I was searching thru the Stacks/Bowers Archives for information/images around the early commemoratives. I happened to see this and thought it would be interesting to post here. Lot Description: Positive Plaster of One Obverse and two Reverse Designs for the 1921 Peace Dollar Competition, 59.5 x 34 plaster rectangle bears three 9.2cm (7½-inch) completed circular coin designs by Chester Beach. The Philadelphia Americana Sale, Live Bidding began Sep 23, 2009, sold for $18,400. Obverse: Youthful Liberty in winged cap gazes upward and left in a circle of 48 six-pointed stars, 18 of which are bunched below her chin, 8 behind her neck. A pine cone on gnarled branch with two groups of pine needles is placed in left field with date 1921 below, LIBERTY above her head, IN GOD WE TRUST below. Reverse 1: Nude warrior on war horse facing left holds treaty of peace. Horse tramples a broken artillery wheel, shell and other weaponry, pumpkins and corn grow at right. Above is the American eagle before a rising sun. Legends UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ONE DOLLAR, E/ PLURIBUS/ UNUM in field. Recalls the famous Mexican Caballito Peso of 1910-1914. Reverse 2: A lightly draped nude male rises from his knees under a rising sun, the American eagle flying overhead holding laurels, broken chains at his feet. Legends are identical to the first design. The plaster rectangle shows some edge chips not affecting the three coin designs. The entire composition received a light coating of gold at some time in the remote past and the plaque shows some soiling from long storage, but all aspects of these designs are sharp and full. The appearance of these unknown and historic designs is a breakthrough in the history of 20th-century U.S. coinage. Previously identified Peace dollar designs by MacNeil and de Francisci are known only from photographs - no plaster models appear to exist of these designs. This makes the recently discovered Beach design models singularly important and in a class with the bronze MacNeil Standing Liberty quarter casts sold by Stack's last fall. It is unfortunate that the wealth of designs created for the 1921 Peace dollar, 1932 Washington quarter and 1938 Jefferson nickel competitions have been lost to numismatists. Stack's has handled plasters of two or three of the quarter and nickel designs in the last two decades and collector response was enthusiastic. The importance of this dramatic Peace dollar design work cannot be exaggerated. Neither the late Walter Breen nor Don Taxay knew of or published any of the rejected designs from other artists in the 1921 competition. This new discovery is all the more remarkable since Taxay had access to the Chester Beach archive while researching his Illustrated History of U.S. Commemorative Coinage (ARCO Publishing, 1967). Researcher Roger W. Burdette was able to locate de Francisci and MacNeil's designs for his "Renaissance of American Coinage 1916-1921" (Seneca Mill Press, 2005) but work of the other competing artists has, until now, remained unknown. The story of the Peace dollar usually begins with comments published in 1918 by Numismatist editor Frank Duffield and a paper by former ANA president Farran Zerbe read before the 1920 convention of the American Numismatic Association. Both advocated a commemorative coin hailing the return of peace, and Zerbe suggested the dollar would be most suitable. A committee headed by Judson Brenner and Congressman William A. Ashbrook met with Congressman Albert H. Vestal and his House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures in December 1920 to get the ball rolling. Vestal eventually sponsored a bill in the House on May 9, 1921 which would have authorized a Peace dollar, but it failed to pass. Further efforts in Congress also failed because the United States remained technically at war with Germany. It was not until November, with President Harding's November 14, 1920 proclamation of the War's end, that the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) stepped in at the request of Mint Director Raymond T. Baker to sponsor a limited competition. On Nov. 23, 1921 the CFA announced a design contest for the new silver dollar, inviting eight leading sculptors to submit designs: Robert Aitken, Chester Beach, Victor D. Brenner, Anthony de Francisci, John Flanagan, Henry Hering, Hermon MacNeil and Adolph A. Weinman. De Francisci won, and designs of the remaining sculptors were relegated to forgotten boxes and studio debris, with many likely discarded as rubbish. Chester Beach's original models for the Peace dollar evidently lay in a box in his old studio on his estate in rural Putnam County, N.Y. This quiet sanctuary might also have been the one thing that saved them from destruction over the past eighty years. However they managed to survive, Chester Beach's 1921 Peace dollar designs are emblematic of the impact of global war and America's hope for lasting peace—a hope too soon turned hollow. Provenance: From the studio collection of Chester Beach. Thanks to researcher Roger Burdette for his gracious assistance in the cataloging of the lot. Every effort has been made to ensure the integrity of the data but transcription and other errors may have occurred. Before using this information to make a buying or selling decision, confirm the data by consulting the actual sales catalog and prices realized. Stack’s Bowers Galleries disclaims any liability from the use of this information.
Thanks for posting this @leeg ! In a way, it's a good thing that none of these designs were ever accepted. We have enough problems with VAM's for "Scribbles" and I would be surprised if the dies for any of these designs would not fall apart rather quickly. Chris
You have to wonder if the other artists submitted entries. The contest was announced on Nov 23rd, and I believe the finished plasters had to be submitted by I believe Dec 10th. That is not much time to come up with a design, sculpt it in plaster, and then get the plaster to Washington DC. Especially when they were probably also already busy with other projects. I wonder if this is where Beach got his inspiration for the warrior on horseback design.
I'm not a fan of the design. Chester Beach did quite a few early commemoratives though in later years. The Captain Cook/Hawaiian, Hudson, Lexington-Concord and Monroe.
