Adam Eckfeldt
Adam Eckfeldt (June 15, 1769 – February 6, 1852) was a worker and official in the early days of the United States Mint. A lifelong Philadelphian, Eckfeldt served as the second chief coiner of the Mint, from 1814 until 1839. Eckfeldt's father owned a large smithy, and involved himself in early attempts at American coinage. Adam Eckfeldt built early presses for the Mint, engraved some of its early dies, and is responsible for the designs of early American copper coinage, as well as the 1792 half disme which some consider the first United States coin. He was appointed assistant coiner ...
Adolph A. Weinman
Adolph Alexander Weinman (December 11, 1870 – August 8, 1952) was an American sculptor, born in Karlsruhe, Germany. Weinman arrived in the United States at the age of 10. At the age of 15, he attended evening classes at Cooper Union and later studied at the Art Students League of New York with sculptors Augustus St. Gaudens and Philip Martiny. He later served as an assistant to Charles Niehaus, Olin Warner, and Daniel Chester French. Weinman opened his own studio in 1904. Although Weinman is now best known as a medalist, when he once was introduced as such he vehemently ...
Anthony de Francisci
Anthony (Antonio) de Francisci (July 13, 1887 in Palermo, Italy – October 20, 1964 in Manhattan, New York) was an Italian-American sculptor who designed a number of United States coins and medals. His most famous design was the Peace Dollar, which was first minted in 1921. Early Life and Training De Francisci immigrated to the United States in 1905 and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1913. He was the son of Benedetto de Francisci and Maria Liberante and was married to Mary Teresa Cafarelli. De Francisci "studied under some very fine coin designers: Fraser, MacNeil, and Weinman." The ...
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was the Irish-born American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the "American Renaissance". Raised in New York City, he traveled to Europe for further training and artistic study, and then returned to major critical success in the design of monuments commemorating heroes of the American Civil War, many of which still stand. In addition to his famous works such as the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial on Boston Common and the outstanding grand equestrian monuments to Civil War generals John A. Logan, atop a tumulus in Chicago, ...
Bela Lyon Pratt
Bela Lyon Pratt (December 11, 1867 – May 18, 1917) was an American sculptor. Pratt was born in Norwich, Connecticut to Sarah (Whittlesey) and George Pratt, a Yale-educated lawyer. His maternal grandfather, Oramel Whittlesey, was a pianoforte maker and founder in 1835 of the first music school in the country authorized to confer degrees to teach music, Music Vale Seminary. At 16, Pratt began studying at the Yale University School of Fine Arts, where his teachers included John Henry Niemeyer (1839-1932) and John Ferguson Weir (1841-1926). After graduating from Yale, he enrolled at the Art Students League of New York where ...
Charles E. Barber
Charles Edward Barber (November 16, 1840 – February 18, 1917) was the sixth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1879 until his death in 1917. He succeeded his father, William Barber, in the position. Barber's best-known designs are the eponymous "Barber" Barber dime, Barber quarter, and Barber half dollar, as well as the so-called "V" Liberty Head nickel. Some lesser known pattern coin designs by Barber include the trial copper-nickel cent, trial three-cent piece, and the $4 Stella "Flowing Hair" pieces. He was strongly critical of Augustus St. Gaudens' design of a new double eagle in 1908, and ...
Christian Gobrecht
Christian Gobrecht (December 23, 1785 – July 23, 1844) was the third Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1835 until his death in 1844. He was responsible for designing the famous "Seated Liberty" designs, which were in turn the direct inspiration for the design of the Trade Dollar. He also designed the Gobrecht Dollar, which was struck in small quantities from 1836 to 1838 and later inspired the Flying Eagle cent. Gobrecht was born on December 23, 1785, in Hanover, Pennsylvania, to Reverend John C. Gobrecht, who came to America from Germany in 1755, and Elizabeth Sands, with ...
Felix Schlag
Felix Oscar Schlag (December 4, 1891 – March 9, 1974) was the designer of the United States five cent coin in use from 1938 to 2004. He was born to Karl and Teresa Schlag in Frankfurt, Germany, and moved to the United States in 1929. As a teenager, Schlag served in the German army of World War I. On April 21, 1938, Schlag's design for the Jefferson nickel was selected by Nellie Tayloe Ross, Director of the United States Mint. Schlag won $1,000 for his winning design of the coin; he had been an award-winning artist in Europe. Sadly, his prize ...
Frank Gasparro
Frank Gasparro (August 26, 1909 – September 29, 2001) was the tenth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint, holding this position from February 23, 1965 to January 16, 1981. Before that, he was Assistant Engraver. He designed both sides of the Susan B. Anthony dollar, both sides of the Eisenhower Dollar (with the exception of the Bicentennial issue of 1976), the Lincoln Memorial reverse of the cent (minted from 1959 to 2008), and the reverse of the Kennedy half dollar. Birth and Early Life Gasparro was born in Philadelphia on August 26, 1909. His musician father wanted his son to ...
George T. Morgan
George T. Morgan (1845 – January 4, 1925) was an English United States Mint engraver, who is famous for designing many popular coins, such as the Morgan Dollar, and the Columbian Exposition half dollar. Biography Born in Birmingham, England, Morgan studied in England, and worked for many years as a die engraver at Messrs. J.S. & A.B. Wyon. Morgan came to the United States from England in 1876 and was hired as an assistant engraver at the Mint in October of that year under William Barber. He figured very prominently in the production of pattern coins from 1877 onward. Morgan designed ...
Gilbert Stuart
Gilbert Charles Stuart (born Stewart) (December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter from Rhode Island. Gilbert Stuart is widely considered to be one of America's foremost portraitists. His best known work, the unfinished portrait of George Washington that is sometimes referred to as The Athenaeum, was begun in 1796 and never finished; Stuart retained the portrait and used it to paint 130 copies which he sold for $100 each. The image of George Washington featured in the painting has appeared on the United States one-dollar bill for over a century, and on various U.S. Postage stamps ...
Gilroy Roberts
Gilroy Roberts (March 11, 1905, Philadelphia - January 26, 1992) was a sculptor, gemstone carver, and the ninth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint between 1948 and 1964. He designed the obverse of the United States Kennedy half dollar, which was first issued in 1964. After he retired from the U.S. Mint, he became chairman of the Franklin Mint, where he continued to use his engraving talents. He served in this position until 1971. ...
Glenna Goodacre
Glenna Maxey Goodacre (born 1939 in Lubbock, Texas, U.S.) is a sculptor well known for having designed the obverse of the Sacagawea dollar that entered circulation in the United States in 2000. She also designed the Vietnam Women's Memorial located in Washington, D.C., of which there is a smaller replica at Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park in Angel Fire, New Mexico. Art Goodacre's art appear in public, private, municipal and museum collections throughout the U.S. Her bronze sculptures feature lively expression and texture. Goodacre graduated from Monterey High School in Lubbock. She then completed studies at Colorado College and classes at ...
Hermon MacNeil
Hermon Atkins MacNeil (February 27, 1866 – October 2, 1947) was an American sculptor born in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He was an instructor in industrial art at Cornell University from 1886 to 1889, and was then a pupil of Henri M. Chapu and Alexandre Falguière in Paris. Returning to America, he aided Philip Martiny (1858–1927) in the preparation of sketch models for the World's Columbian Exposition, and in 1896 he won the Rinehart scholarship, passing four years (1896–1900) in Rome. In 1906 he became a National Academician. His first important work was The Moqui Runner, which was followed by A Primitive Chant, ...
James B. Longacre
James Barton Longacre (August 11, 1794 – January 1, 1869) was an American engraver, who was the fourth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1844 until his death. He succeeded Christian Gobrecht in the position as Chief Engraver upon Gobrecht's death. Longacre is probably best known for designing the Indian Head Cent, but was also responsible for the designs of the Shield Nickel, Flying Eagle cent, Two-Cent piece, silver and nickel three-cent pieces, One dollar gold, a $3 gold piece, and the first $20 or double eagle. From 1833–1839, Longacre and James Herring published The National Portrait Gallery ...
James Earle Fraser
James Earle Fraser (November 4, 1876 – October 11, 1953) was an American sculptor born in Winona, Minnesota. His father, Thomas Fraser, was an engineer who worked for railroad companies as they expanded across the American West. Fraser was part of a group sent out to recover the remains of the 7th Cavalry Regiment following George Armstrong Custer's disastrous engagement with the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho forces at the Battle of the Little Bighorn just a few months before James Fraser's birth. Fraser was exposed to the frontier life and Native Americans, who were being pushed ever further west or ...
John Flanagan
John Flanagan (1865–1952) was a sculptor who designed the Washington U.S. quarter dollar coin, which was issued in 1932. Flanagan's initials can be found at the base of Washington's neck. Flanagan designed both sides of the quarter. Flanagan designed a medallion commemorating the World War I Battle of Verdun. The inscription on it reads, 'They Shall Not Pass', and the medal is found in the Lafayette Database of American Art in French National collections. From 1885 to 1890, Flanagan was a studio assistant to Augustus St. Gaudens and worked on several large projects. A bronze portrait bust of St. Gaudens ...
John Mercanti
John M. Mercanti (born April 27, 1943) is an American sculptor and engraver. He was the twelfth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint until his retirement in late 2010. Biography Mercanti was born in Philadelphia. There, he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Philadelphia College of Art and the Fleisher Art Memorial School. He also served in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard for six years. In 1974, Mercanti joined the United States Mint as a sculptor-engraver after working as an illustrator. On May 19, 2006, he was appointed Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint (also known as Supervisor of ...
John R. Sinnock
John Ray Sinnock (July 8, 1888 – May 14, 1947) was the eighth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint and designer of the Roosevelt dime and Franklin half dollar, among other U.S. coins. His initials "JS" on the dime can be found at the base of the Roosevelt bust. He also sculpted, although did not design, the Purple Heart medal, and various other medals and commemorative coins. Sinnock was born July 8, 1888 in Raton, New Mexico and was educated at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art. He won the A.W. Mifflin Award for study abroad. Sinnock was ...
Miley Busiek
Miley Busiek (now known as Miley Tucker-Frost) is a nationally recognized monumental sculptor living in the United States. She works in bronze, steel, cast stone, and other media and creates original sculpture by private, corporate, and institutional commission. Tucker-Frost is represented in the following major collections: The White House Oval Office (two terms, Reagan Administration), the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, The Smithsonian American History Museum, and The University of Texas at Austin. Her work has also been commissioned by the United States Department of the Treasury, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U. S. Bureau of Engraving and ...
Robert Scot
Robert Scot (1744 – November 1, 1823) was the first Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from its inception in 1793 until his death in 1823. He was succeeded by William Kneass. Early Life Scot was born in 1744; some sources state that he was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, while others give him as a native of England.[3] Scot was trained as a watchmaker in England, but learned engraving shortly after. Career He was known for his engraving of flat works, notably banknotes. After moving to the United States in 1777, he engraved plates for subsistence money, bills of exchange, and office ...
Victor D. Brenner
Victor David Brenner born as Viktoras Barnauskas (June 12, 1871 – April 5, 1924) was an Lithuanian-American sculptor, engraver, and medalist known primarily as the designer of the United States Lincoln Cent. Biography Brenner was born to Jewish parents in Šiauliai, Lithuania. His Lithuanian name at birth was Viktoras Barnauskas, but he changed the name to Victor David Brenner, because it was easier to get the American citizenship. He emigrated to the United States in 1890, living mostly in the New York City area. When Brenner arrived in America, he had little more to fall back upon than the muscle and ...
William Barber
William Barber (2 May 1807 – 31 August 1879) was the fifth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1869 until his death. He succeeded James B. Longacre in the position. Biography William Barber was born in London May 2, 1807. He learned his profession from his father, John Barber, and was employed on silver plate work, after his emigration to the United States. He resided in Boston for 10 years and was various employed in his line of work. His skill in this way came to the knowledge of Mr. Longacre, then Engraver of the Mint, and he secured ...
William Kneass
William Kneass (pronounced /ˈniːs/ "niece") (September 25, 1781 – August 27, 1840) was the second Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1824 until his death in 1840. Kneass designed the Classic Head motif which appeared on Quarter Eagle ($2.50) and Half Eagle ($5.00) gold pieces from 1834-1839. He also modified John Reich's Capped Bust design on the dime through half-dollar for the years 1829-1837. Additionally, Kneass utilized his modified Capped Bust for the rebirth of the half-dime in 1829. Early Life and Career William Kneass was born in September 1781 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Kneass served in the War of ...
