Illustrated history of the United States mint / with a complete description of American coinage, from the earliest period to the present time

by Unknown

THE MINT ENGRAVERS.

(Extract from Patterson Du Bois’ Biographical Sketch of “Our Mint Engravers.”)

Whatever may be said concerning the peculiar responsibilities of the officers of the Mint, who are occupied with the various operations of turning bullion into coin, it must be conceded that none of them occupies a position so dubious and, in some ways, so unenviable as the Engraver. In the general transactions of the Mint, he is the most retired—the most obscure—of its officers; yet his card is in every one’s pocket.

As to the types of coinage, the standards are as numerous as the eyes that water for them, and there is no piece but may be said to be outside of somebody’s tolerance. No other artist undergoes such an ordeal, for those who do not admire this painting or that statue are not compelled to hug and hoard it, much less to toil for its possession. The engraver who can, from his retired window, see the critical millions clutching for his little relievos, is in some sort a hero ex-officio, and it has been well suggested that we look briefly upon the uneventful lives of this worthy line of officers.

I. Robert Scot received his appointment as the first Engraver of the Mint, November 23, 1793. Information is wanting as to his nativity, but at the time of his appointment he seems to have been turning the down-hill of life. He is remembered as rather under size, and as an honorable and agreeable gentleman.

According to Loubat, Joseph Wright was “appointed first a draughtsman and die-sinker to the United States Mint, and made the dies of a medal, the bust on the obverse of which was considered to be the best medallic profile likeness of Washington.[21] He also made the medal voted by Congress to Major Lee.” Wright died in 1793.

II. William Kneass, second of the line, was born in Lancaster, Pa., September, 1781, and was appointed Engraver January 29, 1824. Mr. Kneass had been chiefly a plate engraver for book-work. There were some changes in the coinage during his term, notably in 1834 and 1838, for gold, and 1836, 1837, 1838, and 1840, for silver. But some of this work was done by Gobrecht as assistant. Kneass appears upon a pattern half dollar of 1838; but the silver dollar of 1836, as well as a pattern half of 1838, were the work of his assistant. Prior to his appointment he had an engraving office on Fourth above Chestnut street, Philadelphia, which was a well-known rendezvous for the leading wits and men of culture, for which Philadelphia was then eminent.

Mr. Kneass died in office, August 27, 1840. A good engraving of him hangs in the Assayer’s Office, inscribed “to his friend Adam Eckfeldt, Chief Coiner,”—who had been chiefly instrumental in securing his appointment.

III. Christian Gobrecht was appointed December 21, 1840, to fill the vacancy made by the death of Kneass. He was born in Hanover, York Co., Pa., December 23, 1785. In 1811 he went to Philadelphia, and became an engraver of bank notes, seals, calico printers’ rolls, bookbinders’ dies, etc. In 1836 he received an appointment as assistant to Mr. Kneass at the Mint, in which capacity he executed some important work. Among other similar performances he was highly commended for his Franklin Institute Medal.

Christian Gobrecht continued in office until his death, July 23, 1844.

IV. James B. Longacre was born August 11, 1794, in Delaware Co., Pa. He served an apprenticeship as a line engraver with George Murray, Philadelphia, and did some high class plate-work before he was free, in 1819. He was one of the originators of the National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans, the first volume of which appeared in 1834. Longacre drew from life and engraved many of the portraits entire.

Like his predecessors, he died in office—January 1, 1869. During his term Mr. Longacre was variously assisted by P. F. Cross, William Barber, Anthony C. Paquet, and William H. Key. Cross was born in Sheffield, England, served several years in the Mint here, and died in 1856. He engraved the obverse of the Ingraham medal. Paquet was born in Hamburg, 1814, emigrated 1848, served as assistant 1857 to 1864, died, 1882. He engraved the medals of Grant, Johnson, Buchanan, Everett, and the Life Saving Medals, with some others. Key is a native of Brooklyn, was appointed an assistant, 1864, and is still in the service. He executed the Kane Expedition and Archbishop Wood Medals. The changes and additions during the Longacre term were numerous and important, both as to alloys and denominations. The pattern pieces also record various experiments in the art of coining.

V. William Barber, fifth Engraver of the Mint, 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 this country.

He resided in Boston ten years, and was variously 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 his services as an assistant in 1865.

In January, 1869, upon the death of Mr. Longacre, he was appointed as his successor, and continued in that position for the remainder of his life. His death, which resulted from severe chills, brought on by bathing at the seashore, occurred in Philadelphia, August 31, 1879.

Besides much original work on pattern coins, he also produced over forty medals, public and private. The work on all of them was creditable, but we may specify those of Agassiz, Rittenhouse, and Henry, as very superior specimens of art. Mr. Barber was assisted by Mr. William H. Key, Mr. Charles E. Barber, and Mr. George T. Morgan.

VI. Charles E. Barber, sixth Engraver, is a son of the preceding, and was born in London in 1840. He was appointed an assistant in 1869, and became the official head by promotion in 1880, to fill the vacancy caused by his father’s death. The appointment was not unmerited. One of Mr. Barber’s latest cards to the public is the new five-cent piece—a successful venture in very low relief. But his handiwork is more or less visible in all the principal medals executed since 1869. Since his appointment as Chief Engraver, the work of his department has been enormously increased by the number of medal dies demanded for the War Department and from other Government sources. Mr. Barber’s best work is seen in the medals of Presidents Garfield, Arthur, Indian Peace, Army Marksmanship, and Great Seal. He is particularly happy in “catching a likeness.” The head of Superintendent Snowden is a rare specimen of medallic portraiture.[22]

Messrs. Key and Morgan are the Engraver’s assistants. The former has already received notice; the latter, Mr. George T. Morgan, was born in Birmingham, England, in 1845; he studied at the Art School there, and won a National Scholarship at the South Kensington, where he was a student two years. He is best known to the country by the so-called “Bland dollar,” which is his design and execution.

We have reason to congratulate both the Government and the people that the engraving service is well and judiciously furnished.