You know James B. Longacre designed the Flying Eagle Cent, but do you know where his idea came from? To jog your memory, take a good look at the eagle on the obverse of this 1858 Flying Eagle Cent (coinpage.com photo): http://www.coinpage.com/coin-image-1917.html Compare the eagle on the cent to the one on this Gobrecht Silver Dollar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1836_Gobrecht_dollar.png You may know some of James B. Longacre's other numismatic accomplishments: James Barton Longacre (August 11, 1794 – January 1, 1869) was an American engraver, who was the fourth Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint from 1844 until his death. He succeeded Christian Gobrecht as Chief Engraver upon Gobrecht's death. Longacre is probably best known for designing the Flying Eagle Cent and Indfian Head Cent, but was also responsible for the designs of the Shield Nickel, Two-Cent piece, silver and nickle Three-Cent pieces, One Dollar Gold, a $3 gold piece, and the first $20 (Double Eagle) gold piece. Here's an Ambrotype of James B. Longacre developed by Issac Rehn in 1855 (courtesy of Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_Barton_Longacre_-_Ambrotype_by_Isaac_Rehn,_1855.jpg Where did Gobrecht get his eagle design idea for the 1836-1838 silver Dollars? Before I answer the question, here's a little numismatic history; In 1835, Director of the U.S. Mint (Samuel Moore), resigned his post and Robert M. Patterson assumed the position. Shortly afterwards, Patterson began an attempt to redesign the nation's coinage. Following a stroke suffered by Chief Engraver William Kneass later that year, Christian Gobrecht was hired as an engraver. On August 1, Patterson wrote a letter to Philadelphia artist Thomas Sully laying out his plans for the dollar coin. He also asked Titian Peale to create a design for the coin. Sully created an obverse design depicting a seated representation of Liberty and Peale a reverse depicting a soaring bald eagle. After the designs were created and trials struck, production of the working dies began in September 1836. Photo of Robert M. Patterson, U.S. Mint Director (courtesy of University of Pennsylvania Archives): http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/archives/detail.html?id=ARCHIVES_20040227008 Photo of a painting of Christian Gobrecht (Wikipedia photo): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christian_Gobrecht.jpg Photo of Thomas Sully (Wikipedia photo): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Sully.jpg Photo of Titian Peale (Wikipedia photo): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Titian_Ramsay_Peale_2_1799-1885.jpg The following are photos of Titian Ramsay Peale's Eagle Coin designs (courtesy of American Philosophical Society): http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=121 http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=122 http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=370 http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=371 http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=375 http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=376 And now you know... Clinker
Hi Christian: I enjoyed doing this post and it's heartwarming to recieve such positive comments from you, mat and cookiemonster12... Clinker
Thanks for the great research effort Clinker. As they say, it's nice to put a face to a name and you've done that for us...and a lot more. Man, that Longacre guy was a scary looking dude! As always Clinker, I appreciate your interesting and informative threads. Bruce
HI BRandM... And I appreciate every comment whether positive or negative, especially positive ones (hehe). Clinker
