffaloIronTail
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I like a story every now and again. Enjoy!
Frank Gasparro retired in 1981 with 40 years of Federal service. His legacy would be that he was the last Chief Engraver at the United States Mint to end his term.
His successor, Elizabeth Jones served as Chief Engraver till 1990, at which time she resigned from the post.
The U.S. Mint never appointed a Chief Engraver after Ms. Jones, all the needed work being done by a pool of engravers known as the engraving staff.
So Mr. Gasparro was the last of a breed. His legacy would be rich in history and flavor, and his accomplishments were many.
He took over as Chief Engraver when Gilroy Roberts resigned to enter private practice. Frank designed the Eisenhower and Anthony Dollars, and the reverse of the Kennedy half dollar, and submitted Patterns for approval by the Mint.
But his legacy.....for Lincoln Cent collectors.........will always be the fact that he was the designer of the Memorial Reverse that replaced Victor David Brenners Wheat Reverse in 1959.
The story is well-known as to what Brenner had to endure when his intials, V.D.B. were deemed too prominent on the bottom of the new Cent. They were removed by Chief Engraver Charles Barber and did not appear again until 1918, when upon Barbers death, George Morgan incused them at the base of Lincoln's shoulder.
They remained there, inconspicuously, ever since.
So how does this apply to Frank Gasparro?
Mr. Gasparro applied his F.G. initials inconspicuously to the right of the Lincoln Memorial. They were small, and as the years progressed, the original Master Hub lost detail.
It was decided that a new reverse Master Hub would be issued in 1973. Among the things that needed to be addressed was the fact that Frank's initials oftentimes lost detail, and were barely recognizable as the dies wore in the striking presses.
It was decided that the initials would be strengthened as a part of the new Hub.
So Frank re-engraved them. He made the initials bigger. Almost three times as large as the previous ones.
Somebody took notice.
It remains pure conjecture as to who complained. I know of no records that point to any one person or group. The fact is that someone....Mint Official or otherwise....had a problem with the size (prominence) of his initials.
It must have been a big problem, because Frank was told to design an entirly new Reverse Hub for 1974, making the 1973 reverse a one-year type reverse.
Look at any 1973 Cent and you'll see. The Initials are quite large, and extend slightly above the pillar to the left. Only on this one year will you see them like that.
In 1974 they were reduced to about half that size.
So, public opinion, or Mint intervention forced Mr. Gasparro into a re-design.....just like the one in 1909.
...........Only this time the initials stayed. albeit smaller.
V.D.B. and F.G.
64 years apart yet so much in common.
Pete
Any comments or corrections would be appreciated.
Frank Gasparro retired in 1981 with 40 years of Federal service. His legacy would be that he was the last Chief Engraver at the United States Mint to end his term.
His successor, Elizabeth Jones served as Chief Engraver till 1990, at which time she resigned from the post.
The U.S. Mint never appointed a Chief Engraver after Ms. Jones, all the needed work being done by a pool of engravers known as the engraving staff.
So Mr. Gasparro was the last of a breed. His legacy would be rich in history and flavor, and his accomplishments were many.
He took over as Chief Engraver when Gilroy Roberts resigned to enter private practice. Frank designed the Eisenhower and Anthony Dollars, and the reverse of the Kennedy half dollar, and submitted Patterns for approval by the Mint.
But his legacy.....for Lincoln Cent collectors.........will always be the fact that he was the designer of the Memorial Reverse that replaced Victor David Brenners Wheat Reverse in 1959.
The story is well-known as to what Brenner had to endure when his intials, V.D.B. were deemed too prominent on the bottom of the new Cent. They were removed by Chief Engraver Charles Barber and did not appear again until 1918, when upon Barbers death, George Morgan incused them at the base of Lincoln's shoulder.
They remained there, inconspicuously, ever since.
So how does this apply to Frank Gasparro?
Mr. Gasparro applied his F.G. initials inconspicuously to the right of the Lincoln Memorial. They were small, and as the years progressed, the original Master Hub lost detail.
It was decided that a new reverse Master Hub would be issued in 1973. Among the things that needed to be addressed was the fact that Frank's initials oftentimes lost detail, and were barely recognizable as the dies wore in the striking presses.
It was decided that the initials would be strengthened as a part of the new Hub.
So Frank re-engraved them. He made the initials bigger. Almost three times as large as the previous ones.
Somebody took notice.
It remains pure conjecture as to who complained. I know of no records that point to any one person or group. The fact is that someone....Mint Official or otherwise....had a problem with the size (prominence) of his initials.
It must have been a big problem, because Frank was told to design an entirly new Reverse Hub for 1974, making the 1973 reverse a one-year type reverse.
Look at any 1973 Cent and you'll see. The Initials are quite large, and extend slightly above the pillar to the left. Only on this one year will you see them like that.
In 1974 they were reduced to about half that size.
So, public opinion, or Mint intervention forced Mr. Gasparro into a re-design.....just like the one in 1909.
...........Only this time the initials stayed. albeit smaller.
V.D.B. and F.G.
64 years apart yet so much in common.
Pete
Any comments or corrections would be appreciated.
"I tell them there's no problems.....only solutions" - John Lennon
1
Comments
-Steve
Aerospace Structures Engineer
Pete
1973
1974
Brenner who was born in Lithuania decided to change his name after becoming a naturalized American citizen and the David middle name was then added.
It wasn't someone, it was me, and I didn't complain about the new size of the initials.
What happened was, I got a 1973 cent in change on January 6 of that year. I was working as a cashier at a trucking company in Detroit that my father drove for, and one of the drivers turned it in in his deposit that night. Because it was a new date I substituted another cent for it and took it home, where I noticed the hub change to the reverse.
I thought that the change was mildly interesting, so I stuck it in an envelope and sent it to my friend at Coin World's Collectors Clearinghouse, Ed Fleischmann. I figured he might show a small picture of it in Clearinghouse, along with an old one for comparison. He must have shown it to the news department in a slow news week, because it ended up splashed all over the front page a week later.
THAT was what shoved a bee up the Mint's bonnet, and resulted in him redesigning the initials somewhat smaller in 1974. Nobody ever complained about the 1973 size, but the Mint did not like the publicity.
Tom D.
<< <i>I like a story every now and again. Enjoy!
Frank Gasparro retired in 1981 with 40 years of Federal service. His legacy would be that he was the last Chief Engraver at the United States Mint to end his term.
His successor, Elizabeth Jones served as Chief Engraver till 1990, at which time she resigned from the post.
The U.S. Mint never appointed a Chief Engraver after Ms. Jones, all the needed work being done by a pool of engravers known as the engraving staff.
So Mr. Gasparro was the last of a breed. His legacy would be rich in history and flavor, and his accomplishments were many.
He took over as Chief Engraver when Gilroy Roberts resigned to enter private practice. Frank designed the Eisenhower and Anthony Dollars, and the reverse of the Kennedy half dollar, and submitted Patterns for approval by the Mint.
But his legacy.....for Lincoln Cent collectors.........will always be the fact that he was the designer of the Memorial Reverse that replaced Victor David Brenners Wheat Reverse in 1959.
The story is well-known as to what Brenner had to endure when his intials, V.D.B. were deemed too prominent on the bottom of the new Cent. They were removed by Chief Engraver Charles Barber and did not appear again until 1918, when upon Barbers death, George Morgan incused them at the base of Lincoln's shoulder.
They remained there, inconspicuously, ever since.
So how does this apply to Frank Gasparro?
Mr. Gasparro applied his F.G. initials inconspicuously to the right of the Lincoln Memorial. They were small, and as the years progressed, the original Master Hub lost detail.
It was decided that a new reverse Master Hub would be issued in 1973. Among the things that needed to be addressed was the fact that Frank's initials oftentimes lost detail, and were barely recognizable as the dies wore in the striking presses.
It was decided that the initials would be strengthened as a part of the new Hub.
So Frank re-engraved them. He made the initials bigger. Almost three times as large as the previous ones.
Somebody took notice.
It remains pure conjecture as to who complained. I know of no records that point to any one person or group. The fact is that someone....Mint Official or otherwise....had a problem with the size (prominence) of his initials.
It must have been a big problem, because Frank was told to design an entirly new Reverse Hub for 1974, making the 1973 reverse a one-year type reverse.
Look at any 1973 Cent and you'll see. The Initials are quite large, and extend slightly above the pillar to the left. Only on this one year will you see them like that.
In 1974 they were reduced to about half that size.
So, public opinion, or Mint intervention forced Mr. Gasparro into a re-design.....just like the one in 1909.
...........Only this time the initials stayed. albeit smaller.
V.D.B. and F.G.
64 years apart yet so much in common.
Pete
Any comments or corrections wuold be appreciated. >>
Glad you posted. By doing so, you became part of the story. And a part of history.
..........Ya never know what you'll end up learning here.
Thanks.
Pete
Aerospace Structures Engineer
Gilroy Roberts retired to go into private practice. This is his claim to fame. Roberts was the first Chief Engraver NOT to die in office.
When Gasparro retired he was just following in the footsteps of Roberts and there was nothing special about it.
When Elizabeth Jones left in 1990 SHE was the last Chief Engraver to end their term, not Gasparro.
Chief Engravers were not appointed for life. The office was a political patronage post and traditionally when the adminestration in office changed parties the Chief Engraver would submit their resignaion the same as the other patronage appointments did. Normally the Chief's resignation either was not accepted or they were simply reappointed. Jones was the first Chief Engraver to have theirs accepted. So she did "finish her term".
<< <i>holy cow! That is so cool. You created a chain reaction which changed our money. That's really neat >>
There was something else I did that may or may not have changed American money. I was working at Coin World in the Fall of 1978 when Margo Russell got a package with the advance pictures of the Susan B. Anthony dollar. As we were looking at them, I asked her "Where is the mint mark going to be?" She said "I don't know; I'll call Mary Brooks and ask."
She called the Mint Director, who told Margo that she didn't know either, but would find out. A few hours later Mary Brooks called Margo back, and she came out and told us all excited "It's going to be on the obverse by the shoulder, and they're going to use a P for the Philadelphia coins!"
This was obviously news to her, and I have always wondered if when she got Mary Brooks to go ask her technical people where the mint mark was going to be, Brooks "discovered" that the Philadelphia Mint did not use a mint mark and asked "Why not?" The P was added to the dollars in 1979, and the nickels thru half dollars in 1980.
Tom D.
Another repost that I like.
Pete
Yep ... good story!
An oldie but a goodie!
Old thread resurrections can be really good...Such as this one with the history and also the contributions by our esteemed forum member. Cheers, RickO
Great read! Esp. about my two favorite coins they designed. The Kennedy and the Lincoln. It's kind of ironic. Frank Gasparro's, one of the most famous coin that he placed his initials on, was the coin (1966 SMS half) that didn't have his initials on! Lol
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