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Message:: [QUOTE="Clinker, post: 1269652, member: 6229"]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):　<a href="http://www.coinpage.com/coin-image-1917.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.coinpage.com/coin-image-1917.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.coinpage.com/coin-image-1917.html</a>　Compare the eagle on the cent to the one on this Gobrecht Silver Dollar:　<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1836_Gobrecht_dollar.png" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1836_Gobrecht_dollar.png" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1836_Gobrecht_dollar.png</a>　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):　　<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_Barton_Longacre_-_Ambrotype_by_Isaac_Rehn,_1855.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_Barton_Longacre_-_Ambrotype_by_Isaac_Rehn,_1855.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_Barton_Longacre_-_Ambrotype_by_Isaac_Rehn,_1855.jpg</a>　　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):　　<a href="http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/archives/detail.html?id=ARCHIVES_20040227008" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/archives/detail.html?id=ARCHIVES_20040227008" rel="nofollow">http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/archives/detail.html?id=ARCHIVES_20040227008</a>　　Photo of a painting of Christian Gobrecht (Wikipedia photo):　　<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christian_Gobrecht.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christian_Gobrecht.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christian_Gobrecht.jpg</a>　　Photo of Thomas Sully (Wikipedia photo):　　<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Sully.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Sully.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Sully.jpg</a>　　Photo of Titian Peale (Wikipedia photo):　　<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Titian_Ramsay_Peale_2_1799-1885.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Titian_Ramsay_Peale_2_1799-1885.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Titian_Ramsay_Peale_2_1799-1885.jpg</a>　　The following are photos of Titian Ramsay Peale's Eagle Coin designs (courtesy of American Philosophical Society):　　<a href="http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=121" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=121" rel="nofollow">http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=121</a>　　<a href="http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=122" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=122" rel="nofollow">http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=122</a>　　<a href="http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=370" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=370" rel="nofollow">http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=370</a>　　<a href="http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=371" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=371" rel="nofollow">http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=371</a>　　<a href="http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=375" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=375" rel="nofollow">http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=375</a>　　<a href="http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=376" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=376" rel="nofollow">http://cdm.amphilsoc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nathist&CISOPTR=376</a>　And now you know...　Clinker[/QUOTE]

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