Engraver's Presentation by Scottishmoney

William McKinley on the $10 National 1902

GFC Smillie engraved the portrait of then recently assassinated William McKinley for the Series 1902 National $10:




In addition, "Liberty and Progress" on the reverse is his work:



A note near and dear to me, my grandpa was born in this city and lived there until WWII.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Series 1896 $5 Silver Certificate - Electricity Presenting Light to the World

Most banknote collectors would find favour with his most controversial engraving, that of "Electricity Presenting Light to the World" that was used on the Series 1896 $5 Silver Certificate:

But there are apocryphal stories about the fine ladies of Boston - pre CoinTalk.com era, that took severe exception to this rather suggestive design - perhaps jealously of the form was at work? The design was replaced in 1899 with the "Running Antelope" $5 which I will image later.
​

 

Series 1902-1908 $50 National - Senator John Sherman

Senator John Sherman would largely be forgotten to modern history, but for the fact that he was the main personage behind legislation that became the "Sherman Anti-Trust Act", but his earlier claim to fame for National Bank note collectors was that he was also instrumental in the formation of the National Banking System in 1863. He died in 1899, but was memorialised with this $50 portrait that was engraved by GFC Smillie:



The presence of his portrait on this particular note is significant, Lancaster OH was the hometown of Senator Sherman and his more well known brother William Tecumseh Sherman.

My favourite part of his work on this note is on the reverse - "Mechanics and Navigation"



Oh, "Navigation"!

 

Series 1896 $2 Silver Certificate - "Science Presenting Steam"

Another popular vignette from the Series 1896 SC collection:

 

"Industry" On the Series 661 $10 MPC

A vignette engraved back in 1896 was used on this MPC note during the Viet-Nam conflict on an issue of Military Payment Certificates:

 

"Meditation" on the Series 661 $5 MPC

This work is titled "Meditation", curiously it was used nearly 65 years after it was engraved:

GFC Smillie was known as Fred to his associates, in a little over a 50 year career he produced a prolific number of fine engravings, and has to be responsible for more designs on US currency than any other single engraver. He retired from the BEP in 1922 and returned to ABNCo where he worked until his demise in January 1924. He also engraved many portraits for foreign notes, and I will work on those in the future for this presentation.
​

 

A lovely work of art nice note as well LOL I also like the head of Liberty on the $10

 

Scottishmoney.....ever thought of compiling all these beauties into a book?

 

I'm so glad to discover the engraver of this work! I have a BEP vignette of it in my small collection of original proofs. Comparing them, however, I noticed the ships flanking my vignette are much different.

And another GFC Smillie piece arrived in the mail yesterday in the form of a souvenir card. This is the first in the 2011 Franklin Commemorative Series. The vignette in the lower left is "Misc. Die #7005 - Electric Power, seated male figure," engraved by GFC Smillie in 1907. the experimental die is pretty nice, too, though not by Smillie.

 

I think I found another GFC Smillie work among the vignettes I recently posted:
http://www.cointalk.com/t176715/

According to "The Engraver's Line," Smillie engraved a portrait of Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin at the BEP. I would assume that's this one...

 

I saw some vignettes on heritage and thought of you guys. I had no idea that they were so popular, or so expensive. It really gave me a new sense of awe for your collections. Thanks again for sharing these with us.