Who was John R. Sinnock and what Did He Do? Or How Did the Roosevelt Dime come about?

Born John R. Sinnock on July 8, 1888 in Raton, Colfax County, New Mexico.

Died on May 14, 1947 (aged 58) at Staten Island, Richmond County (Staten Island), New York.

He was cremated and his ashes were
scattered over New Mexico. He was educated at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art. He won the A.W. Mifflin Award for study abroad. He was well-traveled and his longtime confidante was Margaret Campbell, who inherited much of his artwork as well as his personal collection of materials related to the development of the Roosevelt Dime.

For ten years, Sinnock was an art instructor at both his alma mater and at Western Reserve University. He was appointed Assistant Engraver and Medallist at the Philadelphia Mint in 1917 before becoming the Chief Engraver in 1925.

John R. Sinnock was the designer of the Roosevelt Dime and Franklin Half Dollar, among other U.S. coins. His initials can be found at the base of the Roosevelt and Franklin busts. He also sculpted, although did not design, the second (and current) form of the Distinguished Service Cross, the Purple Heart medal, the Yangtze Service Medal, and various other medals and commemorative coins.

He was the 8th Chief Engraver of the US Mint, serving in this position from 1925 until his death in 1947. He is best remembered for his design of the Franklin Roosevelt Dime which has been in circulation since 1946 and the Franklin Half Dollar, which was first struck in 1948.

He was appointed to this position after the death of George T. Morgan in 1925. He was involved with the design and engraving of the 1918 Illinois Centennial Half Dollar, the 1926 Sesquicentennial of American coinage and a number of presidential inaugural medals. It was towards the end of his life that he is best remembered.

In 1942 he almost made his debut to circulation coins but not on the half dollars. Even though the Jefferson Nickel had only been out a few years the US Mint and Congress the metal shortage that occurred during WWII. One proposal was to eliminate the Nickel and replace it with a Half Dime.

The Half Dime was to be silver but they had not been struck since 1873. Mr. Sinnock produced sketches of the newly proposed Half Dime with an obverse of Ben Franklin. It was nearly identical to the halves that were made from 1948-1963.

We all know that never happened as the decision was made to reduce the composition of the Nickel for use in the war and to add 35% silver and 9% manganese from 1942 to 1945.

It needs to be noted that when the Benjamin Franklin Half Dollar was released in 1948 he was the first non president to be on a coin.

The minting of the Roosevelt Dime in 1946 led to a lot of controversy once it was released to the public. So much so, the US Mint was forced to release a statement as a false narrative. On the truncated neck of Roosevelt are the designer’s initials, JS.

Remember the year, 1946 and the war was just over. The false belief was that the initials JS did not stand for John Sinnock but rather stood for Joseph Stalin. This urban folk story coincided with the Second Red Scare. The rumor surfaced again after the release of the Sinnock designed Franklin half dollar in 1948, a year after his death. Before his death he added his middle initial on the Half Dollar.

Another controversy that surrounded the Roosevelt Dime following its public release was an allegation that Sinnock copied or borrowed the design of the President's profile from a bronze bas relief created by sculptor Selma H. Burke for the dime's obverse. Sinnock denied this claim and said that the obverse portrait of the President was a composite of two studies that he made from life in 1933 and 1934.

Sinnock also said that he consulted photographs of FDR and had the advice and criticism of two prominent sculptors who specialize in work in relief. Today it is now accepted that he was influenced by Burke's bas relief.

The Roosevelt Dime replaced the Winged Liberty or Mercury Dime. This was done not only to honor the President but to establish his relationship and support for the March of Dimes.

Here are the designs from these two coins, the Franklin Half Dollar and the Roosevelt Dime.

 

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I am no expert in dimes, but that Roosevelt dime just doesn't look like him at all!

 

Made a mistake?because that's a Mercury Dime not Mr Rosie .

 

Not sure what you are talking about. Sure looks like a Rosie to me. I can’t believe I did that. Thanks, I fixed it.

 

A fan of FDR's presidency, but not of his disme's. IMO, Weinman's design is art and Sinnock's schlock.
His Franklin Half was better, but still no Weinman 'Walker'.
J.T.

 

His initials adorn several US Mint medals as well as medals minted by the Medalic Art Company which are some of my favorites. His design of the Benjimin Franklin Medal was the reason for him being chosen to design the half dollar.

 

He was one of my favorite's behind Barber/Morgan Add in winman

 

It’s too bad he died young. Think of all the designs and ideas we missed out on.

 

I honestly LOVE the dime. I feel the reverse is nice in that it offers symbolism. This is something I feel is so terribly missing on modern coinage. When I was growing up cents had a building, nickle had another building, quarters was an eagle (yes, has symbolism but overused in my opinion), halves had a presidential seal, but the dime...you had to understand the artistry of what was being represented. Not only that, but it's the smallest denomination, but speaks so much. Again, I may be biased, but I give Mr. Sinnock a thumb's up.

 

When the idea for the Roosevelt Dime was proposed, Mint Director, Nellie Ross, had to fight like crazy to get Sinnock the assignment. Outside artists had be designing all of the regular issue coins since 1907, and there were strong forces in favor of continuing that policy.

As for the design, you really look at it and can get by its small size, the portrait does look like FDR. As for the esthetics, Lady Liberty has a much better chance of becoming the focal point of an attractive design than “an old dead president” or an 80 year old patriot.

 

Thanks for the write up. History is one of the reasons I collect. I must confess though, I don't care for either coin design, especially when compared with previous designs.

 

I do like the Ben Franklin for many different reasons. Not a top 5 but it makes it somewhere in my top 10.

 

Everyone knows that the JS on the Roosevelt dime really referred to Joseph Stalin, done by Communists who infiltrated the US mint back in the late 1040's.




[True story, that was the rumor at the time.]

 

Great to hear that. Thanks Frank.