Science Presenting Steam & Electricity to Industry & Commerce This vignette was designed by Edwin H. Blashfield and engraved by Charles Schlecht and G.F.C.Smillie. It represents Science presenting Electricity,carrying a roll of wire wound into an electromagnet and Steam,holding a lever which controls the gear of an engine,to Commerce(on our left) and Industry.Depicting our country moving into the Industrial Age. It was originally intended to be used on the $50 note but to Blashfields dismay was instead used on the $2 note when the original $2 design, by Will H. Low, was rejected by BEP Chief Johnson. This presentation will focus only on Schlecht. Charles Schlecht was born in Stuttgart,Germany in 1843. In 1852, at the age of 9, he emigrated to the U.S. with his parents where they settled in Manhattan,N.Y.C. He began his apprenticeship at the American Bank Note Co. in 1859. He later received further instruction from Charles Burt and Alfred Jones,Two of the periods premier engravers. Sometime in 1864 he left ABNCo for a position at the Western Bank Note Co. I could not find the duration of his stay at Western but he later returned to ABNCo. He was employed there twice until 1893. In 1893 he joined the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Besides his work on currency he also engraved the plates for stamps and other documents. A newspaper article that I found in my research stated that his salary at the BEP was $6000 a year!! It said that this sum of money was more than congressmen made but less than he could make in the free market. Some information that I uncovered indicates that Schlecht became a naturalized citizen on March 15,1869 and about a year and a half later, October 11, 1870, married Clara Thieme in Manhattan. The marriage produced 6 children. I could not find any information for the years between 1900,when he left ABNCo. and his death in 1932, in NYC. Thank You,.................John PS: here is the link for the 1894 newspaper article that I mentioned.It appears in the last 2 columns. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059522/1894-09-08/ed-1/seq-3/
Great presentation John,the artistry of the Educational Series has yet to be matched.Your biography of the engravers was fantastic ! Well done and thanks for sharing this beautiful $2 Vignette with everyone.
John... Great job and excellent information on this vignett and it's engravers. From all the books I have read it seems as though New York was a hub for banknote engraving companies. From a standpoint of curiosity, do you know how he died? And if any of the 6 children followed his vocation? Can you all imagine living on 6k a year today! Great job as mentioned eariler...I really enjoyed reading this Presentation. :thumb: :thumb: RickieB
Thank You All !! I happened upon someone that posted on Ancestry.com and was able to get some info. Another little tidbit that I didn't put in was someone saying that they believe that Charles Schlecht had volunteered for the Union Army on Sep. 25,1862. They said that they had seen a copy of his enlistment papers and that he was a mapmaker and an orderly for Gen. Dix. The paper has him as being in Co.R, 9th NY Volunteers until he was transferred to Co. H,3rd Infantry as a private. It says he was Honorably discharged July 10,1865. The timeline just seems off to me. But this person said he was an engraver for ABNCo. and that's what got me wondering. It's gonna take more research. I've only heard from 1 of the ancestry posters and I'm waiting for him to get back to me.I'll post it as soon as I hear anything definite..............................Thanks Again..............................John
2009 presentators filled HI Rusty, I know RickyB has been keep track of the slots up until himself Dec.27 that takes care of 2009.I'll get back to you when he get back from traveling.That is very generous of you to step up and volunteer for any empty slot .If you go to the Social groups page http://www.cointalk.com/groups/security-engraving-vignettes/ & click see "all members " above the ones shown it will show 17 members ,That is incorrect we have more then 17,but it seems they came in through the PM forum & we counted them in,so if you don't see your name(avatar) among the 17 please go to the social groups from the PM page group & you will see our group "Security Engraving Vignettes" listed among others & join even though you already are a member,this way we will have a true count of members. Nov & Dec will be fun month in our group as I'm sure 2010 will be also. Thank you all for making this Social Group a success far beyond my wildest expectations. And lets give a shout out to RickieB who is really doing 90%+ of the work & making me look like I know what I'm doing in making this come to fruition from behind the scenes Sincerely, connor1 (Bob)
And do I ever miss our old friend John (Dready) what a nice note to present on.. Come on back John!! RickieB
