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39015017899348
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The Medal in America

EDITED BY

Alan M. Stahl

Coinage of the Americas Conference (J9)-

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

September 26-27, 1987

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Coinage of the Americas Conference

Proceedings No. 4

Contents

Preface vii

Contributors viii

ALAN M. STAHL (American Numismatic Society)

Introduction ix

EBENEZER Nil QUARCOOPOME (UCLA)

The Indian Peace Medal of King George I 1

GEORGE ]. FULD (San Mateo, CA) and

BARRY D. TAYMAN (Columbia, MD)

The Montreal and Happy While United

Indian Peace Medals 19

JAVIER GIMENO (Museo de la Fabrica Nacional

de Moneda y Timbre, Madrid)

The Spanish Medal in America 45

YVONNE KORSHAK (Adelphi University)

The Winds of Libertas:

Augustin Dupre's Libertas Americana 61

CORNELIUS VERMEULE (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Medallic and Marble Memorials:

Mint to Mausoleum in Victorian America 79

DOROTHY BUDD BARTLE (Newark Museum)

John Cotton Dana and

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the Ideal Museum Collection of Medals . .101

DONNA J. HASSLER (Metropolitan Museum of Art,

New York)

The Medals of John Flanagan 119

MICHAEL RICHMAN (American University,

Washington, DC)

The Medals of Daniel Chester French 135

CYNTHIA (PRATT) KENNEDY SAM (Cambridge, MA)

Bela Lyon Pratt (1867-1917):

Medals, Medallions and Coins 157

AUGUST L. FREUNDLICH (University of South Florida)

The Coins and Medals of James Earle Fraser 183

ELAINE J. LEOTTI (Oceanside, CA)

The American Woman Medalist, A Critical Survey 201

JOSEPH VEACH NOBLE (Maplewood, NT)

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The Society of Medalists 223

Preface

Just as medals are closely connected to their historical context,

this volume and the conference which it records can best be situated

in terms of related events and activities. For the American

Numismatic Society, this is the fourth of its annual conferences

devoted to an exploration of a specific aspect of American

numismatics; the literal interpretation of Coinage of the Americas

Conference was breached by the 1985 symposium on paper money.

From a broader perspective this marks another step in the Society's

long-term involvement with the medal, an involvement which can

be noted in the many references in the papers which follow to the

1910 International Exhibition of Contemporary Medals, the series

of medals commissioned by the Society, its prestigious J. Sanford

Saltus Award, and its unrivaled collection of American medals.

In a national context, the Conference reflects a growing interest

in the American medal by art historians, artists, and numismatists.

The culmination of this has been the Twenty-First Congress and Ex-

position of the Federation Internationale de la Medaille, held in Col-

orado Springs, September 11-15, 1987. This is the first time that

this international event, comprising lectures, workshops, and an ex-

hibition of contemporary medals, has been held outside of Europe.

Our conference was timed to offer visiting scholars and artists an

historical complement to the mainly contemporary focus of the

FIDEM Congress. We are pleased and honored that many of the Con-

gress participants were able to join us on this occasion.

We are most grateful to Eric P. Newman (St. Louis), Lewis I. Sharp

(The Metropolitan Musuem of Art), and Cory Gillilland (National

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Numismatic Collection, SI) for chairing the three sessions of the

symposium.

For the first time, this Coinage of the Americas Conference is ac-

companied by a documented, scholarly exhibition, "The Beaux-Arts

Medal in America." Barbara A. Baxter, a doctoral candidate at Har-

vard University and alumna of the ANS Summer Seminar, is guest

curator for the exhibition, on display in the Society's East Exhibit

Hall from September 26, 1987 through April 16, 1988. Her well-

illustrated interpretive catalogue is a valuable complement to many

of the papers published here, as the beautifully mounted exhibition

was an inspirational context for the conference itself.

Contributors

The Society is grateful to the following contributors who helped

make this conference possible:

John W. Adams

Dorothy Budd Battle

Mr. and Mrs. Aubrey Bebee

Paul Z. Bedoukian

Paul Bosco

Joseph Cassar

Janis Conner

John P. Donoghue

Marie-Louise DuPont

Kenneth L. Edlow

Kenneth C. Fischer

Harry W. Fowler

Jay M. Galst

David L. Ganz

Cory Gillilland

Ira Goldberg

Larry Goldberg

Mark Goldberg

E. Adina Gordon

Robert A. La Rocca

Allen F. Lovejoy

Margaret Manship

Richard Margolis

John E. Marquesee

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Isodore Mindel

William Bain Murray

Eric P. Newman

R. Henry Norweb, Jr.

Jules Reiver

Joel Rosenkrantz

Maryvonne Rosse

P. Scott Rubin

Mrs. Marion Russell

Stephen K. Scher

Robert Schonwalter

D.A. Schwartz

Raphael Solomon

Barry D. Tayman

Anthony Terranova

Patricia L. Verani

Erich Wronker

American Medallic Sculpture Association

American Numismatic Association

Coin and Currency Institute of North America

Coinage Magazine

Long Beach Numismatic and Philatelic Exposition, Inc.,

Samuel L. Lopresti, President

Malcolm & Hayes, Inc., Howard Wasserman, President

Metropolitan New York Numismatic Convention

Presidential Coin & Antique Co., Inc., H. Joseph Levine, President

Sharon R. and David L. Ganz Endowment

Sidney W. Smith and Sons, Arthur Smith, President

Stack's Numismatics

Introduction

There are several themes which run through the papers in this

volume, the most striking of which is the importance of context

to an understanding of the medal. Since its inception in the

Renaissance by Pisanello, the medal has always had a rather clearly

defined formal definitionit is a piece of relief sculpture, usually

round, of suitable dimensions for holding in the hand. Its two faces

are intended to relate to each other artistically and symbolically;

the obverse usually presents a visual representation of the subject

while the reverse bears a symbolic representation. There have been,

of course, medals which have departed from this definition, but sur-

prisingly few. Often such apparent departures have been brought

about by curators and scholars who have, for the sake of variety

or context, included such objects as plaques and coins in shows and

studies of medals. Artists, on the other hand, have usually taken

delight in the rigorous formality of the medium.

Despite its very specific definition, the medal is all but totally

defined by its milieu. Perhaps more than any other art form besides

architecture, the medal is tightly linked to the social context from

which it proceeds. The simple truth is that no one really knows what

to do with a medal once it has been made. Indian chiefs may have

worn them around their necks, but the rest of us have to decide

whether to use them as paperweights, search for a display stand for

them, or slide them into a drawer with other significant but non-

functional mementos. But this seeming lack of function hasn't kept

institutions from sponsoring the production of medals, artists from

designing them, or the public from treasuring them.

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In the papers collected here, we can see a change in who has in-

itiated the production of medals and the reasons for their creation.

In the colonial period, the medal was chiefly a vehicle for a Euro-

pean power, be it Spain, France, or England, to advertize its

dominance among its American subjects. The medal figured above

x Introduction

all as a mark of initiation; it was at the time of coronation of a new

ruler or the entry into alliance of Indian tribes that medals most fre-

quently were distributed. The portrait of the ruler stood for the

power of his armies, an identification that had been promulgated

by Louis XIV a century earlier.

The Libertas Americana medal was also consciously designed to

mark a new beginning. Benjamin Franklin and his associates were

actively searching for symbolism to represent a totally new nation.

To avoid contemporary royal imagery, they borrowed symbols and

quotations from the Roman Republican tradition as it was

understood in their day, not without running into the problems con-

nected with slavery that had plagued so many efforts of the new

republic.

In the nineteenth century, Indian Peace Medals and Presidential

Inaugurations served as the impetus for many of the official medals,

but increasingly other institutions and even individuals sought the

prestige that came from an image propagated in gold, silver or

bronze. In this context, the identification that exists between medals

and coins is significant. Though the earliest Renaissance medals were

created by artists and craftsmen with no connection to coinage,

many medals of the early modern period were created by the same

artists who designed coins and were even struck at the same mints.

Moreover, the format of the medal closely parallels that of the coin,

reinforcing the identification of the two media. In a medal, the presi-

dent of an American corporation or society could receive the

numismatic recognition offered to foreign rulers and, after 1909,

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to the most illustrious of past national presidents.

The great international expositions of the turn of this century were

a vital forum for introducing the public to art in general and especial-

ly to recent developments in other countries. The one work of art

that the average fair-goer could bring home as a physical souvenir

was a medal. No country was more identified with the early univer-

sal expositions than France, and its art came to dominate American

fairs as well; the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893

is recognized as a critical point in the dissemination of French in-

fluence, under the rubric of Beaux-Arts style, into American art of

all media. The French schools themselves served as the training

ground for the most important of American medalists: the sculptors

Saint-Gaudens, French, Flanagan and Brenner stand out in this

regard. The name of Saint-Gaudens constantly recurs in discussion

of later American Beaux-Arts medalists; through his teachings at the

Art Students League and his training of many apprentices and

assistants, he transmitted his approach to the medal to a whole

Introduction xi

generation of medalists. American artists were quick to put their

own mark on the medium, through the use of indigenous subjects,

but also through a distinctive vigor and looseness of modeling and

the adoption of specifically Renaissance formats.

Among medalists who became active in the first years of this cen-

tury, the medal also became a convenient medium for personal

enterprise. Janet Scudder set up a studio in Paris to make small por-

trait plaquettes of visiting Americans; framed like paintings, these

deluxe souvenirs of the Grand Tour were easily portable and could

be distributed in multiple copies. Bela Pratt made extra copies of

a commissioned portrait as a speculative venture. Theodore Spicer-

Simson produced a whole series of medallions of famous authors

as a commercial venture.

The twentieth century saw the entrance of another party into the

process of the creation of medalsthe collector. Already in the early

years of the century, John Cotton Dana had sponsored the produc-

tion of medals for the benefit of a museum and its constitutents.

It was with such groups as the Circle of Friends of the Medallion

and its successor, the Society of Medalists, that the collectors

themselves took the lead in sponsoring medallic creation. But, as

with so many aspects of the American medal, such enterprises had

their origins in the early days of the medium, when Italian

Renaissance princes and Nuremburg burghers sponsored the crea-

tion of medals to fill their collections.

The American medal has moved in its own directions, adopting

imagery and styles befitting its role as a colony, then republic,

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removed geographically from other homes of the medal. But apart

from its specific geographical and political context, the medal in

America has shared the social, economic, and artistic contexts of

medals since the Renaissance and has made its own contributions

to this shared tradition.

Alan M. Stahl

Conference Chair

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The Indian Peace Medal

of King George I

Ebenezer Nii Quarcoopome

Coinage of the Americas Conference

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

The American Numismatic Society, 1988

2 Ebenezer Nit Quarcoopome

American colonial records suggest that until the middle of the eigh-

teenth century, peace treaties and land sale agreements between

European colonists and American Indian groups were symbolized

by the exchange of traditional Indian beaded belts (wampums), or

animal skins.1 The awarding of medals to American Indians was

therefore never a standard practice in Britain's bid to retain posses-

sion of its American colonies or in her colonial rivalry with France.

Greatly valued as official symbols of recognition by Indians,

however, medals soon became inextricable from English dealings

with Indians. Because of their ideological importance, the U.S.

government also early adopted medal distribution as an aspect of

its Indian policy. American scholars recognize the value of medals

as important documents of U.S. history, yet far more research has

been done on the presidential medal series than on its colonial

antecedents. The standard treatments by Belden and Prucha

systematically exclude these colonial medals.2

This essay focuses on the numismatic problems of an early English

medal series believed to have been awarded to American Indian

Chiefs by King George I. The earliest reference to this medal ap-

pears in a book by Charles Miner titled The History of Wyoming

(a small town in Pennsylvania) in which he states: "Fortune was

unexpectedly propitious to our search, for we found a medal bear-

ing on one side the impress of King George the First, dated 1714

(the year he commenced his reign) on the other an Indian chief."3

The first in a series of colonial medals, this "peace medal" is not

only the earliest of its kind that bears direct iconographic references

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(on the reverse) to the native American, it is also the most pro-

blematic. This series is probably the only bronze medal distributed

before the Admiral Vernon medals of 1740, and unlike later medals

we know nothing about its origins, the authority behind its issue,

its authorship, date, and context of its distrbution. My paper uses

archaeological, documentary and numismatic evidence to address

these issues.

The corpus of George I medals comprises pieces made from

bronze or copper with an undetermined alloy. A catalogue of all

known examples is appended. Some examples have traces of silver-

ing on them.4 They average about 17 g in weight, 39 mm in

diameter, and 1.5 to 2.2 mm in thickness. Some had loop at-

tachments and, where a loop has broken off, a hole was made for

a suspension ring. Extremely rare in American and Canadian col-

lections, only 19 pieces were available for analysis during my

research at the ANS in summer 1985. Most of these, plus the nine

pieces that were in the Bowers and Merena 26-28 March 1987 sale

George I Indian Peace Medal

appear to have been recovered from burials, as they all show signs

of corrosion and pitting on their surfaces.5

My study has identified three obverse and six reverse types.

Obverse Type I has a laureate bust of George I portrayed in low relief

(fig. 1). The legend GEORGE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN is spread

out with the G of GEORGE starting from beneath the right shoulder.

This obverse is combined with two reverses, A and B, and they are

exclusive to it. Reverse A shows a figure presumed to be that of an

American Indian in frontal view and leaning on a bow in his left

hand while holding an arrow with his right. On top of a hill to the

far left is a tree and to the right of the tree, a deer. Although similar

to A, reverse B depicts the Indian in profile and in motion. This type

is the smallest in size of the whole group, measuring about 37 mm

in diameter, and no more than 1.3 mm thick.

Type II medals follow a similar design format as Type I, but they

are larger, approximately 39 mm in diameter (fig. 2). The bust of

George I on the obverse is executed in much higher relief, the tran-

sitions in facial features are smoother, and the armor and hair more

detailed. The legend is close together with the G of GEORGE and

N of BRITAIN starting and ending at the tips of the monarch's

shoulders. Two reverses, C and D, appear on medals of this group.

In both cases the Indian is shown in the act of shooting an arrow

at the stag. Reverse C has 5 branches in the tree, and a high slope

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to the hill, while reverse D has six branches and a low slope.

Ebenezer Nii Quarcoopome

Type HI closely resembles Type II on the obverse, but the bust

is larger, and the relief higher (fig. 3). The shoulders are broader

and the floral motif on the chest appears to be the reversal of that

which appears on Type II. Two distinct reverses, E and F, are

associated with this type. Similar to C and D, E and F can be dif-

ferentiated by the fact that there are only four branches on the tree,

and that the gradient of the slopes is higher. The only apparent dif-

ference between E and F is that the second branch at 1 o'clock ap-

pears at the node between the first and third branches in E, and on

the first branch in F.

This analysis has identified two broad style groups. Type I

represents a distinct group not only because of its crude obverse

bust, but also because of its two reverses, A and B, which are

iconographically different from those of Types II and III. A

chronological sequence based on style is not possible, but this

evidence suggests that the two sets of medals may be the work of

two workshops or artists.

The Type I medals are unsigned, but those of Types II and III are

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distinguished by the artist's initials, T.C., on the truncation of the

George I Indian Peace Medal

obverse bust. This leads to the question of attribution, which has

aroused considerable speculation. None of the well known English

medalists or engravers of the early eighteenth century bears the in-

itials T.C., but the initials I.C., by contrast, are well known as those

used by Johann Croker, whose medals and coins rank among the

finest in English history.6 Many American numismatists have at-

tributed the medals to Johann Croker, following Betts's erroneous

identification of the initials as I.C.7 Close examination under

magnification, however, proves the initials to be T.C. American

numismatists have obviously been frustrated by this apparent con-

tradiction as the entry in the Sotheby (Toronto) 1968 sale catalogue

illustrates: "George I, copper medal by John Crocker, laureate bust

to right, in armour, signed TC on truncation, GEORGE KING OF

GREAT BRITIAN""

Johann Croker was the Chief Engraver of the English Royal Mint

from 1705 to 1741. One of the most prominent medalists of the

early eighteenth century, he executed almost all the medals of Queen

Anne and George I, and also remained influential in the Royal Mint

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through much of the reign of George II.

6 Ebenezer Nii Quarcoopome

It would be, then, quite reasonable to speculate that the "official"

medal of George I for Indian Chiefs would have been designed by

him. And such attribution seems even more convincing consider-

ing intriguing stylistic connections that exist between the bronze

medals that bear the initials TC and Croker's bust for the George

I coronation medal of 1714. Yet, this evidence raises more ques-

tions than answers: Are the obverses on the bronze medals copies

from an original by Croker? If so, is TC a misspelling of Croker's

initials? The busts may have been copied from an original of Croker,

but the initials TC are definitely not his. Published illustrations of

Croker's medals indicate that he was consistent in placing his IC

beneath the bust, rather than on the truncation of the neck.9

The authorship of Type I medals is equally speculative. Of the

three types, only medals in Type I are distinguished by a six-pointed

star or mullet located directly beneath the obverse bust. This seems

to confirm the separate status of the Type I medals. A mullet is a

common heraldic device and tells us nothing concrete about the

medal. It thus poses some questions: Who owns the star, is it an

artist's personal symbol and if so, who is he? Is it a mint mark or

simply a control mark to distinguish this issue from earlier or later

issues?

Two names in English numismatic sources may be our only clue

to the identity of the artist; George Hautsch and George Vestner who

both worked at the English Royal Mint in the early eighteenth cen-

tury as engravers and medalists used the mullet as personal

emblems.10 Hautsch was the first to use the six-pointed star on his

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medals from the 1690s until his death in 1712, two years before

the accession of George I. Attribution of the piece to Vestner is also

doubtful on stylistic grounds, since both he and Hautsch are credited

with much finer and more professionally executed medals than this

mediocre design. And even when both used the star, neither pier-

ced his star at the center as in these examples.

The search for the origins of the medals seems as problematic as

finding their author or authors. Records of English colonies in North

AmericaNew York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island,

Maryland, and Virginiado not mention any royal presents of an

Indian Peace Medal during the reign of George I.The most com-

prehensive source on British medals Medallic Illustrations, describes

only a medalet, listed as a "Scottish Archery Ticket" from the same

period with similar iconographic features, but that identification

seems tentative.11 Neither Betts nor Whiting cite primary sources

to support their claims that George I issued this medal series for

American Indian Chiefs at his accession to the throne.12

George I Indian Peace Medal 7

The paucity of written data compels us to turn to the numismatic

evidence for further clues. The use of an English rather than a Latin

legend, for instance, represents a significent departure from the ac-

cepted practice of the English Royal Mint. Graham Dyer, Librarian

and Curator of Medals at the Royal Mint, notes that Croker also

favored Latin inscriptions. He thus endorses my speculation that this

feature may be "an indication that the medals are probably unof-

ficial issues with no connection to the Royal Mint."13

That these bronze medals were private issues seems convincing

on close analysis of the pieces themselves. As the medals average

1.5 mm in thickness, it would have been difficult to strike up such

high relief busts using any simple minting devices available during

the early 1720s. Even with the more advanced screw press, multi-

ple blows may have had to be used since most of the medals (par-

ticularly Types II and III) reveal signs of modeling, unevenness, and

in one case cracking, on their surfaces. It appears that the pieces

were struck in a screw presss without benefit of a collar. Some let-

ters of the legend have indentations (fish-tailing) beneath the lower

serifs which is the sign of the outward flow of displaced metal as

the flan comes under the pressure of the dies.

Although significant, the fact that a screw press was used for the

operation does not locate the manufacturing site of the pieces. Screw

presses were widely used in Britain during the early eighteenth cen-

tury. In London, Bristol and Birmingham, they were used for the

private manufacture of buttons, toys, and allegedly, for

counterfeiting coins.14 By contrast, we have no definite record of

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a screw press in any of the American Colonies. Massachusetts ap-

parently owned a mechanical device that was used for the minting

of its own coins about 1652. However, by 1684 the operation of

the Massachusetts mint had been halted by the Crown. A decade

later, Massachussetts officials appealed for a lift of the royal ban,

an indication that the device was probably still operational.15

Comparison of these bronze medals with some contemporary

American Colonial coins and medals, including the Pine Tree shill-

ing of Massachusetts (1652-1684), the Rosa Americana two pence

(1723), the Higley three pence (1737) and the Admiral Vernon

medals (1739-41), however, reveals no stylistic connections. Official

medals of the Royal Mint either before or during George I's reign

also exhibit no affinities. The letter punches used for the legends

on these bronze medals are significantly different from the official

British and American coins or medals. For example, not only do

we find a characteristic E punch on Types II and III , but also the

G punches of these types have peculiar humps on their horizontal

8 Ebenezer Nii Quarcoopome

bars. The numismatic evidence thus suggests an origin other than

an American colony for these two issues. If they originated in Great

Britain, they were probably produced in a private mint.

Private mint records are in general not readily available and the

lack of published contemporary sources from Birmingham, for in-

stance, makes a full reconstruction of this medal's history difficult.

However, a letter from James Logan, Secretary of the Province of

Pennsylvania, to John Askew of London, dated 26 June 1726, may

hold the key to unravelling the history of these bronze medals, "...

I shall observe here that being out of medals it will be necessary

to bespeak of Jos. Harmer of Birmingham 4 or 5 gross of the same

I had of him at 36 sh. p. Gr. or perhaps Samuel Wilson in Crooked

Lane will supply them at the same price but they must be of the best

sort with an impression on both sides...."16

The size of the George I medal is almost equivalent to the English

crown, a silver coin. Since the crown was worth five shillings, no

more than four silver medals could have been obtained for each

English pound. If Logan paid as little as 36 shillings for each gross

(144 pieces), then his medals could only have been made of an in-

ferior metal such as copper, which was far less expensive than silver,

but more difficult to work.17 It can also be inferred from Logan's

letter that his medals may have been produced in more than one

workshop, located in Birmingham and London.18 This point is par-

ticularly significant given the marked stylistic differences that exist

between medals of Type I and those of Types II and III. However,

the consistencies in the iconography of their reverses suggest some

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historical link between the pieces, possibly the same patron for all

the types.

Questions regarding the authority behind the medals, when and

why they were issued, can be answered by examining their specific

historical context. Even though we do not have absolute dates for

these medals, it is safe to assume that those that bear the effigy of

George I were issued during his reign. Later issues are designated

by the name George II in the legend. Thus the issue and distribu-

tion of the bronze medals seems to have begun sometime during

the reign of George I and continued through much of that of George

II.

The archaeological finds have mostly come from western and cen-

tral Pennsylvania and western New York. Outside of this nucleus,

the distribution of the medals is sporadic.19 This geographical area

roughly coincides with the lands occupied by the Iroquois and

Tuscarora Indians in the eighteenth century.

The American historian Herbert Osgood observed that "the wars

George I Indian Peace Medal 9

of the seventeenth century were sporadic and mainly between Euro-

pean settlers and Indians. The wars of the eighteenth century in con-

trast were intercolonial, that is, between the British and the French.

The Indians were only drawn into these wars because of alliances

they had with the individual colonies."20 The crucial role played

by the Iroquois and Tuscarora Indians in this respect emerges in New

York and Pennsylvania colonial records.21 By the end of the seven-

teenth century autonomous Iroquois groupsSeneca, Cayuga,

Oneida, Onondaga and Maquasehad formed a federation known

as the "Five Nations." They were later joined by the Tuscarora bring-

ing their number to six. For many years they were considered the

most powerful Indian alliance in the eastern United States, and the

"Six Nations" were most valuable military allies to European col-

onists in North America.

Logan asserted that military alliances with these Indian nations

provided the buffer and their "only security against the French in

case of a rupture."22 Perhaps of equal value was the ability of the

Indian communities to mobilize large numbers of warriors on short

notice to defend allied colonies. The geographical and political im-

portance of the Six Nations would thus explain why the English col-

onies made consistent efforts to protect and reaffirm their old

treaties with the tribal chiefs.

From 1693 through 1735, however, the French made significant

inroads into these alliances by offering presents to various Indian

chiefs from the king of France. Fears of French attempts to lure In-

dians of the Six Nations were echoed in a letter of 11 June 1715

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from Capt. John Riggs to Capt. Nicholson which was later transmit-

ted to Secretary William Popple. "Last week an express came down

from our frontiers, that the Govr. of Canada is very busy, tempting

our 5 nations to come over to them, there being great presents sent

them from the King of France..."23 At least three silver medals

dated to 1693, 1706 and 1710 were included in the presents to In-

dian chiefs.24 Many more were distributed on subsequent

occasions.25

Comparable presents were not forthcoming from the British

despite persistent requests from the colonial authorities to the Home

Government. The desperation of the colonists was quite evident in

several letters sent from New York and Pennsylvania to the Lords

of Trade in Britain. These letters repeatedly emphasized the need

to counter growing French influence with royal presents to the In-

dians.26 New York Governor Hunter wrote on 29 September 1715,

"I must also intreat your lordships to intercede with his majesty that

the Ordinary presents to the Indians upon the accession of the

10 Ebenezer Nit Quarcoopome

several Princes to the throne may be speedily transmitted. They are

wanted and will be of great service at this time...."27

Although the precise nature of the royal presents was never reveal-

ed, it is on record that both King Charles II and Queen Anne

distributed medals to some Indian chiefs at their accession. George

I did not follow this precedent. Indeed, throughout the reign of

George I and the greater part of his successor's, no official English

medals were awarded to Indians.

At the conference between Pensylvania officials and represen-

tatives of the Six Nations at Albany, 7 September 1721, Governor

William Keith offered one gold medal (probably an example of

George I's coronation medal) and other presents to Indian chiefs.28

It seems that between 1714 and 1752, belts and gorgets were used

extensively as symbols of alliance with Britain rather than

medals.29 The only official British medal on record that was

distributed to Indian chiefs was a silver medal of George II which

was awarded by Governor Sir Denvers Osborne of New York to Iro-

quois chiefs who attended a conference at Albany in 1752.3 That

the 36 year period between 1714 and 1750 represented a period

of great intercolonial conflict would seem to be sufficient justifica-

tion for a private medal. Thus it is not surprising that in 1757, 1764,

and 1766, the Quakers of Pennsylvania commissioned a series of

private medals for distribution to Indian chiefs.

The historical significance of the bronze medals under study,

however, lies not so much in the interaction between the Iroquois

and the European colonies as a whole, but rather in the precise role

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played by James Logan.

Mr. Logan was a well-known scholar and Pennsylvania statesman.

He had come to the colony in the company of William Penn in 1699

at the age of 25. When Penn returned to England in 1701, Logan

became Chief of the Proprietary Representatives of the Perms. From

1701 on, he was agent for all land sales, a position held until 1732

when William Penn's son Thomas arrived in Pennsylvania. Even

though Logan is said to have relinquished all his public offices, in-

cluding that of Secretary of the Province, in 1714 at the accession

of George I, he remained liason for Indian relations for at least two

more decades and also served a term as mayor of Philadelphia in

1723.31

Of all these diverse roles, Logan's involvement in the fur trade

of Pennsylvania offers the most insight into the meaning and

significance of the medals.52 After surviving a political filibuster in

1705, Logan returned from England "armed with documents" to

transact business for the proprietary on a scale hitherto unheard of.

George I Indian Peace Medal 11

But in 1708, management of the province of Pennsylvania passed

from William Penn to a trusteeship representing Penn's creditors.

Logan's political influence took a downward turn. He left public

office in 1714 for private business, specializing in the fur trade. In

partnership with London merchant John Askew, he bought a stock

of goods to run a wholesale business suited for the Indian trade.33

By 1720 Logan owned one of the largest wholesale establishments

on the east coast. He maintained two warehouses in Philadelphia,

on Fishborne's Wharf and on Second Street, from which he sup-

plied smaller traders with sundry foreign goods imported through

Askew.34 The most prominent and probably richest of the fur

traders, Logan extended credit to both Indians and small traders.

A description of a consignment of goods taken by one Henry Smith,

a fur trader, that appeared in his journal, included medals intended

for Indians.35 How many of these medals were already in circula-

tion by 1726, which Indians received them, and on what occasions,

may never be known. But Logan states quite explicity that "the In-

dian Goods must goe only to the traders to receive skin"36 and

thus his motives for distributing the medals cannot be

misinterperted. Further, since we have no official requests for medals

in Pennsylvania records, or from any of the other English Colonies

between 1714 and 1750, it seems almost certain that the medals

were acquired for Logan's own personal benefit.

In fact, the two motives were interwined. In addition to their

military support role, the Six Nations were respected as important

commercial partners. Because of the Indian Wars of Virginia and

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the Carolinas, which began in 1712 and lasted for nearly five years,

Pennsylvania merchants, including Logan, made huge trade gains.

With the wars over in 1717, competition increased as the fur trade

in those southern regions was revived. Logan noted in a letter to

Mrs. Hannah Penn "the tightening competition he was facing from

Maryland and especially the price war that was being waged by New

York traders, not to mention constant French obstructions of free

trade."37 In his letters to Askew, Logan emphasized that Indian

trade goods must be of high quality. As he had stated in an earlier

letter, the fur trade was his brainchild and only source of income,

thus he would work toward maintaining his edge over other com-

petitors. Economic necessity thus may have influenced the issue and

distribution of Logan's medals more than political expediency and,

with more than 700 medals, he undoubtedly bought a lot of

loyalty.38

12 Ebenezer Nii Quarcoopome

APPENDIX: CATALOGUE OF KNOWN EXAMPLES

No. Dies Wt.(g) Dia.(mm) Source

IA 10.7

37

Adams Coll., K.2. Kagin's (San Fran-

cisco), 29-30 Mar. 1985 (Western

Reserve Historical Society), 999.

14

38

Wayte Raymond, 16 Nov. 1925 (W.W.

Wilson), 925-

IA

37

M.A. Jamieson, Medals Awarded to

North American Indian Chiefs,

1714-1922 (London, 1936), p. 5, fig- 3

IB 12.3

37.5

Bowers and Merena, 26-28 Mar. 1987,

1138 (looped).

IB 11.4

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37

Bowers and Merena, 26-28 Mar. 1987,

1139 (looped).

IB 11.5

37

ANS, purchased 1918 ("Presented to

the great-grandfather of Dark Cloud of

the Abenaki Tribe, St. Francis Reserva-

tion, Quebec.") Jamieson, p. 6, fig. 4.

IIA 18.4

40

Bowers and Merena, 26-28 Mar. 1987,

1131 (looped).

IIC 14.8

40

ANS, gift of M.M. Greenwood

IIC 15.8

39.5

ANS (looped).

10

IID

40

Stacks, 29-31 Mar. 1973, 114.

11

IID

40

Jamieson, p. 4, fig. 1.

12

IID 14.8

39

ANS, gift of the Norweb Coll., S.H.

Chapman, 9 Dec. 1920 (W. H. Hunter),

44. Jamieson, p. 5, fig- 2.

13

IID

39.5

Sotheby (Toronto), 30 Oct. 1968, 105-

14

IID 17.3

George I Indian Peace Medal 13

No. Dies Wt.(g) Dia.(mm) Source

19

IIIE 20.7

41.5

Bowers and Merena, 26-28 Mar. 1987,

1133 (looped).

20

IIIE 17.5

40

Adams Coll., 192.

21

IIIE

40.5

SI

22

IIIE

41

Presidential, 6 Dec. 1986 (Paul Patter-

son), 261.

23

IIIF 21.3

41

ANS

24

IIIF 21.2

41

25

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Adams Coll., X.

IIIF 14.9

40.5

Adams Coll., 193.

26

IIIF

41.5

Archive Publique Canada, 1601.

27

IIIF 18.3

Bowers and Merena, 26-28 Mar. 1987,

1132 (looped).

28

IIIF 18.4

40.5

Bowers and Merena, 26-28 Mar. 1987,

1134 (looped).

29

IIIF 19.0

41

Bowers and Merena, 26-28 Mar. 1987,

1137 (looped).

30

IIIF

41

Stacks, 29-31 Mar. 1973, 113.

31

IIIF

42

SI

"The reverse is too corroded to permit die identification.

b Possibly type II; pencil tracing after Miner's line drawing of a piece that has not

been seen since.

c Oval, 40 x 37 mm.

1 I would like to thank John W. Adams; JohnJ. Ford, Jr.; Cory Gillilland, National

Numismatic Collection, SI; Cornelius Vermeule, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and

Norman Willis, National Medal Collection, Public Archives of Canada. I am deeply

indebted to Dr. Alan M. Stahl of the ANS and Dr. Richard Doty for the numerous

ways in which they guided my research at the ANS during the summer of 1985.

2 Bauman L. Belden, Indian Peace Medals Issued in the United States (New York,

1927); Francis P. Prucha, Indian Peace Medals in American History (Madison, 1971).

14 Ebenezer Nii Quarcoopome

4 Stacks, 29-31 Mar. 1973, 114, described as silver-plated brass. Extant examples

of this medal show no date; nor do we find three stars or an Indian wearing a feather,

as Miner depicts in his line drawing. In "Medals in Wisconsin Collections," The

Numismatist 1923, p. 16, there is a description of a specimen in the Wisconsin State

Historical Museum with stars arranged identical to those shown in Miner's drawing

one on top of the tree and three above the Indian? The drawings in Victor Morin,

"Les medailles decernees aux indiens americains," Memoires de la Sociiti Royale

du Canada, 1915, fig. 7, and William H. Carter, Metallic Ornaments of the North

American Indians (London, 1973), appear to have been based on Miner's. The medals

depicted may be classified as Types II or III. It may be that the small stars are invisi-

ble on examined specimens because of corrosion or wear.

'See the Appendix for a catalogue of the known specimens. No medals seem to

have been recovered or observed in a ethnographic context. Most of the archaeological

finds are surface collections, and a few appear to be the result of illicit excavation.

6 Leonard Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, 1 (London, 1904), pp.

472-79, which lists no Peace medals among 13 for the reign of George I.

7 C. Wyllys Betts, American Colonial History Illustrated by Contemporary

Medals (1894; reprint ed. Winnipeg, 1964), p. 83, n. 165.

8 Sotheby (Toronto), 30 Oct. 1968, 105.

9 A corpus of works signed by Croker appears in Medallic Illustrations of the

History of Great Britain and Ireland, ed. Hawkins, Franks and Grueber (1904; reprint

ed. London, 1977). Engravers of the Royal Mint in the eighteenth century were allow-

ed to lend their dies out for private use. Fears that the practice facilitated counterfeiting

of currency were expressed by Sir Isaac Newton, Master of the Mint from 1699-1727,

in a proposal designed to curb the right of mint engravers to work on private medals:

Rupert A. Hall and Laura Tilling, eds., The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, 2 (Cam-

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bridge, 1977), pp. 405, 413, 422, 446. The identity of the artist with the initials T.C.

is open to speculation. Several candidates may be listed: Thomas Callowhill men-

tioned in an Askew letter of 1704 in William Trent's Correspondence (unpublished

MS in Historical Society of Pennsylvania); or Thomas Carter, a notorious counterfeiter

who is mentioned in one of Newton's letters (Hall and Tilling, p. 405) are just two

possibilities.

10 Forrer (above, n. 6), 2 (1904), pp. 441-42, and 6 (1916), pp. 252-57.

11 Medallic Illustrations (above, n. 9) 2, pi. CXLIX, 23, p. 485. The "Scottish Ar-

chery Ticket" has the effigy of King George II and is smaller that the pieces in this

corpus. Neither H. A. Grueber, Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum Depart-

ment of Coins and Medals (London, 1881), nor George Tancred, Historical Record

of Medals and Honorary Distinctions (London, 1891), the two other major sources

on British medals, list this medal at all for either George I or George II. Morin (above,

n. 4), p. 293, thinks that the first George I medal for Indians may have been in com-

memoration of the Peace of Utrecht signed in 1713. He describes two varieties of

George I medals, one with the legend "George King of Great Britain," and the other

"Georgius Mag. Br. Fr. Et. Hib. Rex." The latter is obviously the coronation medal,

and the first may be a reference to our bronze medals.

12 Betts (above, n. 7), pp. 82-83; J. R. S. Whiting, Commemorative Medals. A

George I Indian Peace Medal 15

Medallic History of Britain from Tudor Times to the Present Day (Trowbridge and

London, 1972), p. 117.

13 Personal communication Dyer to Quarcoopome, July 1985.

14 See Newton's correspondence in Hall and Tilling (above, n. 9), letter n. 1347,

pp. 413, 414 and 422.

15 This was implied in a copy of a Royal Proclamation of Queen Anne now in the

ANS Library. It was some time between 1715 and 1717 that New York made an ap-

peal for a Royal Patent to mint copper coins: John R. Broadhead, eel., Documents

Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, 5 (Albany, 1856), 462.

16 Quoted in Harrold E. Gillingham, Indian Ornaments Made by Philadelphia

Silversmiths (New York, 1936), pp. 6-7. There is no citation given for the letter and

the context in which the request for the medals was made by Logan is not explained.

17 Because of the difficulty of working copper, copper-based coinage of the early

eigtheenth century was subcontracted to private mints in Bristol and elsewhere in

Britain by the Royal Mint. The practice continued at least until the end of the 1720s.

See Newton's correspondence in Hall and Tilling (above, n. 9), letters 1403, 1431,

and p. 433.

18 Crooked Lane was demolished to make way for King William Street in 1831.

A detailed account of the street's history is given in Bryant Lillywhite, London Cof-

fee Houses (London, 1963), p. 669. The Lane, however, was probably better known

for its blacksmiths quarter which is often praised in English poetry. See, for instance,

Middleton's The Witch of Edmonton (1. 173) where the clown is asked to fetch bells:

"Double bells: Crooked Lane ye shall have them straight in Crooked lane."

19 The note "A New Discovery Group of the First American Indian Peace Medals,''

Kagin's, 29 Mar. 1985 (Western Reserve Historical Society), pp. 1-3, also centers the

distribution of this type in the mid-Atlantic region. According to Horace E. Hayden,

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"Account of the Various Silver and Copper Medals Presented to the American In-

dians by the Sovereigns of England, France, and Spain, from 1600 to 1800," Pro-

ceedings and Collections of the Wyoming Historical Society 2, 2 (1886), pp. 217-38,

two of these medals were found at Point Pleasant, VA, on the spot where a battle

was fought in 1774. The accession information on the piece in the ANS collection

indicates that it came from the St. Francis Reservation. The Canadian Public Archive

specimen was probably collected from Canada. These two pieces may have been

transported there by Iroquois and other Indians who were enticed by the French

to cross over to Canadian territory to be mobilized against English settlements: C.

Hale Sipe, The Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania (Butler, 1927). The nine medals in

the Bowers & Merena sale of 26-28 Mar. 1987, were found in Natrona (about 20

miles west of Pittsburgh) in about 1915.

20 Herbert Osgood, The American Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1 (New

York, 1924), p. 60.

21 Acccording to W. Beauchamp, "Metallic Ornaments of the New York Indians,"

Bulletin of the New York State Museum 8,41 (1901), p. 379, "the southern Indians

being of less account got no medals for a long time."

16 Ebenezer Nit Quarcoopome

22 J. J. Kelly, Pennsylvania, the Colonial Years 1681-1776 (New York, 1980), p.

186.

23 Broadhead (above, n. 15), 4, pp. 414-15.

24 Henry Nocq, Medailles offertes par Louis XIV et Louis XV," Gazette Numismati-

que Franyaise 11 (1907), p. 163.

25 Morin, (above, n. 4), pp. 279-89; R. W. McLachland, "The Canadian 'Indian

Chiefs' Medal," AJN29 (1894), pp. 59-60. Several medals were given to various In-

dian chiefs at a council held at Quebec in 1742, between the Marquis de Beauhar-

nois, Governor-General of New France and representatives of the Sioux and other

tribes, see "Medals in Wisconsin Collections" (above, n. 4), p. 15.

26 Broadhead (above, n. 15), 4, 413, 456.

27 Broadhead (above, n. 15), 4, 436.

28 Broadhead (above, n. 15), 4, 677-78.

29 Treaties between English colonies and Indian groups published by Benjamin

Franklin contain detailed descriptions of presents given to Indians at such meetings.

Colonial records indicate that until probably 1750, traditional Indian wampums (bead-

ed belts) constituted the primary symbols that were exchanged at the signing of peace

treaties and negotiations for land sales between Indians and English settlers. Animal

skins, particularly those of the beaver and deer were also employed, see Frank Speck,

The Penn Wampum Belts, Leaflets of the American Indian Heye Foundation 4 (New

York, 1925).

30 E. B. O'Callaghan, Historical Magazine, Ser. 1, 9 (1865), p. 285; Gillingham

(above, n. 16). William Trent's Journal for 10-24-59 describes another conference

with Indians at Pitts, "Willi [Stanwix] sent for them, made each of the chiefs a pre-

sent of a silver medal, after drinking several healths the General took his leave of

them."

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31 Joseph Johnson, "The State of the Colonies, 1732: A Quaker Imperialist View

of the British Colonies in America," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and

Biography 60 (1936), pp. 111-130, provides an interesting biography of James Logan,

summarizing his career as politician, statesman and scholar in Pennsylvania. See also

Sipe (above, n. 19), pp. 84ff, and Albright G. Zimmerman, "The Indian Trade of Col-

onial Pennsylvania" (Ph.D. diss., University of Delaware, 1966). Kelly (above, n. 22),

p. 160, says Logan was the mayor of Philadelphia in 1723 but he does not identify

his source of information, or how long Logan was in office.

32 Logan probably benefited from his privileged position as Chief of the proprietary

representatives of the Perms and from his personal relationship with William Penn.

It is also noteworthy that for some time, part of the profits from the fur trade went

to the proprietary representative in London. A Pennsylvania statute of 1701 stated

that "no persons are permitted to trade with those Indians but by license from Mr.

Penn." Protests were lodged by various individuals with Colonel Quarey, principal

agent for the Pennsylvania Company against this law, see Zimmerman (above, n. 31),

pp. 2, 55, 67, 78.

George I Indian Peace Medal 17

33 John Askew apparently had business dealings with other prominent Penn-

sylvania merchants including Isaac Norris and Jonathan Dickinson. He was also listed

among partners of William Trent, one of the richest traders of Philadelphia, see Zim-

merman (above, n. 31), pp. 67, 79-80. In a letter to one Mr. Eagles, dated 31 Oc-

tober 1724, Logan explained that Askew lived in Ayloffe Street in Goodman's fields,

but was to be met with daily at the Pennsylvania Coffee House in London.

34 Zimmerman (above, n. 31), pp. 86, 116.

35 Shippen family papers (Historical Society of Pennsylvania XXVII, 26) cited by

Zimmerman (above, n. 31).

36 Zimmerman (above, n. 31), p. 80.

37 Zimmerman (above, n. 31), pp. 90-91, 93, 104; see also Osgood (above, n. 20),

p. 85.

38 I am still working on the iconography of these medals. I have therefore decid-

ed to omit an in-depth discussion of it. It is, however, significant that the hunting

scene is given an emblematic status. The imagery not only reflects Logan's economic

interests as a fur trader, but also may be an attempt to appeal to Indian sensibilities.

According to J. C. H. King, Thunderbird and Lightning: Indian Life in Northeastern

America 1600-1900 (London, 1982), pp. Iff., the deer had a central position in the

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Iroquois economy of the seventeenth and eighteenth century.

The Montreal and Happy While

United Indian Peace Medals

George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

Coinage of the Americas Conference

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

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The American Numismatic Society, 1988

20 George J. Fulcl and Barry D. Tayman

Of the various Indian Peace Medals issued in North America under

British rule, perhaps the rarest and most intriguing are the Happy

While United (HWU) medals, dated 1764, 1766, and 1780, and un-

dated. Without exception they are exceedingly rare. Most are housed

in museums and are relatively unknown to today's collectors.1

Before considering the Happy While United medals, however,

some discussion is needed of the Montreal medal, a related undated

type issued in 1761, some three years before the earliest dated HWU

medal. Like the Happy While United medals, the Montreal medals

were commissioned by Sir William Johnson, produced by D.C.

Fueter, and issued to North American Indians with allegiance to the

British Crown.

The Montreal Medal

Robert W. McLachlan, in his article on Canadian Indians, described

the Montreal medal as follows: "Obv. MONTREAL A view of for-

tified town, showing five church spires, with water in front of which

there is an island; to the right on a fort is a flag displaying the cross

of St. George; Ex. DCF in a small oval. Edge corded. Rev. Plain (for

the inscription); size 45 m. [sic] This medal appears to be cast. The

specimen in my collection is inscribed: 'TKAHONWAGHSE ONON-

DAGOS.' The DCF' is no doubt the silversmith's stamp."2

The identity of DCF was unknown when the hallmark was first

mentioned in the literature by Schoolcraft in 1851.3 C. Wyllys Bett

in his 1894 work on colonial medals hypothesized that the DCF on

the Montreal medal meant D.C. Fecit or D.C. made it.4 Dr. William

Beauchamp did not say who DCF was in 1903,5 nor did McLachlan

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unravel the mystery in 1905.6 Although partial attribution of both

the Montreal and HWU medals was made by Frederick W. Hodge

in 1907, DCF remained unidentified.7 However, in 1909,

McLachlan reported the identity of DCF to be Daniel Christian

Fueter, crediting John H. Buck, then curator of the Department of

Metal Work in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for

the identification.8 This identification was followed by Chapman,9

Gillingham10 and Jamieson.11

Daniel Christian Fueter was a Swiss silversmith who emigrated

to New York by way of London in 1754 and later settled in

Bethlehem, PA, returning to Switzerland in 1769.u He entered his

mark at the guildhall in London on 8 December 1753. After arriv-

ing in New York, he ran a classified ad in the New York Gazette

of 27 May 1754, which read: "Daniel Fueter, Gold and Silver-Smith.

Lately arrived in the Snow Irene, Capt. Garrison from London, liv-

Montreal and Happy While United Medals 21

ing back of Mr. Hendrick Van De Waters, Gun-Smith, near the Brew-

House of the late Harmanus Rutgers, deceased, makes all Sorts of

Gold and Silver Work, after the newest and neatest Fashion; he also

gilds Silver and Metal, and refines Gold and Silver after the best Man-

ner, and makes Essays on all sorts of Metal and Oar; all at a reasonable

Rate. N. B. He buys old Gold and Silver Lace, and Gold-Smith's

Sweeps."

Fueter was an accomplished silversmith well known for the

beautiful pitchers, vases and decorative items he produced. An ex-

emplary specimen, a splendid silver basket wrought by Fueter in

1756, is illustrated in the Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts

(Boston), October 1954, pp. 87-88.

While it was Fueter who designed and produced the Montreal

medals, the man responsible for having them commissioned was Sir

William Johnson. Johnson held a number of offices in the Colonial

government which put him in a position of authority with respect

to government relations with the Indian nations. In 1744 Sir William

was appointed commissioner of the Six Nations by New York Gover-

nor DeWitt Clinton and in 1746 he was made commissioner for In-

dian affairs. In February 1748 he became commander of all forces

in defense of the New York State frontiers. In 1755 General Brad-

dock made him sole superintendent of the affairs of the Six United

Nations, with the rank of Major General. As such, he was the leader

of the expedition of the battle of Lake George, where he soundly

defeated Baron Dieskaua major turning point of the French and

Indian War.13 Sir William also played a major role in the battle of

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Montreal; where the defeat of the French was instrumental in bring-

ing an end to the war.

McLachlan, in his article on Canadian Indian medals, was the first

to mention Sir Willian Johnson's involvement with the Montreal

medal. In that article, McLachlan quotes excerpts from a private

diary kept by Johnson and correctly concludes that the medal was

issued as a reward for those Indians who took part in the Montreal

campaign.14 In Arthur Woodward's 1933 article on the Montreal

medal, he quotes liberally from the Sir William Johnson Papers giv-

ing further evidence that the medals were awarded to England's In-

dian allies at Montreal and providing a wealth of information about

how the Montreal medals came into existence.15

According to a letter quoted in Woodward's article, Sir William

was ordered by General Amherst in 1760 to enlist the cooperation

of as many Indians as possible to join the British in defeating the

French at Montreal."' As the fight progressed, some of the Indian

ranks joined the French side, but a sufficient number remained loyal

22 George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

to the British to effect the fall of Montreal in September of 1760.

According to Woodward, "Apparently the idea of a medal to be

issued to the faithful Indian allies of the Montreal expedition, as a

token of appreciation of their loyal conduct, was born on the field

of battle, probably within the walls of the conquered city and was

fathered no doubt by the sagacious Sir William, who knew such a

gesture would tend to cement tighter the bonds of good will and

friendship between the Indians and the British Crown.17 Wood-

ward concludes that Sir William made a list of the Indians who were

to be honored with the medals (a list that Amherst refers to in a

letter to Johnson, see below n. 21) and that Amherst took the list

to New York with the intention of having the medals made

immediately.18

In February of the next year, Amherst wrote to Sir William to

report on the progress of the medals. This letter contains the first

authentic, contemporary description of the medals. Amherst wrote,

"As an Encouragement to Such as behaved well during the last Cam-

paign, I have, as I mentioned to You, I would, Ordered a Number

of Silver Medals to be struck, representing the City of Montreal with

a blank Reverse, On Each of which is to be Engraven the Name of

One of those Indians, who, by wearing the same as a badge of

Distinction, will, by Virtue thereof have free Egress and Regress to

any of His Majesty's Forts, Posts & Garrisons, so long as they Con-

tinue true to his Interests: they are not quite finished Yet, when they

are, I shall send them to you, to make a Distribution of them."19

Fueter had been commissioned to do the work, which he com-

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pleted in April 1761. The medals were not struck but were cast in

an engraved mold. The cost of the Montreal medals is mentioned

in a letter written to William Pitt by General Amherst on May 4,

1761. "I have sent one hundred and Eighty two medals to Sr Wm

Johnson, to be delivered to as many Indians as accompanyed the

Army to Montreal, it will please the Indians much, and I trust will

have a good Effect, the Expense is not great, the whole amounting

to 74/6/4 Sterling."20

A total of 182 silver medals were produced and according to

Amherst, one gold specimen was made especially for Johnson. On

17 April 1761, Amherst wrote to Johnson: "I send you by Capt. Min-

nett 182 Silver medals for that Number of Indians who were under

your Command On Our Arrival in Montreal. Each medal has a Name

inscribed on it, taken Exactly from the List which you gave me in

Canada according to the Enclosed Copy....I Enclose One of these

medals In Gold, which I beg your Acceptance of; and that you will

permit me to say, no one has so good a right to it as yourself; for

Montreal and Happy While United Medals

23

I am convinced those Indians that did Accompany the Army were

Induced to it from the proper Care, and good Conduct you shewed

towards them."21 This is the only mention in the literature of a

gold medal for Sir William, and although noted by Woodward, it

has not been acknowledged in the numismatic literature. Very

possibly this unique specimen has been destroyed or is lying in some

obscure place awaiting discovery.

The Montreal medals are generally thought to be cast only in

silver, but the engraved Canadian Archives specimen (Ml) is in

pewter. Although Woodward was of the opinion that any pewter

medal was probably a forgery, he apparently did not examine the

actual medal. The present writers are of the opinion that it is

genuine.

Montreal Medals: Catalogue and Commentary

Ml (Betts 433). Edward Cogan, 19-21 May 1873 (Isaac F. Wood),

1169. Pewter, 45mm. Reverse engraved at top TANKALKEL, and

in center in Roman letters MOHICKANS. Described as in good con-

dition, composition as "some white hard substance and has a ring

attached to it." See Sandham, no. 75 (where the inscription in the

center is MOHIGRANS.22 The same medal is illustrated in

Beauchamp with the correct spelling MOHIGRANS.23 The medal is

also illustrated in the Canadian Numismatic Journal with the nota-

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Ml. Courtesy of the Public Archives, Ottawa

24

George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

tion "presented to the Chief of the Mohawks for assistance in the

British capture of Montreal."24

In discussing this specimen, Betts25 describes the reverse as

TANK ALKEL at the top; MOHICKANS in the field. Additionally,

he noted that the description was taken from McLachlan's paper

where the name of the recipient is given as TANKILKEL, and that

of the tribe as MOHIGIANS. Betts goes on to note that these are er-

rors and that the name is spelled MOHIGRANS in Sandham. He notes

that this particular specimen is in pewter, which has been confirm-

ed to us by Hillel Kaslove.

Edward Cogan, 29-30 June 1876, 631. On reselling this specimen,

Cogan included the proper description of the reverse engraving and

noted the composition as "type metal."

McLachlan's original article on Canadian numismatics was first

published in 1881.26 In a subsequent article published in 1884,27

McLachlan noted his recent purchase of the Bushnell specimen of

the Montreal medal (M2) and noted that it was his first opportunity

to handle an original. In this article he noted that the proper reverse

description of the medal sold in the 1876 Cogan sale was the one

in Sandham.

M2. Courtesy of the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society of Montreal

M2 (Betts 431) S.H. & H. Chapman, 20-24 June 1882 (Bushnell),

286. Silver, 45mm. "DCF Rev. Engraved at top TAKAHON

NAGHOE, in center ONONDAGOS, in lower part subsequently

engraved 'Taken from an Indian Chief in American War 1761.' Silver

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with Loop." Surprisingly this medal was not plated in the catalogue.

Montreal and Happy While United Medals 25

As indicated above, McLachlan purchased this medal and describ-

ed it in his 1884 article.28 He described the reverse as "Reverse

plain; 'ONONDAGOS' is engraved in capitals across the field, and

the name 'Tekahonwaghse' in script at the top." We agree with this

reading of the name as against that given earlier by Chapman.

McLachlan again described this medal in an article published in 1899,

where he identified the five churches portrayed on the obverse.29

Betts correctly listed and illustrated this specimen with a line draw-

ing. It was sold to the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society by

McLachlan and is plated in that Society's journal in 1932.30

M3 (Betts 432). Ben G. Green, 13 Sept. 1912 (Morris, pt. 2), 483

(not illus). Silver. 44mm. Reverse engraved MAD OGHK/

MOHIKANS. Then S. H. Chapman, 9-10 Dec. 1920 (W.H. Hunter),

54, pi. 4 (obv. only). Then Glendinning (London), 15-19June 1925

(W. Phillips), 844, illus. (obv. only).

M4. As illustrated in Beauchamp

M4. Sotheby (London), 10-14 May 1926 (John Murray & A.B. Mur-

ray), 557. Composition not listed, but it brought 70. We believe

it is in silver. Reverse engraved ARUNTES, MOHAWKS. This medal

is illustrated by a line drawing in Beauchamp.31

We are thus able to account for four of the Montreal medals which

have appeared in auctions. Beauchamp illustrates, with line draw-

ings, two additional medals with reverse inscribed CAN EIYA in

script at the top and ONONDAGOS in capitals; and SON GOSE at

the top in script and MOHIGRANS in capitals.32 Victor Morin in

1915 agreed that there were only six of these medals known.33 As

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late as 1955, in an unpublished letter sent to J. Douglas Ferguson,

Morin continued to assert that only six of the Montreal medals were

26 George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

known. However, we note that Jamieson lists a seventh reverse,

unillustrated, inscribed KOSKHAHHO.34 John Ford, Jr., owns two

Montreal medals, one in silver and one in white metal. Due to his

recent move, they are not available for study at the present time.

The Happy While United Medal

The Montreal medals and the Happy While United medals are

closely related. As with the Montreal medal, it was Johnson who

commissioned the HWU medals and Fueter who made them, but

the two issues served somewhat different purposes. The Montreal

medals were issued to those Indian chiefs who fought loyally with

the British forces against the French at the battle of Montreal. The

HWU medals, on the other hand, were used to attract as allies those

Indians who still remained loyal to the French after the British had

won the war and to reaffirm the loyalty of the Indians who had

fought with the British during the war.

Woodward writes that in the spring of 1764, Johnson issued a

general treaty invitation to those tribesmen who had been French

allies in an effort to win their allegiance to the British. In July of

the next year, a convocation of French Indians met with Johnson

at Fort Niagara.35 Johnson knew that the leaders would be wear-

ing French medals and wrote to General Thomas Gage on June 1

to ask for English medals to have ready to replace the French

ones.36 Gage found that there would be insufficient time to have

a special medal made since the medals used for such official confir-

mations were usually ordered from England. As the need for the

medals was pressing, Gage proposed to use the dies that had been

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recently prepared for medals for some unspecified southern

tribesmen.37 Woodward quotes a letter Gage wrote to Johnson on

June 10, "I am afraid the Medals can't be got ready by the Time you

desire.I have been these two Months getting a Dye made for Medals

to send to the Southward. I believe it's now finished. The Reverse

is not the King's Arms but represents an Englishman and an Indian

in Friendly Conversation. I suppose these would do for you as well

as the old Pattern. I imagine when the Dye is once made that it can't

take much time to run the Medals. They are larger than yours

[presumably the Montreal medal], & I will see what can be done

for you immediately."38 Although there is no evidence that any

Happy While United medals were ever issued to southern tribes,

this letter from Gage certainly allows that possibility. Furthermore,

in 1875 a Happy While United medal was found in a grave in

Tennessee.39

Montreal and Happy While United Medals 27

Of the delivery of the medals, Woodward writes, "The medals

were finished and sent to Johnson on the 26th of the month. Gage

wrote at that time saying: 'Mr. Watkins, a volunteer setting out from

hence to join the army under the command of Col. Bradstreet. I

profit of that occasion to send you the 60 medals I mentioned in

my letter of the 24th Inst. to have had struck off agreeable to your

desire. The Mould was made for the Medals for the Indians in Florida

[we infer from the use of the word "Mould"that the pieces were

cast from the die and not struck] &c. & tho' not quite as large again

as that you sent to me I fancy it will answer well enough. I can not

say much for the workmanship of them nevertheless they are finish-

ed by the best hand that could be found here'."40 In a subsequent

letter to Johnson on July 15, Gage wrote, "Mr. Watkins an Ensign

of the 30th carried the Medals from hence some Time ago, and

should have nearly joined you by this Time."41

As best we can determine, the first reference in the literature to

the Happy While United medals was by Schoolcraft in his history

of Indian tribes in 1851,42 wherein he described a HWU medal

housed at the Bibliotheque Imperiale in Paris. Alexandre Vattemare

cited the Schoolcraft reference in an 1861 publication43 which

precipitated a note by William Sumner Appleton in his review of

Vattemare.44 Betts, in his 1894 history of colonial medals, listed

four HWU medals, all dated 1764 (Betts 509, 510, 511 and 513).45

HWU Medals: Catalogue and Commentary

In general, the obverses of the HWU medals show a bust of the

King of England surrounded by the inscription GEORGIUS III D.G.M.

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BRI. FRA. ET. HIB. REX. F.D. The reverses, allowing for individual

differences, are as described by Betts,"HAPPY WHILE UNITED. In

exergue, 1764. In the field N/YORK and DCF counterstamped. Land-

scape, representing in the foreground an officer and at the right an

Indian, seated on a rustic chair on the bank of a river. On the right

a house on a rocky point, at the junction of the river with ocean,

and three ships, under full sail, at sea. The Indian holds in his left

hand a pipe. With his right hand he grasps the hand of the officer

who is seated on his left. At his right a tree, at the left a mountain

range. Silver. Cast. Size 46, with loop for suspension, formed of a

pipe and an eagle's wing."46

The known HWU medals bear the dates 1764, 1766, 1780, or no

date. The obverse legend is the same on all the medals while the

portrait differs slightly from medal to medal. The reverses, believ-

ed to depict New York harbor, exhibit a few slight differences.

28

George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

Notably, the rarer large-size medals (72-75 mm) show three ships;

the small-size medals show two. All are cast and chased in silver

with a loop formed from the likeness of a pipe and eagle's wing,

except for one small-size specimen which is composed of two shells

joined at the rim (HWU 12). The problem of striking a medal,

whether 55 or 75 mm, with the pipe and eagle wing suspension un-

doubtedly accounts for the lack of any fully die-struck medals of

this series. Of all the medals we were able to examine

photographically, three do not bear the N:/YORK and DCF

hallmarks.

Undated

HWU 1 (Betts 511?). ANS, purchased 1941 from Thomas A. Hen-

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dricks. Silver, cast, 54 mm.

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Montreal and Happy While United Medals

29

HWU3. Courtesy of the

Massachusetts Historical Society

30 George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

HWU 2 (Bctts 511?). Sotheby (London), 10-14 May 1926 (Col. John

Murray and Major A.B. Murray), 559. "2.2 inches" (55.9 mm).

Regrettably only the obverse is plated and the cataloger did not in-

dicate that it was undated. He created that impression, however,

by reference to the illustration in Tancred which is undated.47 For

clarification, we note that the wrong Betts number is listed. Thus

any conclusions of precisely what this medal was, must at this time

remain speculative.

Betts 511 is an undated small-size medal classified as a separate

type by Betts because of the missing date. His description of this

piece is perplexing for two reasons. First he notes that there are no

ships on the reverse, but this is undoubtedly an error since the ANS

specimen considered to be the Betts 511 type (HWU1) has two ships.

Secondly, Betts dates 511 as 1764 but notes that the exergue is plain

and refers to the description in Tancred, p. 49, of a similar undated

medal. The line drawing in Tancred shows a series of lines across

the exergue indicating perhaps that the date might have been remov-

ed either from the piece itself or from the die. Probably these "no

date" pieces were produced for presentation in a different year.

1764

HWU3 (Betts 510). Massachusetts Historical Society, ex. Appleton.

Silver, cast, 75 mm. Strobridge, 12-14 Dec. 1872 (Furman), 101.

We believe that Betts 509 and 510 (cast, chased in silver, 75 mm

in diameter) are two examples of the same type rather than two dif-

ferent types. Betts 509 is the piece described by Vattemare and noted

by Betts to be in the Bibliotheque Nationale.48 Betts 510 is listed

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in AJN7, p.90, as belonging to the Appleton Collection, now MHS.

We believe Betts's information had to have been sketchy because

of his separate classification of these two specimens and because

Betts 510 is the only HWU medal that he notes to be counterstamped

on the reverse with N/YORK and DCF.

HWU4 (Betts 513). S.H. Chapman, 9-10 Dec. 1920 (W.H. Hunter),

71. Silver, cast and chased, 55 mm; reverse stamped in upper field

with two punchmarks: N/YORK and DCF. Found in 1864 seven

miles from Berlin, Ontario. Listed by Chapman as an example of

Betts 510. Then Glendining, 15-19 June 1925 (W. Phillips), 842.

Jamieson (above, n. 11), p. 15, 12. This medal apparently now

resides in the British Museum.49 It is illustrated here from a cast in

the ANS.

HWU 5 (Betts 513). National Numismatic Collection, SI. Silver,

cast, 54 mm.

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Montreal and Happy While United Medals

31

32

George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

HWU 6 (Betts 513). ANS. Silver, cast, 55 mm (loop broken off).

HWU 7 (Betts 513). Norweb Collection, purchased as duplicate

from ANS, 1967. Silver, cast, 55 mm. Illustrated from a cast in the

ANS.

HWU 8 (Betts 513). Sotheby (Toronto), 30 Oct. 1968 (Reford), 108.

Silver, cast, traces of gilding on obverse (suspension loop missing),

55 mm. This medal is the only 1764 that we are aware of that does

not have the reverse punchmarks N:/YORK and DCF. For clarifica-

tion we note that it was incorrectly listed as Betts 511, a variety

with no date on the reverse.

HWU 9 (Betts not). B. Max Mehl, 2 May 1922 (James Ten Eyck),

2439. Silver, cast and chased, 87 mm. Reverse stamped N/YORK

and DCF. Not illustrated and Mehl does not identify the "great In-

dian chief who owned this medal. Identified as Betts 511 which

matches the obverse description but Betts notes that this is a 1764

medal in size 34 (55 mm) and that it is illustrated in Tancred (above,

n. 46), p. 49, an illustration that is not dated. Mehl noted that he

knew "of only one other, of slightly different variety, having been

offered at auction, but of this particular variety, I can find no record

of another specimen." Presumably he meant the 1764 Hunter

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specimen sold by Chapman (HWU 4).

Montreal and Happy While United Medals

33

HWU 10 (Betts ?). B. Max Mehl, 23 June 1936 (Morse, Faelton and

Todd), 1876. Silver, 87 mm. Noted by Mehl as Betts 511, reverse

stamped N:/YORK and DCF, dated 1764. Described as probably the

finest known specimen. Unfortunately not illustrated so we can of-

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fer no further information.

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34

George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

Montreal and Happy While United Medals

35

1766

HWU 11 (Betts not). S.H. Chapman, 9-10 Dec. 1920 (H.W. Hunter),

72. Then Glendining, 15-19 June 1925 (W. Phillips), 843. Silver, cast,

72 mm. Jamieson (above, n. 11), p. 14, lla; Morin (above, n. 33),

fig. 13. Presumably now in the BM.

HWU 12 (Betts not). ANS, ex. W.W.C. Wilson. Silver, two uniface

shells joined at rim, 59 mm. Raymond, 16-18 1925 (Wilson), 929.

There are two distinct varieties of the HWU medal dated 1766,

both unknown to Betts. The Hunter specimen (HWU 11) of which

an unmarked cast is in the ANS, is in Very Fine condition. It is cast

and chased in silver and has a suspension loop. There is no hallmark

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and the reverse shows three ships. It was originally the property

36 George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

of Chief Waubuno, hereditary Wampum Keeper of the Delaware

Indians at Muncy, PA. The medal and its pouch were purchased from

the chief by G.M. McClurg of Toronto and later sold to the

Oronhyatekha Historical Collection, then to the Ontario Museum

and later acquired by Hunter. It was then purchased from Hunter

by W. Phillips of Hampstead, England, and sold by Glendining in

June of 1925. Its present whereabouts are unknown unless it is in

the British Museum, having been acquired along with the 1764 piece

in the 1925 Phillip's sale.

The other known 1766 specimen (HWU 12) differs markedly in

construction from the other HWU medals in that it consists of two

shells joined at the rim topped by a suspension loop. The medal is

59 mm in diameter, weighs 67.72 g and is in Very Fine condition.

There is no lull mark and the reverse depicts two ships. The medal

was found near Niagara Falls, NY, by Ezkiel Jewett, a post trader

at Fort Niagara in 1840 and eventually acquired by W.W.C. Wilson

of Toronto from whom it was acquired by the ANS in Wayte Ray-

mond's 1925 sale. A photograph of the medal as it appeared on a

1913 postcard along with a letter giving the medal's pedigree are

in the ANS collection.

We are not aware of any written record attesting the issuance of

1766 HWU medals. Neither are we aware of any references in the

literature prior to 1920 when the first one to surface was sold at

auction. However Betts, citing Parkman's "History of the Conspiracy

of Pontiac," chap. 31, notes that Pontiac made peace with the

English in the summer of 1765 and was given numerous gifts by Sir

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William Johnson at Oswego, NY, on 23 July 1766.50 Although Betts

felt that the gifts included the so-called Lion and Wolf medal (Betts

535), we are of the opinion that the 1766 HWU medals may also

have been issued at this time.

1780

The latest of the HWU medal types is that known as the Virginia

medal, dated 1780 (Betts 570). The obverse of this medal depicts

the Great Seal of Virginia (first designed in the late 1770s) and the

reverse a reproduction of the reverse of the Happy While United

medals of 1764-66, with a date of 1780. The Virginia medals measure

75 mm in diameter and have a pipe and eagle's wing suspension

loop. The four known specimens of this medal are all in more-or-

less Mint State condition and it seems unlikely that they were ever

awarded officially or even worn.

HWU 13 (Betts 570). Described by Betts as being in the collection

Montreal and Happy While United Medals 37

of W.S. Appleton, which was willed to the Massachusetts Historical

Society. 75 mm.

HWU 14 (Betts 570). Raymond, 27 Oct. 1933 (Senter), 42. Copper.

HWU 15 (Betts 570). BM, since at least 1870. Pewter, cast, 75 mm.

Listed by Betts as in the BM.

HWU 16 (Betts 570). Private collection, Ohio. Brass, cast, 70 mm.

Betts cited the specimen of his Betts 570, then in the Appleton

collection, as made of copper as did Appleton on two published oc-

casions.51 It seems more likely, however, that it is brass. Appleton

later willed the medal to the Massachusetts Historical Society. The

present whereabouts of the medal are unknown; it has not been

found at the MHS and was not listed in the catalogue of the MHS

sale scheduled to be held by Stack's in 197352 The ANS has a

plaster cast of an unidentified Virginia medal which may well be

the MHS specimen.

Clearly Wayte Raymond was impressed by HWU 14, as it occupied

one of only two plates in the catalogue. The whereabouts of this

piece are unknown. HWU 16 was only recently discovered in Ohio

and has been examined by the authors.

It seems unlikely that these Virginia pieces were issued officially.

From a technical standpoint, none of the HWU medals could have

been fully die struck with the eagle and pipe suspension edge with

the technology available to Fueter in 1760 or even 1780. Thus,

although the 1780 pewter medal in the BM is extremely sharp and

detailed, it could not have been struck. The brass (or copper) cast

pieces (Appleton's misplaced piece, the Senter piece and the Ohio

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one), are relatively crude castings. There is little doubt that these

medals were not made in or around 1780. Since the Appleton piece

was known from about 1850, this may well have been when they

were made. Until further data on these Virginia medals are available,

they must be relegated to an apochryphal position in the Indian

Peace Medal series.

Certainly the views expressed herewith on this fascinating series

are not the last word, but we hope that the information available

here will prompt more research by contemporary scholars.

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38

George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

HWU13. From a plaster cast at the ANS

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Montreal and Happy While United Medals

39

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40

George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

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Montreal and Happy While United Medals 41

HWU16

42 George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

1 A study of this type could only have taken place with the cooperation of scholars

from all over the Western Hemisphere. We wish to acknowledge the help of the

following people: John W. Adams; John J. Ford, Jr.; Gordon Frost; Warren Baker;

Francis D. Campbell, Jr. and Kay Brooks of the ANS library; Hillel Kaslove, Bank

of Canada, Ottawa; George Kolbe; Harrington E. Manville; Charles Rand, Cory

Gillilland, SI; James Welch; Mark Jones, Keeper of Medals, BM; and Eric P. Newman.

2 Robert W. McLachlan, Medals Awarded to Canadian Indians (Montreal, 1899),

p. 14 (also serialized in CAN/ 1899, with different pagination).

3 Henry R. Schoolcraft, History of the Indian Tribes (Philadelphia, 1851), p. 79,

pi. 20.

4 C. Wyllys Betts, American Colonial History Illustrated by Contemporary

Medals (New York, 1894), pp. 226-28.

5 William M. Beauchamp, "Metallic Ornaments of the New York Indians," New

York State Museum Bulletin 305 (1903), p 61.

6 Robert W. McLachlan, "The Montreal Indian Medal," AJN40 (1905), pp. 107-9.

7 Frederick W. Hodge, "French Canadian Medals," Handbook of American In-

dians North of Mexico 30 (1907), pp. 830-37.

8 Robert W. McLachlan, "The Maker of the Montreal Indian Medal," AJN4) (1909),

pp. 155-56.

9 S.H. Chapman, 9-10 Dec. 1920 (W.H. Hunter), 54.

10 Harrold E. Gillingham, "Indian and Military Medals from Colonial Times to

Date," address delivered before the meeting ot the Numismatic and Antiquarian Socie-

ty, Philadelphia, 15 February 1926.

11 Melvill A. Jamieson, Medals Awarded to North American Indian Chiefs,

1714-1922 (London, 1936), p. 13.

12 McLachlan (above, n. 8), p. 155; see also Stephen G.C. Ensko, American

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Silversmiths and Their Marks (New York, 1927), pp. 88, 180.

13 Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography (New York, 1888), s.v. "Sir

William Johnson," pp. 451-52.

14 McLachlan (above, n. 2), pp. 13-14, citing Life of Sir William Johnson, 2

(Albany, 1841), p. 435.

15 Arthur Woodward, "A Brief History of the Montreal Medal," Bulletin ofthe Fort

Ticonderoga Museum (1933), pp. 15-29. Certainly of all papers written on the Mon-

treal and HWU medals, Woodward's is the most scholarly and complete. Although

written 55 years ago, it was previously neglected by numismatic scholars.

16 Woodward (above, n. 15), p. 17, citing the Sir William Johnson Papers, 3

(Albany, 1921), p. 272.

Montreal and Happy While United Medals 43

17 Woodward (above, n. 15), p. 17.

18 Woodward (above, n. 15), p. 17.

19 Woodward )above, n. 15), pp. 17, 19, citing Johnson, 3, pp. 317-18.

20 Woodward (above, n. 15),p. 23, citing Johnson, 3, p. 386.

21 Woodward (above, n. 15),pp. 22-23, citing Johnson, 3, p. 378.

22 Alfred Sandham, A Supplement to Coins, Tokens and Medals of the Domain

of Canada (Montreal, 1872), p. 10, 75, illus.

23 Beauchamp (above, n. 5), pi. 26, 284.

24 CNJ 3 (1958), p. 47, illus. A photo of this medal has been supplied to the authors,

courtesy of the Public Archives of Canada where the medal now resides, and Hillel

Kaslove of the Bank of Canada Money Collection.

25 Belts (above, n. 4), p. 194.

26 Robert W. McLachlan, "A Descriptive Catalogue of Coins, Tokens, and Medals

Issued In or Relating to The Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland," serialized

in AJN, 1880-85. Republished as a book of the same title (Montreal, 1886).

27 Robert W. McLachlan, ''The Montreal Indian Medal,'' AJN 18 (1884), pp. 84-87.

28 McLachlan (above, n. 27), p. 85.

29 McLachlan (above, n. 2), pp. 13-14.

30 CANJ 1932, p. 132, pi. 4, 1 and 2.

31 Beauchamp (above, n. 5), pi. 26, 283.

32 Beauchamp (above, n. 5), pi.26, 281 and pi. 33, 388.

33 Victor Morin, "Les medailles decernees aux Indiens d'Amerique," Memoires de

la Societe Royale du Canada (1915), p. 304.

34 Jamieson (above, n. 11), p. 10.

35 Woodward (above, n. 15), p. 27.

36 Woodward (above, n. 15), p. 27, citing Johnson, 4, p. 437.

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37 Woodward (above, n. 15), p. 28.

38 Woodward (above, n. 15), p. 28, citing Johnson, 4, p. 447.

39 AJN 10 (1876), p. 54.

40 Woodward (above, n. 15), p. 28, citing Johnson, 4, p. 453.

44 George J. Fuld and Barry D. Tayman

41 Woodward (above, n. 15), p. 28, citing Johnson, 4, p. 482.

42 Schoolcraft (above, n. 3), p. 79, pi. 20.

43 Alexandre Vattemare, Collection de Monnaies et Medailles de l'Amrique du

Nord du 1652 & 1858 (Paris, 1861), p. 76.

44 AJN 2, (1868), p. 110.

45 Betts (above, n. 4), p. 226-28.

46 Betts (above, n. 4), p. 227.

47 George Tancred, Historical Record of Medals and Honorary Distinctions Con-

ferred on the British Navy, Army, and Auxiliary Forces (London, 1891), p. 49.

48 Betts (above, n. 4), p. 227.

49 Sotheby (Toronto), 30 Oct. 1968 (Reford), 108, note describing the example in

the BM illustrated in Jamieson.

50 Betts (above, n. 4), p. 238.

51 William S. Appleton in a letter in AJN 7 (1873), p. 90; see also Appleton, AJN

2 (1868), p. 110.

52 Stack's, 29-31 Mar. 1973. The lots consigned by MHS were withdrawn prior to

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the auction.

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The Spanish Medal in America

Javier Gimeno

Coinage of the Americas Conference

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

The American Numismatic Society, 1988

46 Javier Gimeno

To understand the current thinking on what we call the "Spanish

medal in America," that is, the medals produced in territories under

Spanish rule, we have to consider some fundamental studies from

the turn of the century. We can then examine the policies behind

the introduction of the earliest medal in Spanish America, whose

influence extended to the medals of later periods. A consideration

of the circumstances of the introduction and spread of the medal,

which we intend to follow here in its general outlines, will shed

light on the colonial policy as a whole.

Regarding published sources, the works of Medina on Spanish col-

onial medals, published between 1900 and 1919, remain fundamen-

tal;1 supplemented by Herrera's 1882 work on Spanish proclama-

tion medals2 and Vives's 1916 book on medals of the House of

Bourbon.3 These works all exhibit a similar point of view; they dif-

fer in that Medina focused on the American case individually, while

Herrera and Vives considered it in the context of Spanish history

as a whole. In more recent years, while several works have treated

the development of the Academies, especially that of Mexico,4

from a variety of viewpoints, the medals themselves have only been

treated in isolated works which are basically catalogues for collec-

tors.' In a recent study, I examined the medallic activity of the

Academy of San Carlos, and placed it in the context of Spanish and

American medallic activity.6

The first question to deal with must be the validity of the term

Spanish in this medallic production, the extent to which it is a

manifestation of Spanish intention and the role played by interests,

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producers, manufacturers, and recipients. To this end, we shall ex-

amine three points of reference whose influences complemented

each other: the proclamation medal; the work of the mints; and the

work of the academies.

The Medal of Proclamation and Oath:

the Artisanal Factor in the Origins of the American Medal

The first documented medal in the new world, of which no ex-

tant specimens are known, is that of the proclamation and oath of

Philip II in Lima in 1555. Medina has critically analyzed the

documentation published by Herrera.7 To its difficulties of inter-

pretation is added the uniqueness of the case, not only since, as

Medina has explained, this was a medal for Lima alone, but also in

that there were no analogous medals, either extant or known from

documents for the next century and a half. In any event, the men-

tion of a royal proclamation ceremony of the sort typical of Spain,

The Spanish Medal in America 47

including the distribution of medals with the king's image, remains

significant. The use of coins in this context on the American conti-

nent is attested indirectly for this period and explicitly for later

times. We cannot therefore eliminate the possibility, if we accept

the explanation of the development of American proclamations pro-

posed by Medina, that the lack of a mint in Lima in 1555 led to the

creation there of a medal to fill a role served by coins elsewhere

and in Lima itself at a later date.8 In any event, we have here the

earliest evidence for connecting the origin of the Spanish-American

medal with the ceremonies attendant on a royal proclamation.

Apparently, the singular form in which the Renaissance medal was

adopted in Spain did not lend itself to export to the new world

because of the different social and political relationships.9 The

notice published by Medina of a medal of Gonzalo Pizzaro stands

out as an exception.10 Only the proclamations of kings,

documented from the time of Philip II (that is, the official govern-

ment activities), would serve as the occasion for the creation of coins

or medals to disseminate the image of a new king.11 The single case

documented for the Hapsburg Dynasty does not allow us to do more

than speculate about this activity on the basis of what happened in

the eighteenth century. This is confirmed by the fact that from the

appearance of the earliest extant specimens of 1701, the proclama-

tion medal remained for many years in Spanish-America, and, even

after the introduction of other genres, continued to be the domi-

nant form.

The geographical distribution of the cities in which medals were

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minted for the six proclamations up to 1808 can serve as an index

of the spread of the Spanish medal on the American continent. From

the data assembled by Herrera, Medina and Grove, we can discern

a progressive extension and intensification of the production of the

medals. Mexico served as an initial focal point and remained the

area of greatest production. From there, production extended in

two directionsto the Caribbean Islands and to the southa

distribution still apparent in 1808. Though the regional configura-

tion of proclamation medals is related to the location of mints, it

corresponds more closely to clearly-defined economic regions; for

example, the region of el Plata, which had no mint in this period.

However, some exceptions are apparent, with some places and

issuers fluctuating radically in output, not only on a local scale as

was frequent in New Spain, but occasionally as an entire region.

Cuba, for example, had been previously normal in its production,

but produced no medals for the proclamation of Ferdinand VII in

1808. The outpouring of medals on the island in 1834 can be seen

48

Javier Gimeno

1. Mexico, Proclamation of Philip V, 1701

as a reaction to the independence of the continental viceroyalties.

Nevertheless, the distribution is generally representative of the lines

of development in Spanish America during the eighteenth century.

The earliest known examples are for the proclamation of Philip

V in 1701 (fig. 1), which were limited to the two cities of New Spain,

Mexico City and Veracruz, issued no doubt by municipal

authorities.12 Both are of cast silver and correspond, as Medina

pointed out,13 to the prototype of the medal for the proclamation

of Philip V in Cadiz (fig. 2), dated 1700.u The 1701 issues have the

same obverse (except for the date) and retain the titulature of the

Cadiz piece with no mention of the New World; the Mexico City

piece has on the reverse the inscription IMPERATOR INDIARVM

together with the arms of the city. These characteristics, together

with the mediocre quality of these pieces, leads to the inference that

they were the product of silversmiths' workshops. This conclusion

is supported by the documented production of proclamation medals

in Spain by silversmiths trained as artisans rather than in the fine

arts.15 In America, on the other hand, such documentation is com-

mon as in the case of Gonzalo Pizzaro mentioned above.16 From

such examples, it can be affirmed that even if in its concept the medal

was introduced as a royal proclamation, in practice its development

was bound up with and influenced by the artisanal world, specifical-

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2. Cadiz, Proclamation of Philip V, 1700

The Spanish Medal in America 49

ly silversmiths. This can be seen, above all, in the clear connection

between peninsular and American workshops, in spite of the ex-

istence of American mints and the documented use of coinage in

connection with proclamation ceremonies.

The first models came from Cadiz. Later, for the proclamations

of Louis I in 1724 and Ferdinand VI in 1747, examples can be found

based more or less on pieces made in Cadiz for the proclamation

of Philip V, but other prototypes can be noted, generally from An-

dalusian cities, which were in closest contact with America.17 Mex-

ican proclamation medals of Louis I, for example,18 appear to cor-

respond to models from Granada,19 though the direction of in-

fluence is not certain; they themselves served as models for medals

of Ferdinand VI in San Miguel el Grande.20 In the case of Charles

III, the medal of Puebla de los Angeles21 imitates clumsily the

Madrid medal of Francisco Hernandez Escudero dedicated to Fer-

dinand VI.22 To sum up, in the first half of the century, and even

afterward, a growing dynamic of relationships existed between the

old and new world, whose main sources can be seen in new Spanish

models generally of Andalusian cities, imitations of these pieces,

especially in Mexico, and finally totally local variations, with little

fidelity to the original. The most notorious example of this last group

is in the medals of Louis I from the Yucatan. Changes in the nature

of the proclamation medal in Spain itself, however, would soon

make themselves felt in America as well.23

The Role of the Mints

The proclamation medal in eighteenth-century Spain can be placed

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in the context of the well-known struggle between the artisanal

world of the Baroque and the academic style of classical art. The

side taken by the Bourbons in this struggle is clear; placing a great

deal of importance on the quality of coin and medal production,

they encouraged the development of a national medallic program

tied to the Academies, designed to replace the artisanal production

then dominant.24

The transfer of this tendency to America led to a series of altera-

tions imposed on the American medal, culminating in the creation

of the Mexican Academy in 1785. But this event was in itself the

consequence of an evolution whose first decisive step was the

reorganization of the mints, the "Casas de Moneda." Although this

is generally considered the work of Charles III, it can be seen clear-

ly throughout America as the result of an earlier, gradual

development.

50

Javier Gimeno

3. Mexico, Proclamation of Charles III at San Miguel el Grande, 1761, by Casanova

The American mints, from the creation of the first two in Mexico

and Santo Domingo in 1536, underwent a transformation that is

beyond the scope of this paper.25 The introduction of the medal,

whether in 1555 or 1701 was, as we have seen, independent of the

mints. But, by the middle of the eighteenth century a movement

parallel to the evolution in Spain brought about the appearance in

1760 of medals signed by mint engravers for the proclamation of

Charles III; groundwork for this must have been laid in the reign

of Ferdinand VI. Characteristic of this new approach is a document

of 1757 in which the University of Lima sought to have certain

medals produced in the mint in order to assure their quality.26

The most relevant examples would soon appear in Mexico, bear-

ing the names of Francisco de Casanova (fig. 3) and Alejo Madero

(fig. 4). Both men were from Spain and were, if not yet members

of an organized academy, clearly products of an early version of

academic culture. Casanova, a graduate of the Academy of San Fer-

nando in Madrid, came to Mexico at an uncertain date.27 Madero

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4. Mexico, Proclamation of Charles III, 1760, by Madero

The Spanish Medal in America 51

appears to have been a student of Tomas Francisco Prieto in Madrid

and an engraver in the mint of Seville before coming to America.28

If neither achieved a level of quality typical of later Academic work,

their style shows a clear step in this direction, as does the introduc-

tion of such new elements as mythological figures.29 In the same

period, another engraver trained by Prieto appeared in the mint of

Sante Fe de Bogota: Jose Martin de Carpintero, who may have work-

ed with Francisco Benito30 on the proclamation medals of Charles

III.31 In Santiago de Chile, an attempt to assimilate the work of

engravers and silversmiths in the mint, not apparent until the time

of Nazaual, would lead to the medals of Agustm Tapia, including

those for the proclamation of Charles III.32 A similar style can be

found on unattributed proclamation medals issued by cities with

mints in or near them, such as Lima or Lujan.33 Guatemala however

did not conform to this development, but imitated traditional forms,

despite the intervention of Mexico after 1733.34

Given the current state of our knowledge, it is not possible to

follow the general training of engravers in Spain before the reign

of Charles III, except in specific cases such as Parraga or Hernandez

Escudero. These examples of American conditions in 1760 evidence

the beginning of a transformation which was not yet institutionalized

and a tendency to regulate the training and career of engravers,

which would become systematized and well documented in a later

period.35 From about 1760 on it is possible to discern a medallic

activity in the American mints, with engravers coming either directly

from Madridas would become the regular path in later yearsor

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from the mint of Mexico, which had come to assume a position of

primacy among the mints of Spanish America. The steps in the crea-

tion of the mint of Guatemala in 1733, or the relationship main-

tained with those of Lima and Potosi throughout the century are

significant in this regard.36

The Introduction of the Academies

It was during the reign of Charles III (1759-88) that the bases

which had developed received their first formal recognition and that

medallic activity in Spain as in America underwent an explosive

growth. In Madrid the institutional ties between the mint and the

academy reached their height in the person of Prieto and in the crea-

tion of the School of Engravers within the Mint, which would

become the exclusive training ground of the profession. In 1772

monetary types were unified following patterns designed by Prieto

and distributed to the mints. In this process, the American mints

52 Javier Gimeno

began to obtain their engravers from the same source as those in

Spain.

Within this context there developed the third of the major deter-

minant elements of the Spanish American medal with the founda-

tion in 1785 of the Academy of San Carlos of New Spain, whose

characteristics have been the object of repeated studies.37 In the

area under discussion here, it is possible to discern a revision of the

schema set up by Prieto even before the apparent development of

American needs. It must be recalled that one of the principal ac-

tivities of the Academies of Spain, as later in America, was engrav-

ing in all media, including medals.38 The transfer to Mexico of

Jeronimo Antonio Gil to replace Casanova in 1778 was accompanied

by the specific charge to establish a School for Engravers within the

mint, a school which was to serve as the nucleus for the future

academy.39 The ties between activities and institutions as well as

a clear preoccupation with production of official art are readily ap-

parent, and it is significant that the Academy was housed in the same

building as the mint until 1789, when they were separated upon

the arrival of Tolsa, Ximeno and Gonzalez Velazques.40

The foundation of the Mexican Academy led to the fulfillment

of the needs of the American mints for the training of medalists and

engravers along the model of Madrid, which Gil had known well.41

But this did not exclude the possibility of the continued flow of

engravers from Spain. Thus we see Spanish engravers such as

Gordillo42 appear at the Potosi and Lima mints at the same time as

a sizable group of Mexicans, presumably trained at the local

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Academy.43 However, though the Academy appears to have been

able to meet the needs for which it was established, in 1804 the train-

ing of engravers was conferred on the department of engraving of

the mint in Madrid.44

The results of the introduction of the Academy are well known

and had a great impact on the Mexican medal. Along with the pro-

duction of medals of high quality, we can note the assimilation of

the proclamation medal within a varied production, the introduc-

tion of neo-classical style alongside certain realistic tendencies which

appear to derive from the school of Prieto, and the creation of a

corpus of medals other than for proclamations.

If Gil is known above all for his series of proclamation medals

for Charles IV, his greatest contribution is the creation of a medallic

tradition outside of the proclamation pieces. The content of this

new production was oriented to the academic institutions of

Enlightenment Spain and the society introduced in the Bourbon era

into New Spain.45 The themes of royal events,46 of learned societies

The Spanish Medal in America

53

5. Mexico, Ferdinand VII, Victories over the French, 1809, by Gordillo

and official institutions,47 and of the academy itself, were perfect-

ly appropriate for such treatment.48 The successors of Gil, especial-

ly Suria, Gordillo, Guerrero and Rodriquez, had to reconcile the

medal of the early nineteenth century to a Mexican neo-classical

medallic tradition bound to these same themes, although we can

note some sense of conflict in the way they treated warfare (fig.

5).49 In general, the proclamation medals of Charles IV and Ferdi-

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6. Mexico, Founding of the Company of Mines, 1785, by Gil

54

Javier Gimeno

nand VII bear the sponsorship of clearly-defined institutions: cer-

tain clerical establishments50 and entities involved with mining51

joined the learned and academic bodies in sponsoring such medals

(fig. 6). The production of artisanal proclamation medals would

ultimately die out in areas with no mints or other contact with such

activity; the case of Cuba at the proclamation of Charles IV serves

as a good example.

With the rise of the academic medal, Mexico appears to have mov-

ed away from the medals of the southern regions, where the scheme

of medallic production based on the mints was maintained, though

even there some signs of influence by the new tendencies were ap-

parent. It is significant that the ordinances of the mint of Santiago

de Chile recommended to engravers the creation of at least one

7. Guatemala, Proclamation of Charles IV, 1789, by Aguirre

8. Chile, Proclamation of Charles IV, 1789, by Nazaul

medal a year in order to preserve their skills.52 But such develop-

ment was distant from and not on the scale of that in Mexico. Pedro

Garcia Aguirre in Guatemala (fig. 7), Soto in Lima, Nazaul (fig. 8)

and later Arrabal in Santiago de Chile, created mainly proclamation

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medals. Occasionally however they addressed other themes, such

The Spanish Medal in America 55

as on the medals commemorating the defense of Buenos Aires in

1806, done by Arrabal, which best show an appreciation of the prin-

ciples of the nineteenth-century medal.53

Later Influences

What we have considered as the Spanish medal in America is then

the result of three main factorsroyal proclamations, the mints, and

the academieswhich were coordinated with the governmental

structures and interacted upon each other. The height of this

development came in 1808 with the proclamation of Ferdinand VII,

but the wars which followed brusquely interrupted this activity,

which was strongly identified with pro-Spanish sentiment. It remains

for us to describe the influence of this medallic tradition on later

production, which was to become increasingly localized and to res-

pond to external influences, with various results, throughout the

nineteenth century.

Three fundamental directions can be noted. First, a certain reten-

tion of basics can be seen in the case of Mexico. From about 1820

on, a restoration of the Academy, although along different lines,

brought with it the reappearance of medalists such as Trasgallo and

Medina (apparently Mexicans) who followed tradition with their

medals commemorating the "proclamation" of Augustin I in

1822.54 Later, the "Europeanizing" reorganization of the Academy

in 1843 led to the arrival of Bagally as director of medallic produc-

tion; his students Ocampo, Navalon, and Spiritu stood out in the

period of Maximilian.55

To the south, medallic production became increasingly sporadic

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and linked to the activity of the mints. A certain rise in medallic

activity at the time of independence gave way to a steady decline

in production. The medal for the dedication of the railroad in Potosi

in 1912 constitutes a curious example of late Spanish involvement.

However, Argentina was an exceptional case. Though without a mint

in the colonial period, it had shown enthusiasm for the proclama-

tion medalespecially for Charles IV (fig. 9) and Ferdinand VII

minted locally as well as in Santiago de Chile and in Potosi. It was

probably this activity in the absence of a mint that led to the

nineteenth-century production, which originally followed common

trends but led in the middle of the century to medals of high quali-

ty, produced by artists of basically Italian origin. The pieces of

Cataldi, Orzali, Podesta, Zuccotti, Bellagamba and Cottuzzo are in-

dicative of this well-established tradition which owed little to

Spanish influences.56

56

Javier Gimeno

9. Argentina, Proclamation of Charles IV, 1789, cast

Finally, in Cuba and the Philippines (Spanish colonies until 1898),

the proclamation of Isabella II in 1834 was marked by medals in

which the Department of Engraving of Madrid added a uniform ele-

ment to local tradition.57 Similarly, certain pieces such as the

anonymous medal for the Havana aqueduct of 1858 follow the tradi-

tion of the nineteenth-century Spanish medal exhibiting un-

mistakably high quality (fig. 10). The same cannot be said for the

case of Manila, which had previously been served with medals by

Gil minted in Mexico,58 where a mint was opened following the in-

dependence of the American colonies, and whose medals were the

work of Estruch.59 The proclamation medals of Amadeo I, which

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10. Cuba, Opening of Havana Aqueduct, 1858

The Spanish Medal in America 57

followed the Madrid model of J. Garcia60 and of Alfonso XII, done

in a more independent style,61 were the last manifestations of the

Spanish medallic presence in the American world.

1 J.T. Medina, Medallas coloniales hispano-americanas (Santiago de Chile, 1900);

J.T. Medina, Medallas deproclamacionesyjuras de los reyes de Espana en America

(Santiago de Chile, 1917); J.T. Medina, Medallas coloniales hispano-americanas.

Nuevos materiales para su estudio (Santiago de Chile, 1919). This article has been

translated by Alan M. Stahl.

2 A. Herrara, Medallas deproclamacionesyjuras de los reyes de Espana (Madrid,

1882).

3 A. Vives, Medallas de la Casa de Borbdn (Madrid, 1916).

4 A. Carrillo y Gariel, Datos sobre la Academia de San Carlos de Nueva Espana

(Mexico City, 1939); M. Romero de Terreros, Grabados y grabadores en la Nueva

Espana (Mexico City, 1948); R. Tibol, Historia general de Arte Mexicano. Epoca

moderna y contemporanea (Mexico City, 1964); C. Bedat, L 'Academie des Beaux-

Arts de Madrid, 1744-1808 (Toulouse, 1974), pp. 365-68.

5 C. Perez Maldonado, Medallas de Mexico (Monterrey, 1945); F.W. Grove, Medals

of Mexico, 1 (Guadalajara, 1970).

6 J. Gimeno, "Nacimiento de la Medalla de Arte Espanola en el siglo XVIII," in La

medaglia neoclassica in Italia e in Europa, AM IV Convegno Int. St. Medaglia,

Udine 1981 (Udine, 1984), pp. 247-78.

7 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), pp. 1-8.

8 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), p. 2 and pp. 11-13.

9 F. Gimeno, "Los artistas italianos y los comienzos de la Medalla en Espana," L'in-

fluenza della medaglia italiana nell' Europa dei sec. XV e XVI, Atti II Conv. Int.

St. Medaglia, Udine 1973 (Udine, 1976), pp. 59-86.

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10 Medina, 1900 (above, n. 1), pp. 11-13.

11 For a discussion of the characteristics of the proclamation medal, see Herrera

(above, n. 2), pp. 9-13.

12 Herrera (above, n. 2), p. 35; Medina 1917 (above, n. 1), nos. 2-3.

13 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), p. 10.

14 Herrera (above, n. 2), p. 33.

"For example, the proclamation of Charles III in Barcelona: S. Alcolea, "Aporta-

ciones a la historia medallistica en Cataluna durante el siglo XVIII y primeros anos

del XIX," Numario Hispdnico 3 (1954), pp. 5ff.

58 Javier Gimeno

16 Medina, 1900 (above, n. 1), pp. 12-13.

17 Louis I in Mexico City and San Felipe el Real; Ferdinand VI in Havana, Guadala-

jara or Mexico City: Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), nos. 6, 7, 10, 20, 29, 32. Grove

(above, n. 5), pp. 10-11.

18 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), no. 8; Grove (above, n. 5), p. 5, no. LI-4.

19 Granada, Loja, Motril: Herrera (above, n. 2), pp. 46-48.

20 Grove (above, n. 5), p. 18, no. F6-32.

21 Grove (above, n. 5), p. 34, no. K-44.

22 Herrera (above, n. 2), p. 59, no. 17. J. Gimeno (above, n. 6), pp. 253-54.

23 Grove (above, n. 5), p. 8, nos. LI-16, LI-17.

24 J. Gimeno (above, n. 6), p. 261. See also the case of the proclamation medals

by Araujo: A. Herrera, El Duro (Madrid, 1914), p. 466.

25 J.T. Medina, Las manettas coloniales bispano-americanas (Santiago de Chile,

1919), pp. 54-57.

26 Medina, 1900 (above, n. 1), pp. 13-14.

27 Medina, 1919 (above, n. 1), p. 51; Vives (above, n. 3), p. 508; L. Forrer,

Biographical Dictionary of Medalists (London, 1904-30), Suppl., s.v. "Casanova."

28 Medina, 1919 (above, n. 1), p. 51; Vives (above, n. 3), p. 515; Forrer (above,

n. 27), Suppl, s.v. "Madero;" Herrera, 1914 (above, n. 2), p. 484.

29 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), nos. 65-67, 85-96, 98, 108, 119 and examples with

local characteristics, nos. 59, 61, 72 (Havana), 78, 82 (Matanzas).

30 Medina, 1919 (above, n. 1), p. 256.

31 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), nos. 109-10, with only the signature BENTO F.

32 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), no. 62; Medina, 1919 (above, n. 1), p. 333.

33 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), nos. 79-80.

34 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), nos. 68-71; Medina, 1919 (above, n. 1), pp. 281-89.

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35 R. Duran, "Historia de la Casa de la Moneda y Timbre," Numisma 25 (1975),

pp. 97-193.

36 Medina, 1919 (above, n. 1), pp. 147-68, 211-21, 281-89.

37 Cf. Carillo (above, n. 4), passim; Tibol (above, n. 4), chapter 1; Bedat (above,

n. 9), pp. 365-68.

The Spanish Medal in America 59

38 Bedat (above, n. 4), pp. 235-40.

39 Bedat (above, n. 4), p. 365-

40 Tibol (above, n. 4), chapter 1.

41 Gimeno (above, n. 6), pp. 256-60.

42 Medina, 1919 (above, n. 1), pp. 53-54.

43 Medina, 1919 (above, n. 1), pp. 166-68, 211-21.

44 Duran (above, n. 35), pp. 97-98.

45 Tibol (above, n. 4), chapter 1.

46 E.g. the medals for events in the life of Charles III: Grove (above, n. 5), pp.

41-43, nos. K-78, K-80, K-82, or for the commemoration of his death: Grove, p.

44, no. K-84.

47 E.g. the medal of the Real Academia de Derecho Espanol y Publico (Grove

(above, n. 5), p.40, nos. K-75, K-76), or the Real Orden de Damas Nobles (Grove,

p. 127, no. C-265.

48 Grove (above, n. 5), p. 58, no. C-36, p. 128, no. C-267.

49 Grove (above, n. 5) pp. 133, 136, 138, 139, 142, etc.

50 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), no. 143.

51 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), nos. 166, 167, 196, 230, etc.

52 Medina, 1900 (above, n. 1), pp. 44-45.

53 Medina, 1900 (above, n. 1), nos. 40-45.

54 Tibol (above, n. 4), chapter 1.

55 Forrer (above, n. 27), s.v. "Medina," "Navalon," "Ocampo," "Spiritu,"

"Trasgallo."

56 See the relevant entries in Forrer (above, n. 27).

57 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), nos. 409-31.

58 Vives (above, n. 3), nos. 56-59.

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59 For Estruch, see J. Gimeno, "La medalla espanola del siglo XIX: propuesta para

una revision," I Oth International Numismatic Congress, London- 1986 (London,

forthcoming). For Figueroa, see Vives (above, n. 3), p. 511.

60 Vives (above, n. 3), no. 832.

61 Medina, 1917 (above, n. 1), no. 433.

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The Winds of Libertas:

Augustin Dupre's

Libertas Americana

Yvonne Korshak

Coinage of the Americas Conference

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

The American Numismatic Society, 1988

62 Yvonne Korshak

How to interpret the new American liberty in visual terms? That

was the task that Benjamin Franklin set for the French artist Augustin

Dupre, in 1782, on the eve of American victory in the Revolution.

As always, Franklin had suggestions of his own. The solution, in

the head of Liberty on the obverse of Dupre's medal, Libertas

Americana, is one of the most effective and moving works of art

of the Revolutionary era; the reverse also conveys topical and signifi-

cant ideas with iconographic subtlety (fig. I).1

On the reverse an armed Minerva, her shield blazoned with the

fleur de lys of France, combats the English lion, as the infant Her-

cules strangles the two snakes sent by the jealous Juno. The legend,

NON SINE DIIS ANIMOSUSINFANS, a quotation from Horace (Book

3, Ode 4, 20), expresses the idea that although Hercules is power-

ful and courageous, qualities Dupre conveys in his rendering,

nonetheless the newly-born child requires divine protection.

The sentiment and heavily literary, allegorical approach in the

reverse of the medal is similar to the tenor of the proposals made

for the seal of the United States of America by the first committee

to work on the project. The Continental Congress established the

committee on 4 July 1776, before the close of business on the day

on which they adopted the Declaration of Independence, and ap-

pointed Benjamin Franklin to the committee along with John Adams

and Thomas Jefferson.2 Franklin proposed as a subject for the seal

Moses liberating the Israelites from the Egyptians, and Adams sug-

gested a classical theme, the choice of Hercules.3

Of the two sources for allegory represented in these initial ideas

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for the United States seal, the biblical and the classical, the latter

was more at home in the burgeoning neoclassical artistic environ-

ment of France in 1782 when Franklin, anticipating the successful

conclusion of the War of Independence, proposed to Dupre the

striking of a commemorative medal of American Liberty.

The potential of Hercules to represent America had been recogniz-

ed, in Adams's seal proposal, for example, where the mythic choice

of Hercules symbolized the climate of crisis and decision for revolu-

tionary action in 1776. By 1782, the choices had been made, and

with victory at hand, Hercules, newly born, was the pertinent con-

ception to symbolize the new nation: courageous, strong, and war-

ding off danger.

Further specific connection between the mythic image and history

can be identified. The two snakes of the Hercules myth, that he is

shown strangling on the reverse of the medal, refer to the two ma-

jor battles of the Revolutionary War that have their dates of victory

cited in the exergue: the surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga

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Augustin Dupre"s Libertas Americana 63

1. Augustin Dupre, Libertas Americana medal, bronze, 1783, ANS, 48 mm

64

Yvonne Korshak

(17 October 1777) and that of General Cornwallis at Yorktown (19

October 1781). The artist's signature, Dupre F.[ecit], is in the lower

right.

In ancient art, Hercules is sometimes shown seated while stran-

gling the serpents,4 and he is sometimes represented struggling in

a half-standing position, similar to that on Dupre's medal, as in a

wall painting from Pompeii (fig. 2). Dupre based his Hercules in part

on models such as these, but he does not copy them: the ways in

which his Hercules differs from the types from which it is derived

are instructive. Dupre has taken care to show that while Hercules's

arms are occupied with the snakes, he is still partly enmeshed in

swaddling clothindeed he is in the process of disentangling his

right foot. This motif conveys the idea of change of status and of

growth. Thus, through it, the artist suggests symbolically the revolu-

tionary process as well as the revolutionary accomplishment.

Dupre's image can be compared with another classical work of

2. Hercules Strangling the Serpents, wall-painting, Pompeii, House of the Vettii, first

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century A.D. Photo: Alinari

Augustin Dupre"s Libertas Americana

65

a different theme, the sculpture of Laocoon in the Vatican in Rome,

which depicts the hubristic priest and his two sons attacked by two

monsters of snake-like form (fig. 3). Like Laocoon, the child is shown

struggling with two snakes. However, the closest correlation in pose

3. The Laocoon Group. Marble, first century B.C., Rome, Vatican Museums, H. 1.84

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m. Photo: Deutsches Archaologisches Institut, Rome

66 Yvonne Korshak

between the two works of art is not that between Hercules and Lao-

coon. The posture of Hercules is nearly identical (although revers-

ed) to that of the older of Laocoon's two sons, seen on the right

of the sculpture. While the father and the other boy are about to

die, this son is shown making his escape, liberating himself from

the coils of the snake by pushing them down from his legs and free-

ing his feet.5 Dupre, by depicting in connection with Hercules a

similar action of disentangling the feet, dramatizes through visual

means the struggle between bondage and freedom. Thus he suggests

symbolically, with a subtlety that does not disturb the fundamen-

tally triumphant mode of the image, the historical context of strug-

gle against constraint that lies behind the achievement of American

independence. Although Laocoon is one of the best known works

of classical sculpture, to my knowledge Dupre is the only artist to

have recognized in the figure of the son freeing himself from the

snakes the potential for the expression of heroism, as well as of

political liberty.

A dimension of the mythic meaning of Hercules that has particular

pertinence to the revolutionary context is that he represents an im-

age of vindicated illegitimacy. Hercules was born out of wedlock,

the son of Jupiter and the mortal woman Alcmena. The reason for

Juno's hostility, that motivated her to send the snakes to kill the

child, was her jealousy about her husband's philandering directed

toward this illegitimate birth. Nevertheless, Hercules grew to become

a hero and savior, and eventually became divine. The violence and

illegitimacy of his birth were vindicated through his life. Thus he

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may stand as a prototype of the violent and, as even many of those

who were in sympathy with the revolution thought, the illegitimate

origins of the United States, vindicated by history. This interpreta-

tion is parallel to one made, in connection with the French Revolu-

tion, by Jerrine Mitchell of Jacques Louis David's painting, The In-

tervention of the Sabine Women (1799). In this work, the women

of the Sabine tribe, who had been violently abducted by the Romans,

seek to bring peace during a battle between the Romans, who are

now their husbands, and the Sabines, who are their brothers. In Mit-

chell's view, David expresses, through the abduction of the women

and their subsequent acceptance of their fate, the post-Revolutionary

need to reconcile the perception of the violent and illegitimate

origins of the French Revolution with its ultimate legitimate

status.6 Thus it appears that each artist found classical narrative

ways to express the legitimization of revolution in the eighteenth

century, Dupre the American Revolution and David the French

Revolution.

Augustin DuprG's Libertas Americana 61

If the reverse of the Libertas Americana medal is saturated with

complex literary allegory of the kind that characterized the attempts

to arrive at a design for the United States seal, the obverse is a

penetrating artistic invention, as free in its representation of liber-

ty as the goddess it represents.

Dupre depicts Libertas Americana as the bust of a female facing

left, with her abundant loose hair blown behind her. A liberty cap

surmounts the staff that crosses diagonally, as if resting on her right

shoulder. Above is the legend LIBERTAS AMERICANA, and below

in the exergue one reads the reference to our Declaration of In-

dependence, 4 JUIL. 1776. Although he did not spell July in English

(one wonders why, when he had Franklin right at hand), Dupre,

with his youthful, far-seeing, and unconventionally flowing-haired

goddess, captured the spirit of American Liberty.

The conception of a Goddess of Liberty with her attribute of the

liberty cap on a staff has its roots in antiquity. In ancient Rome, the

manumission of a slave was symbolized by the adoption of the pileus

cap, the headgear of the working citizen, by the freed slave. The

manumission ceremony, in which slaves took on the cap as a sym-

bol of freedom, and were touched by a rod, was called capere

pileum, after the cap.7 From this ceremonial use,8 the cap

developed its generalized meaning of liberty. The pileus became an

attribute of Libertas, the Goddess of Liberty, who was shown

4. Medal of Emperor Galba, with Libertas,

holding the cap, often on the top of the staff, and Roman emperors

used the propaganda power of the circulating coins and medals im-

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pressed with the image of Libertas to associate themselves with the

goddess, and to advertise thus their claims to being good, or

legitimate, emperors (fig. 4).9 During the Saturnalia, a licentious,

orgiastic, mardi gras-like festival marked by sanctioned role-

reversals, masters served their servantsand everyone wore the

pileus.

The potentially revolutionary character of the symbol of manumis-

68

Yvonne Korshak

sion, that the eighteenth century recognized so clearly, was realiz-

ed on one notable occasion in Rome, on a coin struck by Brutus

following the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. On the obverse

is a portrait of Brutus, and on the reverse, the cap of liberty is plac-

ed between two daggers, with an abbreviated inscription of the Ides

of March. Thus, through the symbol of the cap, Brutus proudly iden-

tified himself with the restoration of republican liberties.10

This coin type carries the liberty cap through the centuries, for

in 1552, Henry II of France employed it for a medal after his vic-

tory over Charles V of Germany, to promote the idea of himself as

a liberator, the cap between the daggers transformed into a tall-

crowned, narrow-brimmed Renaissance model.11 In another

allegorical representation, Liberty, unusual in being represented

nearly nude, holds the cap, here again the tall-crowned Renaissance

model, on a medal commemorating the Treaty of Brussels of 1577

between don Juan of Austria and the Estates General of the

Netherlands (fig. 5)12

5. Peace medal of Charles V, silver, 1577, ANS

From the Renaissance, the symbolization of liberty in terms of

a cap, and the explanation of the source of the symbol in Roman

manumission, is standard in iconographical dictionaries. It is amus-

ing to see that in some editions of Ripa's famous Iconologia, for

example, antiquity is visually distant, as in an Italian edition of 1766

where, reflecting yet another fashion, the "ancient" cap appears

in a low-crowned, broad-brimmed contemporary mode.13 In an

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earlier, French edition of Ripa, the conical form of the cap held by

Liberty is more in touch with Roman models.14

Augustin Dupre"s Libertas Americana

69

6. Incendie des coiffures au cafe" royal d'Alexandre, engraving, Paris, Bibliotheque

Nationale. Photo: Bulloz

The earliest use of the liberty cap that I have found to refer to

the eighteenth-century struggles for political liberty is attributable

to Hogarth, and is characteristically satirical. In an engraving of

1763, Hogarth placed a cap on the head of the outspoken English

libertarian John Wilkes; through an ironic reversal, the rakish Wilkes

is transformed into a Liberty Goddess by the attributes of cap and

staff. This image of Wilkes was disseminated widely, not only

through the engraving, but by being reproduced on a porcelain

punch bowl that was a favored item in libertarian circles on both

sides of the Atlantic. To summarize, through Hogarth the cap with

its symbolic meaning came to the colonies, and largely through its

frequent use in several media by the prolific revolutionary artist Paul

Revere, as on his masthead for the Boston Gazette newspaper, it

became identified with the American Revolution.15 In the course of

the Revolution, French artists regularly portrayed American Revolu-

tionary heroes, such as George Washingon, and the subject of the

Revolution itself in terms of the ancient iconography of the liberty

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cap.16 Thus, the cap traveled from antiquity, to Hogarth in

70 Yvonne Korshak

7. Silver portrait tetradrachm of 8. Gold stater of Lampsacus with

Mithradates VI Eupator Dionysus maenad, fourth century B.C. ANS

(120-63 B.C.), BM

England, to the colonies, to Francehence its use by Dupre as an

attribute of Libertas Americana.

Dupre's talent for giving visual expression to contemporary ideas

of freedom is nowhere better demonstrated than in the obverse of

this medal, above all through the motif of the hair of Liberty freely

flowing in the wind. This visual idea, too, can be traced to antiqui-

ty; the sources for the unloosed hair are Greek, rather than Roman.

However, the motif underwent an imaginative transformation in the

hands of Dupre far greater and more innovative than in the case

of his dutiful and straightforward adoption of the attributes of cap

and staff.

The waving locks of Dupre's natural seeming goddess, un-

constrained by any hat or diadem, need to be seen in the context

of the complicated, stilted, and powdered artificiality of contem-

porary, aristocratic, "real" hair styles in this late eighteenth-century

period (fig. 6). As the caricature conveys, these could bring elabora-

tion to the point of incendiary danger! In striking contrast, on the

medal, the hair unbound and moving with the wind, is a visual

metaphor of liberty.

Dupre's invention is based upon the reinterpretation of a motif

derived from classical art where unloosed hair was used to express

Dionysiac spiritual liberation. This motif can be seen on two an-

cient coin types from which Dupre seems to have derived inspira-

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tion. One is a hellenistic tetradrachm of Mithradates VI of Pontus

(120-63 B.C.), whose surname, Dionysus, inspired the exceptionally-

free treatment of his hair (fig. 7). A further reference to the name

Dionysus is the ivy wreath of the reverse, a symbol of the god.17

A specific detail of the Mithradatic coiffure, the short wayward lock

at the top, appears to be incorporated in Libertas Americana.

Another coin with Dionysiac associations is a gold stater of the city

of Lampsacus, of the fourth century B.C., with a representation of

a flowing-haired maenad, a female follower of Dionysus, wreathed

Augustin Dupre's Libertas Americana 71

with ivy (fig. 8).18 The rich sculptural treatment of the hair recalls

that of Libertas, and the feminine gender of the maenad may have

helped Dupre in finding a bridge from the hellenic Dionysiac models

to his medal.

Thus to the artistic question implied in the commission of Liber-

tas Americanahow to interpret the new American liberty in visual

terms?Dupre devised an original and effective answer. Drawing

upon the hellenic motif of Dionysiac liberation expressed through

abundant and unloosed hair, he transformed it to express a new

meaning for his own time: eighteenth century political liberation.

Thus it can be seen that the artist drew upon two strains of

liberating iconography from the antique, that of the spiritually

liberating god Dionysus, and that of Roman manumission with its

cap and staff, in creating the image of Libertas Americana.

The idea of the liberty as "blowing in the wind," to borrow a

pertinent phrase from songwriter Bob Dylan, appears a few years

later in the work of Dupre's friend, the painter Jacques Louis David.

In his important drawing for a monumental painting (never com-

pleted), that commemorates the early revolutionary event, the sworn

unity of the three estates in the "Tennis Court Oath," the fresh

breezes of liberty enter through the open windows, stirring the cur-

tains like celebratory pennants.19

9. United States cent, 1792, ANS

Dupre's artistic conception of Libertas does not conclude with

his striking of the medal, for Libertas Americana was the model

for the first coins struck by the United States Mint upon its establish-

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ment in 1792,20 such as the cent illustrated in fig. 9. There was

strong sentiment in Congress to place a portrait of George

Washington on the first coins, which he resisted on the grounds

that it was a monarchical practice and, with his characteristic

political acumen and consistency of purpose, urged the substitution

of a more appropriate concept: an emblem of Liberty.21 Given his

interest and involvement in the development of the first coin types,

it is likely he also suggested Dupre's Libertas Americana as a model

since it is known he owned one of the medals, Martha Washington

72

Yvonne Korshak

having showed it to a guest at Mount Vernon.22 The medal was

well known at the time, Franklin having sprinkled examples of it

liberally among Americans in government. It is unmistakable that

Dupre's medal is the source for the cent, but the subtlety of the

French artist's rendering has been lost in the translation: the god-

dess on the coin is coarsely rendered, and unfortunately her hair,

rather than seeming to flow freely in the winds of liberty, merely

looks unkempt. Something more signifying than the elegance of

Dupre's artistry has been lost: the cap and staff, that had accom-

panied Liberty since antiquity, are omitted.

The cap and staff are excluded on other contemporary coins in-

spired by the Dupre model, such as the 1792 pattern dime. The

reason for the elimination of the motif of cap and staff in these first

federal coins is the sensitivity in the period to the major issue

threatening union, that of slavery versus emancipation.

The nation had just emerged from the constitutional battles and

compromises of 1787, in which the major threat to union had been

the conflict between North and South over the slavery issue. Against

that background, it is not surprising that the new federal mint

reinterpreted the Dupre model along more generalized lines,

maintainingor trying to maintainthe inspirational effectiveness

of the flowing hair, but eliminating the cap and staff with their

specific and concrete references to the inflammatory issue of free-

ing slaves. Earlier, when the colonies were united in the cause of

independence, and the issue of slavery was not a focal point of con-

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flict, the liberty cap took a significant place on currency, on the 26

July 1775 notes issued by the Provincial Convention of Maryland

|Gg} ONE DOLLAR ar.J ONE THIRD of i DOLLAR.

'Tim bili of one DOLLAR and one third of a DOLLAR

lhaU entitle (he Bearer hereof to rt-civi -Gold and I.iLVFn, at the Kate ofj

\Fnr Sbiilint ."nd Su.pma sterling fcrDOLLAK, for r'.e (aid Bill, accorcttr.

JtoaRtsoLvt of the fROfWCIjIL CONVENTION of MAitl'L/NP, held ,;*

J City ot' A/attfeln, on the *6th Day.of July, mdcclxxy.

10. Newman, p. 143

Augustin Dupre's Libertas Americana 73

(fig. 10). As Eric Newman has described, the allegorical personifica-

tion of America, standing at the head of American troops, holds the

liberty cap and staff as she walks over a scroll marked SLAVERY;

on the left of the group, flanking the central figure of Brittania,

George III is shown "trampling the M(agna) CHART A and applying

a fire brand to an American city under attack by a British fleet."23

It is clear that in the period of the first issuance of federal coins,

such as the cent, the ideational link between the Liberty Goddess,

with her Roman symbols that represented the freeing of slaves, and

the cause of emancipation of American slaves was well known. In

the first abolitionist painting made by an American, The Genius of

America Encouraging the Emancipation of the Blacks (1790-92),

by Samuel Jennings, a Philadelphia abolitionist, the American Genius

is the Liberty Goddess, and her cap and staff are prominently

displayed. She leans toward the slaves who pay her homage, resting

the weight of her upper body on books, on learning, indeed on the

catalogues of the Philadelphia Free Library Company that commis-

sioned the painting.24 The library had been founded by the ubi-

quitous Benjamin Franklin and in this period was largely supported

by Quakers.

The visual vocabulary of Roman manumission, with liberty cap

and staff, expresses in Jennings's painting abolitionist support for

the emancipation of American slaves. In the context of the tension

in the period between North and South, and the recent and tenuous

Constitutional compromises, the generalized and inspirational god-

dess of the flowing hairdeprived on federal coins of the attributes

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that specifically referred to freeing of slavesavoided abolitionist

controversy.

The story of Dupre's image is quite different in France, a nation

which, for all of its revolutionary conflicts, was not divided on an

abolitionist issue. Largely although not exclusively through the in-

fluence of Dupre, the liberty cap became a central symbol of the

French Revolution. One of the first uses of the cap to symbolize liber-

ty in the early days of the Revolution in France is on a medal design-

ed by Dupre to commemorate the establishment of the Mayoralty

of Paris in June of 1789-25 Once the French Revolution was fully

underway, the imagery of the cap was seen everywhere, on top of

trees of liberty, on the Declaration of the Rights of Man, on com-

memorative plaques, medals, coins, as well as on decorative works

of furniture and porcelain.

Just as, in 1792, the United States adapted Dupre's Libertas

Americana for the first federal coins, in the same year the French

utilized Dupre's design for a revolutionary medal (fig. 11), but with

74

Yvonne Korshak

11. Liberti Francoise, 1792, Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale, Cabinet des medailles.

After AX. Millin, Histoire metallique de la Revolution franfaise (Paris, 1806), pi.

17, 66

a significant difference. While the American coins eliminated the

symbols of manumission, in the French version, the cap as well as

the staff are included. Nor did the French ever abandon the image

of the female goddess with her cap; rather, she was transformed

in meaning from Liberty into the Republic, and has lasted as the

vigorous, familiar symbol of the French Republic to this day.

While wariness with regard to abolitionist significance of the liber-

ty cap led to its omission from the earliest federal coins, some subse-

quent coins reinstated the cap along the lines of Dupre's medal, the

staff topped by the cap slanted behind the shoulder of the flowing-

haired goddess, and in the course of the nineteenth century, the

image of the liberty goddess with cap remained a common image

although there was competition from diademed Liberties and other

types. However, the persistence of the cap in the nineteenth cen-

tury is attributable to the inherent conventionalism of coin images,

which owe their acceptability to their traditionalism, particularly

in commerce over large geographic areas. In major works of art of

large scale, such as Thomas Crawford's Liberty for the dome of the

United States Capitol, the goddess with the cap was specifically re-

jected as an image of American Liberty,26 and gradually awareness

of the cap's true meaning was lost.

By 1879, Robert Morris writing on "The Liberty Cap on American

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Coins" felt an explanation was in order: "Yet, in reply to the query

what is this 'stick with a nightcap on it' which the French lady holds

on our trade dollar...." He went on to cite the Roman sources in

answer.27

As Theodore Roosevelt wrote to Augustus Saint-Gaudens while

they were developing ideas for a new coinage, "If we get down to

bedrock facts, would the [Indian] feather head-dress be any more

Augustin Dupre's Libertas Americana

75

12. Augustus Saint-Gaudens, United States Twenty-Dollar gold piece, 1907, business

strike, ANS

out of keeping with the rest of Liberty than the canonical cap which

never is worn and never has been worn by any free people in the

world?"28 With Roosevelt's and Saint-Gaudens's irritation with a

worn-out symbol, and sentiments for "our Libertynot what the

ancient Greeks and Romans miscalled by that title" the end of the

liberty cap as a signifying image in America was reached. The new

full length Liberty designed by Saint-Gaudens for the twenty dollar

gold piece (fig. 12), seen from the front and pressing forward vic-

toriously, does not even wear the Indian headdress as originally con-

ceived: her hair flows freely in the wind. Since Saint-Gaudens's im-

age of Liberty is frontal, hair flowing behind would be lost to view;

for this reason he has swung the loosed hair around to the side so

that the inspirational image cannot be missed. Thus Saint-Gaudens

finally arrived at a new transmutation of Dupre's inspired metaphor

of liberty.

1 J.F. Loubat, The Medallic History of the United States of America, 1776-1876,

1 (New York, 1878), pp. 86-94, pi. 14; James Ross Snowden, The Medallic Memorials

of Washington in the Mint of the United States (Philadelphia, 1861), p. 105; W.T.

Marvin, "Engravers of Revolutionary Medals," AJN 29 (1893), pp. 1-5.

2 Richard S. Patterson and Richardson Dougall, The Eagle and the Shield: A History

of the Great Seal of the United States (Washington, 1976), pp. 13-27 and fig. 4.

3 The work of this committee is discussed and illustrated in Patterson and Dougall

(above, n. 2), pp. 13-27; Jefferson proposed as a subject the children of Israel in the

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wilderness. None of the proposals made by this committee was adopted by Con-

gress, and the decision on the final design of the seal was delayed for several years.

76 Yvonne Korshak

1 For example, the sculpture of Hercules seated and strangling the two snakes in

the Capitoline Museum, Rome, illustrated in Michael Grant and John Hazel, Gods

and Mortals in Classical Mythology (Springfield, MA, 1973), p. 212.

5 Margaret Bieber, The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age, rev. ed. (New York, 1967),

pp. 134f.

6 Jerrine E. Mitchell, "Jacques-Louis David's Intervention of the Sabine Women:

A Reconsideration of its Subject Matter and Meaning," Abstracts, 71st Annual Meeting

College Art Association of America (Philadelphia, 1983), p. 48. The painting, in the

Louvre Museum, is illustrated in Antoine Schnapper, David, trans. Helga Harrison

(New York, 1980), p. 11, 109-10. For contacts between David and Dupre, see Charles

Saunier, Augustin Dupre (Paris, 1894), pp. 5, 7, 43, 48 and passim.

7 Salvatore Tondo, Aspetti symbolici e magici nella struttura giuridica della

manumissio vindicata (Milan, 1967); Thomas Wiedemann, Greek and Roman

Slavery (Baltimore and London, 1981).

8 For a Roman relief sculpture, in the Museum of Mariemont, Belgium, that appears

to depict the ceremony, see B. Van de Walle et al., Les antiquites igyptiennes, grec-

ques, etruscques, romains et gallo-romains du Musee du Mariemont (Brussels, 1952),

p. 138; for illustration and additional bibliography, see Yvonne Korshak, "The Liberty

Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in America and France," Smithsonian Studies in

American Art 1 (Fall 1987), fig. 1 and n. 3.

9 M. Myers, Jr., "Libertas in the Roman Imperial Coinage," Numismatic Review

1977, pp. 2-6.

10 Andrew Alfoldi, "The Main Aspects of Political Propaganda on the Coinage of

the Roman Republic," in Roman Coinage: Essays Presented to Harold Mattingly,

ed. R.A.G. Carson and C.H.V. Sutherland (Oxford, 1956), pp. 63-95; William B. Ober

and Ralph N. Wharton, "On the Phrygian Cap," New England Journal of Medicine

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255 (1956), pp. 571f.; Harry Stein, "Brutus and the Background of His Coinage,"

Numismatist 52 (1940), pp. 157-64.

1' Jean Babelon and Josephe Jacquiot, Histoire de Paris d'apres les midailles de

la Renaissance auXXsiecle (Paris, 1952), p. 74, 10 and pi. 2. Korshak (above, n.

8), fig. 3.

12 Gerand van Loon, Histoire metallique des XVII Provinces des Pays-Bos, 1 (The

Hague, 1732), p. 230. I am grateful to Robert Ernst for knowledge of this medal.

The nudity suggests a conflation with the allegorical idea of Truth, often shown nude

in this period; the palm branch and sword she holds, in place of her customary staff,

relate the figure to the idea of Victory.

13 fconologia del Cavaliere Cesare Ripa, ed. C. Orlandi, 4 (Perugia, 1766), pp. 30f.

14 Iconologie ou Explication Nouvelle de Plusieurs Images, Emblemes, et autres

Figures, Tiroes des Recherches et des Figures de Cesar Ripa, Moralisees par I. Bau-

doin (Paris, 1644), pi. 86.

15 The introduction of the liberty cap into the context of the eighteenth century

struggles for independence and freedom is traced in Korshak (above, n. 8), with il-

Augustin DuprG's Libertas Americana 77

lustrations of the Wilkes engraving (fig. 6), the punch bowl (fig. 7), and the masthead

of the Boston Gazette (fig. 8), and other examples.

16 Thus the cap, which is often thought of as a French emblem, was a signifying

image of the American struggle for independence and liberty well before it became

a symbol of the French Revolution. For N. Pruneau's engraving of George Washington

with the liberty cap placed on the pictorial frame above his head, dated to the late

1770s, see Korshak (above, n. 8), fig. 10, and fig. 11 for a French map of the theatre

of the American Revolution, with the Indian maiden, symbolizing America, holding

a staff topped by the liberty cap.

17 For a discussion of the type, and additional bibliography, see Colin M. Kraay

and Max Hirmer, Greek Coins (New York, 1966), pp. 376f, figs. 773-75.

18 Agnes Baldwin, "The Gold Staters of Lampsacus," AJN 53, pt. 3 (1924), p. 23,

17; J.P. Six, in NC 1888, p. 112, suggests the maenad may represent Olympias, the

mother of Alexander the Great, said to have been a follower of an orgiastic Dionysiac

cult (Plutarch, Alexander 2-3).

19 For the liberty cap in David's painting Paris and Helen, Salon of 1789, see

Yvonne Korshak, "Paris and Helen by Jacques Louis David: Choice and Judgment

on the Eve of the French Revolution," The Art Bulletin 69 (1987), pp. 102-16. The

Oath of the Tennis Court (1791), in the collection of the Louvre Museum (on loan

to the National Museum of the Palace of Versailles), is illustrated in Schnapper (above,

n. 6), pi. 50.

20 Cornelius Vermeule, Numismatic Art in America (Cambridge, MA, 1971) pp.

9f; Don Taxay, The U. S. Mint and Coinage (New York, 1966), pp. 65-78; J. Hewitt

Judd and A. Kosoff, United States Pattern, Experimental and Trial Pieces, 7th ed.

(Racine, WI, 1982).

21 Snowden, (above, n. 1), pp. 13ff.

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22 For mention of the medal by a visitor of 1797, see Julian Ursyn Miemcewicz,

"A Visit to Mount Vernon," trans. Metchie J.E. Budka, American Heritage 16 (1965),

pp. 68f.

23 Eric P. Newman, The Early Paper Money of America (Racine, WI, 1976), p. 134.

24 Library Company Minutes, vol. 3, pp 195ff., 206f., 225, 293, 299, 310, 313f.;

Prom Colony to Nation (Chicago, 1949), pp. 51 and 58, no. 71; Robert C. Smith,

"Liberty Displaying the Arts by Samuel Jennings," Winterthur Portfolio 2 (1965)

pp. 84-104; Edwin Wolf and Marie Kerey, eds., Quarter of a Millennium

(Philadelphia, 1981), no. 64; for Jennings's liberty goddess as an inventive synthesis

of Christian and classical iconography, see Korshak (above, n. 8), p. 63, fig. 21.

25 Illustrated in Korshak (above, n. 8), fig. 22. Maurice Agulhon, Marianne into

Battle: Republican Imagery and Symbolism in France, 1789-1880, trans. Janet Lloyd

(Cambridge, England, 1981), describes the development of the liberty cap in the course

of the Revolution, although he does not trace its introduction into the revolutionary

context.

26

Crawford originally planned, in 1854, to include the classical symbol of the cap

78 Yvonne Korshak

of liberty but, responding to pressure from the anti-abolitionist Secretary of War,

Jefferson Davis, Crawford replaced the cap with a helmet, and also made a parallel

alteration of his figure of History for the bronze doors of the Capitol. Robert L. Gale,

Thomas Crawford: American Sculptor (Pittsburgh, 1964), pp. 124, 150, 155, and

passim. For a parallel "taming" of images of liberty and the elimination of the cap

in the development of Hiram Powers's plans for a statue of Liberty, see Jean Pagan

Yellin, "Caps and Chains: Hiram Powers' Statue of 'Liberty'," American Quarterly

39 (1986), pp. 792-826.

27 Robert Morris, "The Liberty Cap on American Coins," AJN12 (1879), pp. 52ff.

28 For the correspondence between Roosevelt and Saint-Gaudens, see Taxay

(above, n. 20), pp. 308-20 (quotations are from letters from Roosevelt, 14 November

1905 [Taxay, p. 309] and 14 March 1906 [Taxay, p. 313]. See also discussion and

bibliography in John H. Dryfhout, The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens (Hanover,

NH, 1981), pp. 280-87; Barbara A. Baxter, The Beaux-Arts Medal in America (New

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York, 1987), pp. 51-54.

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Medallic and Marble Memorials:

Mint to Mausoleum

in Victorian America

Cornelius Vermeule

Coinage of the Americas Conference

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

The American Numismatic Society, 1988

80 Cornelius Vermeule

The art of the medal in the United States from ca. 1830 to the

First World War begins in the pictorialism of John Trumbull and

the federalist era, moves past the nee-classicism of Napoleon's

world, has a long involvement in the narrative symbolism of the

decades before and after the Civil War, and, after the Centennial,

turns to a new idiom. This new vocabulary belongs to the age of

Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his pupils. Beside it, and influenced by

its innovations, stands the work of the engravers at the U.S. Mint,

a sculptural school perhaps more conservative than the in-

dependents but receptive to many of their ideas. The artists of the

U.S. Mint became involved with a Grecian classicism of the fourth

and, later, the fifth centuries B.C.1 They paved the way for the

Greek and Etruscan archaic and transitional style in American medals

after World War I, an art identified with such sculptors as Paul

Manship.2

If the medallic beginnings are grounded in the heroic narrative

art of American painters in LondonBenjamin West and John

Singleton Copleyand the later phases depend on French trends

in the 1880s and 1890s or the revival of a high classical and earlier

hellenism, the intermediate decades belong to an art that is both

expressively Victorian and peculiarly American. The neo classicism

which gave way to sentiment in the Victorian cemetery also gave

way to an art of the sentimental heroic in the medals which com-

memorated the triumphs and disasters of the growing Republic from

the Mexican War to the after-glow of the Civil War. The American

sculptors in Italy who sent back the great and popular statues and

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reliefs for the public monuments of the states united, soon to be

divided, also trained and inspired several generations of funerary

carvers for the mortuary gardens of America.3 Their iconography

and its vocabulary were very much that of their contemporaries

among the medalists of the United States.

French and German Medalists:

Examples for the Young United States

The French medalists, Duvivier, Dupre and Gatteaux, who design-

ed the Congressional medals for George Washington and his Revolu-

tionary War generals and colonels, leaned toward the pictorialism

of the grand French painting from the age of Louis XIV. Thus, the

reverse of Washington on Dorchester Heights on March 17, 1776,

is accurate enough according to the engravings of the time, but the

composition could be almost a painting by Adam Franz van der

Meulen of Louis XIV, the grand monarch, on a campaign in the Low

Medallic and Marble Memorials 81

Countries. The obverse of the famous Diplomatic Medal, commis-

sioned by Thomas Jefferson when he was Minister in Paris, is right

out of the fantasy engravings of symbolic life in the colonies or New

France before its capture in the French and Indian War. America

as an Indian princess in feathered bonnet and feathered skirt or kilt

is enthroned amid the produce of the New World, while the Roman

god of commerce, Mercury, with all his traditional attributes, runs

up to her. With an ample cloak on her left shoulder and over her

left leg, a quiver on her back and a strap across her bare upper body,

this rustic personification of America (or later, Columbia) is a form

of native Diana, with the cornucopiae of Fortuna cradled in her left

arm. The identical goddess-personification stands amid captured

flags and cannon to place a crown on the head of Daniel Morgan

for his victory over Colonel Tarleton at Cowpens in South Carolina

in the closing months of the Revolution.

Augustin Duprd (1748-1833), the creator of these two medals with

Indian princesses as personifications, put a complex view of the rout

of the British at Cowpens on the reverse of the Congressional medal

for General Daniel Morgan. There were paintings and engravings

of the retreating British, the charging Continentals and their Indian

allies.4 When Duprd turned to the medal for General Nathaniel

Green (or Greene) and the battle of Eutaw Springs, September 8,

1871, the last major engagement between the British and the

Americans in South Carolina, a new trend was started. The pic-

torialism of Dorchester Heights and the uplands around Cowpens

was replaced by an image of Victoria with wreath and palm alighting

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on a shield amid the captured standards one of which was given

to the victorious General.

The Germanic medalists who came to Philadelphia to take over

the United States Congressional commemorations from the French

imports continued the tradition of symbolic reverses. Thus, John

Reich (born 1768) used the clasped hands of an American officer

and a loyal Indian chief, peace pipe and hatchet crossed above, as

the reverse of a Presidential medal for Thomas Jefferson. Major

General Andrew Jackson defeated the British at New Orleans on

January 8, 1815, the last action of the War of 1812. The reverse

of the Congressional medal by Moritz Furst (born 1782) also takes

refuge in the symbolism of victory rather than in a view of the bat-

tlefield. A dramatic, rather rococo figure of Victoria has put down

her wreath and palm to inscribe a record of the triumph at the dic-

tation of Pax. The motif of Victoria writing up the successes on the

battlefield goes back to the triumphal sculpture and numismatic

reverses of imperial Rome.

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Cornelius Vermeule

American Medalists:

The Art Grows Grander and More Pictorial

It was medalists of the time of Charles Cushing Wright

(1796-1857), James B. Longacre (1794-1869), and Anthony C. Pa-

quet (1814-82) who brought the world of historical pictorialism back

into United States medallic art. The first grand example was the Con-

gressional award of March 9, 1848, to Lieutenant General Winfield

Scott for his string of victories in the campaign in Mexico. Six crowns

of laurel and oak enframe vistas of six battles and culminate in the

central scene of General Scott on horseback observing the capture

of Mexico City on September 14, 1847 (fig. 1). The fall of Mexico

City had been brought about by the great victory at Chapultepec

on September 13. All this is fitted in balanced fashion on the reverse

of a medal which, naturally, has a (Roman) bust of the General on

the obverse.

Pure pictorialism by the painter Seth Eastman (1808-75) and James

B. Longacre moves to the obverse of the Congressional and Presiden-

tial medal presented to Commander Duncan N. Ingraham in a resolu-

tion of August 4, 1854. The American sloop St. Louis is shown fac-

ing (down) the Austrian brig Hussar in the roads of Smyrna Gulf,

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with the city and its acropolis on Mount Pagus in the background

Medallic and Marble Memorials

83

(fig. 2). The reverse is given over to the complex wreath, the eagle,

and the glory of stars which were the signatures of work by

Longacre.

It remained for Anthony C. Paquet to produce, in 1859, the most

Roman of all medals so far consideredRoman in the uncompromis-

ing naturalism of the obverse portrait and the verism of the building

on the reverse. The honorand was James Ross Snowden, Director

of the U.S. Mint, and the building was the Greek revival, neo-classic

building in Philadelphia, built in 1832 and rendered fireproof in

1856. Director Snowden looks directly out at us, wearing his nar-

row, counting-house glasses and with the wart on his left cheek

rendered prominently. The Mint building is as detailed, from the

frames of the windows to the flagpole and the tall chimney,

doubtless the focus of the fireproofing. Roman medallions could not

show a Hadrian or a Septimius Severus and a temple or a triumphal

arch with more depth of detail.

The Apogee of Victorian Medallic

and Funerary Art in America

In 1866 and 1871, Paquet produced two large Congressional

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medals for acts of heroism and bravery which, as works of art, were

84

Cornelius Vermeule

splendid statements of Victorian romance, sentiment, and, of course,

heroism, the second medal, designed by C.Y. Coffin, had its parallels

in the funerary art of the middle of the nineteenth century in the

United States, the monument to William F. Harnden (founder of the

railway express service) in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Watertown,

being an excellent example (fig. 3). The first medal was awarded

in connection with the wreck of the steamship San Francisco in

1853. A man and a woman are shown through a starry porthole on

a flimsy raft, a ship approaching from the horizon at the rear. This

is no "Raft of the Medusa," the pyramidal composition being

dominated by much pseudo-classical drapery and the sentimental

pathos of the occasion. On the reverse, a truly Victorian "America"

crowns a sailor kneeling before her, while the eagle guards her

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throne (fig.4). A foretaste of later props, extending down to medals

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Medallic and Marble Memorials

85

86

Cornelius Vermeule

for Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, is evident, for the

full-rigged ship sailing in the left background is balanced by the

United States Capitol at the right rear.

The second medal, giant in scale, was for a very bizarre near-

tragedy, which ruined the lives of those close to the scene. George

F. Robinson saved the life of Secretary of State William H. Seward

on April 14, 1865. The obverse has Robinson's bust with twin

crowns above, and the reverse gives us the interior scene, Mr. Robin-

son grappling with the dagger-wielding assailant, while the Secretary

of State lies in bed, behind a partly-opened curtain (fig. 5). One Lewis

Powell, alias Payne, attacked Seward at the same time that John

Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln. Secretary Seward's wife and

daughter died of shock. The Roman proportions and spacing of the

figures in this indoor assault also have their narrative parallels in

the reliefs on the memorials being commissioned in this decade, the

relief showing Queen Victoria at home with the Prince Consort and

their children on the Albert Memorial in Edinburgh being a useful

example.

One of the last examples of Victorian neo-classicism in the United

States medallic art came in Paquet's medal of 1865 for President An-

drew Johnson. The reverse is conceived of as a stele and a statue

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group in a landscape symbolizing the prosperity of the United States

Medallic and Marble Memorials

87

from sea to shining sea (fig. 6). The very Grecian figure of Colum-

bia, the flag in her left hand, extends her right hand in a firm clasp

to a very Roman Indian standing at the left. Between them, on a

stepped base, is a Roman altar surmounted by a bust of George

Washington. On the front of the altar is the inscription PEACE (in

typical Victorian tombstone letters) framed by a wreath. The stark

neutrality of the surrounding surface of the flan adds to the Graeco-

Roman feeling for the composition.

The Mortuary Fascination with Ancient Egypt in America

The so-called Egyptian revival in American arts can be said to begin

with the opening of the Egyptian portals (flanked by their obelisks

and lotus-capital iron fencing) of Mount Auburn Cemetery, Water-

town, MA, in 1831 and close with Daniel Chester French's memorial

to Martin and Joseph Milmore in Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica

Plain, MA, set in place in August 1893 (fig. 7).5 The most common

manifestation of this fascination with the funerary cults of the

pharaonic Nile were the obelisks to be seen amid Graeco-Roman,

Gothic, and Renaissance or Palladian tombstones or tomb chambers

in virtually every older cemetery in the United States.6 Affluent

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Americans, like Caius Cestius, the official in Rome at the beginning

88

Cornelius Vermeule

of the Roman Empire, even opted to be buried in or under small

versions of the great pyramids at Gizeh near Cairo. One such

pyramid was constructed at West Point as a memorial to an army

engineer who had worked, inter alia, on the very Egyptian project

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of the Croton Reservoir.7

Medallic and Marble Memorials

89

The Egyptian sphinx, large and small, was also part of the land-

scape, the grandest such sculpture being the great creature carved

by Martin and Joseph Milmore to commemorate the abolition of

slavery, the preservation of the Union, and the Union dead in the

Civil War (fig. 8).8 This impressive granite memorial was set at the

top of the hill in front of the larger, Gothic chapel in Mount Auburn

Cemetery in the early 1870s, not far from the cenotaph of Colonel

Robert Gould Shaw who fell leading his regiment of black troops

against Fort Wagner, in Charleston Harbor, SC.9

A useful exercise would be to search for the Egyptian influences

on the medallic art of the United States in the sixty-odd years when

the cemeteries of America were being enriched with Egyptian quota-

tions. The most prominent example has the connotations of tragic

death so cherished in the mortuary inscriptions of Civil War

America. This is George T. Morgan's Presidential medal for Abraham

Lincoln. The Victorian wreath of oak and laurel dominates the

reverse, where just below the inscription ASSASSINATED APRIL 14,

1865, we find "(Within the wreath,) a spray of pine and cedar, circl-

ed by (a) serpent with tail in its mouth, the Egyptian symbol of eter-

nity and immortality" (fig.9).10

Antonio Canova and his followers in Italy and Austria or Germany

had employed Egyptian elements, notably the pyramid, in their

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grand funerary monuments, and these pyramids were transcribed

90 Cornelius Vermeule

on the neo-classic medals which honored the Popes, royalty, and

other personages buried in these tombs. Such medals came to North

America in the decades around and after the Napoleonic wars, and

they were one more important source for the Egyptian Revival in

the commemorative and funerary sculpture of the United States.

Classical Greece and the Italian Renaissance:

The Influence of Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Graeco-Roman is the operative phrase for the President Andrew

Johnson medal described earlier, for very shortly the United States

official medals will be influenced by the art of the Attic funerary

monument as interpreted in such monumental mystic figures as the

Adams Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in Rock Creek

Cemetery, Washington, D.C., or various funerary and com-

memorative statues by Daniel Chester French.11 Then would come

the influences of late archaic and transitional Greek sculpture in the

medallic art of the United States. In the midst of all this, as men-

tioned earlier, Saint-Gaudens and certain of his followers, such as

James E. Fraser, would try an Italian Renaissance revival (the for-

mat and lettering of Antonio Pisano, called Pisanello) in America

of the decades from 1889 to the First World War. Even the Con-

gressional medal for the British Captain who rescued the survivors

of the Titanic in 1912 would be carried out partly in this Renaissance

taste. The realism of relief sculpture and statuary as a result of the

Civil War had some echoes in U.S. medallic art, more in private

medals than in anything produced at the U.S. Mint. Such realism

reached its apogee in Europe in medals leading up to and including

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World War I. One excellent example is the medal struck for the vic-

torious conclusion of the World War in Belgium. On one side a

soldier charging over the trenches with fixed bayonet symbolizes

the final offensive in Flanders, September 28 to November 11, 1918.

On the second side, the victorious entry of the King and Queen of

the Belgians into Brussels on November 22, 1918, is shown in

dramatic detail.

One of the first of the Grecian stele compositions on an official

United States medal is Charles E. Barber's creation late in 1901 to

commemorate the martyred President William McKinley. On the

reverse, Columbia stands with gestures and symbols of mourning,

a V-shaped shield with Presidential eagle and a palm with wreath.

Columbia is a veiled and heavily-draped statue on a pedestal. In

1907, George T. Morgan teamed with Barber, his chief engraver at

the mint, to produce a hybrid medal commemorating President

Medallic and Marble Memorials 91

Theodore Roosevelt's dispatch of the Atlantic Squadron of the

United States Navy on a cruise around the world. The obverse with

the presidential bust has the epigraphic format of a Renaissance

medal, while the reverse combines allegory of the Greek fourth cen-

tury B.C. or the early hellenistic age with the naturalism of a Roman

triumphal relief, or here in terms of iconography, a contemporary

photograph. A chubby putto (Amorino) hoists the flag, while Col-

umbia waves farewell to the departing fleet. Three of the sixteen

battleships in the "Great White Fleet" are shown steaming on a

parallel course, beyond a Roman or Renaissance balustrade on which

appears the eagle and the shield of the U.S., as well as an inscrip-

tion which could have been on the architectural enclosure of a com-

memorative ensemble by Saint-Gaudens and Stanford White. Final-

ly, the rectangular rather than circular shape of the medal, with its

curved top edge, is all designed to suggest a relief in miniature rather

than a creation related to numismatic art.12

The Paris Universal Exposition Medals of 1889 and 1900

The high points of the new medallic art at the end of the Vic-

torian era were embodied in the official medals for the two great

fairs held in the French capital in 1889 and 1900. The first medal

was the work of Jean-Baptiste Daniel Dupuis (1849-99), and the se-

cond was the creation of Jules-Clement Chaplain, his older contem-

porary (1839-1909) and perhaps the greatest French medalist of the

new, romantic imagery. These and similar French medals certainly

influenced the styles and compositions of the followers of Augustus

Saint-Gaudens in America, but the United States government

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engravers at the Philadelphia Mint were relatively undisturbed by

the Beaux-Arts currents of France. This may have been the reason

for the turmoil in the years from the Columbian Exposition of 1892

and 1893 until Saint-Gaudens, his contemporaries, and his followers

redid the coinage from 1907 to 1917. The official engravers seem

to have moved from Victorian neo-classicism to a sentimental ver-

sion of the Attic fifth and fourth century B.C. art practiced by Saint-

Gaudens in many of his funerary monuments. The Adams Memorial

noted earlier was his powerful statement of this art.

The obverses of the two medals present two very similar studies

of the spirit of the French Republic, a lady of classic determination.

The first bust is heavier than the second, which emphasizes fussier

details of the liberty cap (rather than a coif of hair), wreath, drapery,

and the tree behind. J.-C. Chaplain filled out his obverse with vistas

of Paris, the palaces used for the fair, behind the bust and the figures

92

Cornelius Vermeule

10

on the obverse and reverse. Views of the figures on the reverse seem

to confirm that, while J.-C. Chaplain was more famous than J.-B.

D. Dupuis, the medal for the 1889 exposition was a stronger work

of art than that which commemorated the fair at the turn of the

century.

The reverse of the 1889 medal presents a splendid composition

of the arts or peace protecting a child with a torch and crowning

a man whose tools suggest he personifies labor or industry (fig. 10).

The Eiffel Tower provides a vertical exclamation point in the right

background. Costumes, and the lack of them, suggest a debt to a

relaxed, fluid classicism, well overlaid with the faces and poses of

the new art which developed in France with popular romanticism

after the middle of the nineteenth century. The setting, from the

altar, cippus, or bench on which the goddess-personification sits,

to the ledge on which labor rests for inspiration, is an accomplish-

ed podium for the figures to act out their roles. The front of the

ledge or step is tastefully framed to encompass the locale and the

date of the Exposition Universelle, so hailed in the strong yet discreet

lettering around the medal's upper edge.

The reverse of Chaplain's medal of 1900 is a stricter classical

quotation, one which does not come off well in the art dominant

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in France and flourishing in the United States at the hands of Daniel

Medallic and Marble Memorials

93

Chester French and his contemporaries.13 A winged, wreath-

bearing "goddess," the spirit of France rather than Nike-Victoria,

flies upward, wreath in hand and a torch-bearing Genius in the old

DeWitt Clinton pose of thought seated on her back (fig. 11). The

odd composition is based on the motif of apotheosis as seen both

on Roman imperial sestertii of Sabina (A.D. 135) or the two Faustinas

(A.D. 141 and 175) and on the commemorative reliefs which

honored the memories of Hadrian's wife Sabina and the elder

Faustina, wife of Antoninus Pius. Somehow, the design, the com-

position, does not translate into a medal to be given exhibitors and

prize-winning artists at a major international fair in 1900. Finally,

a small point to be sure, the lettering on obverse and reverse of the

second medal is too weak and too close to the edges of the flan.

In the appreciations published after Chaplain's death on July 13,

1909, his portraits were cited as the glory of his work. Perhaps the

ideal qualities of this medal pointed up the weaknesses in the

creativity of a sculptor termed "this severe, exact, and powerful

artist."14

The French medalists of the two generations after the military

disasters of 1870 were, if nothing extremely prolific, both in the

varied numbers of designs and in the numbers of medals struck.

Their suave products reached around the world and influenced com-

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94

Cornelius Vermeule

parable works of art in countries from Japan to Brazil to the United

States and Canada.

The Arts of Archaic and Transitional Greece:

New Idioms for the American Medal

The era of scientific sculptural revival, archaic and transitional

Greek art, came to the United States medal with the work of Chief

Engraver John Ray Sinnock, George T. Morgan's successor. In 1928

he produced the medal for President Calvin Coolidge, and two years

later the mint struck his medal for President Herbert Hoover. Strong

profile portraits of the two men in their civilian attire dominated

the obverses. The reverse of the Coolidge medal featured an enthron-

ed personification (Liberty?), represented in the severe style of Greek

sculpture, that is the years 465 to 455 B.C. (fig. 12). On the Hoover

medal, America, Columbia, or Liberty-Freedom (all share similar at-

tributes) stands facing, holding symbols of war and peace. Here, the

figure has qualities of and strong influences from the art of late ar-

chaic Greece, the years 510 to 490 B.C. Specific, famous master-

pieces of Greek sculpture come to mind when looking at these

matronly ladies holding their great bundles of lictors' staves or rods,

with the axes of supreme power very evident. The seated figure

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recalls the goddess (Demeter?) from Tarentum in the Berlin Museum,

Medallic and Marble Memorials 95

and the standing personification has been influenced by the famous

Lady in a Peplos, a garment with an overfold (as here on the medal),

for many years in the front hall of the American Academy in Rome

and now an ornament of the central court of Isabella Stewart Gard-

ner's Museum in Boston's Fenway area." Clearly, Sinnock was tur-

ning to the same font of up-to-date, academic classicism, early Greek

and Etruscan sculpture, which was inspiring many American

sculptors such as Paul Manship, Carl Jennewein or Walker Hancock,

who had worked at the American Academy in Rome or who had

visited the museums of Italy and Greece and had looked at histories

of Greek sculpture illustrated with good photographs.

A later Congressional medal with a reverse in this modern form

of neo-classicism was created by Frank Gasparro and Gilroy Roberts

in 1958 in honor of Vice Admiral Hyman George Rickover. A Greek,

late severe style "Herakles" (in the manner of the sculptor Paul Man-

ship) kneels to the right, extended hands touching one of three ellip-

tical lines which encircle his body. This is the medallic reduction

and transformation of those bronze statues of heroes set up around

the piazzas of corporate and some public buildings in the 1930s,

notably Paul Manship's conception of Prometheus set above the

skating rink or sunken piazza at Rockefeller Center in New York

City.

The totally abstract and the completely conceptual hit United

States medals as well as larger, three-dimensional sculpture after

World War II, but forms of classicism or painterly pictorialism re-

main the most solid fare of medallic art. Both continue in com-

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memorative statues and related reliefs, although national self-doubts

diminished public art.

Summation and Conclusion

Just as there are many, varied, private monuments in the older

cemeteries of America, so there are many different medals from the

era of Revolutionary diplomacy and triumph to the celebration of

confidence under Theodore Roosevelt.16 Medals public and private

had their artistic roots in the pictorialism of painting and the

classicism of sculpture. Just as French and Italian sculptors

monumentalized the founding fathers and their buildings, so French

and German medalists had a hand in creating the commemorative

numismatics of the new nation. When medallic art became American

after the war of 1812, sculptors in stone were ready to create abroad,

in Italy where marble was good and skilled finishers plentiful, and

to train or inspire the local carvers in the parks and cemeteries of

96 Cornelius Vermeule

the homeland. From this time, coincidental with Victoria's advent

on the throne of England, the arts of the medal, the marble (later

bronze) relief or statue, and the grand engravings after great pain-

tings were interwoven.

The character of classicism became more refined as the pupils of

Augustus Saint-Gaudens turned to medals from the late 1880s on-

ward. John Ruskin and Charles Eliot Norton brought the world of

the Italian Quattrocento, notably Pisanello or Donatello, into

American art. The peopled architectural drawings of Henry and

Francis H. Bacon for the Assos excavations of the early 1880s made

an influential mark in the architectural settings of F.H. Bacon's

cousin Henry Bacon, in the sculptures of Daniel Chester French and

in the allegorical figures on the medals of the late nineteenth and

early twentieth centuries. By 1900, American sculpture, including

the medal, was embarked on a sophisticated path which has extend-

ed, with variations, to modern times.17

1 Ideas expressed here were worked out in connection with the catalogue, Medals

to Masters, Drawings and Medals. The Italian Renaissance to Modern America,

The Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul's School, Concord, NH, April-May 1987 and

Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, NH, June-August 1987;

especially the section, "Medals: France, The Thirteen Colonies, and the United States,"

nos. 31-58. The catalogue included all the French and Germanic medals struck for

or by the young republic. Thanks are due to Lauretta Dimmick, Richard Doty, Jonathan

Fairbanks, Richard Hamilton, Harvey Stack, Norman Stack, James Risk, Alan Stahl,

and Florence Wolsky.

2 See Frederick D. Leach, Paul Howard Mansbip, an Intimate View, Sculpture

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and Drawings from the Permanent Collection of the Minnesota Museum of Art (Saint

Paul, 1972); Jonathan L. Fairbanks, "A Century of Classical Tradition in American

Sculpture, 1830-1930," in American Figurative Sculpture in the Museum of Fine

Arts, Boston, by Kathryn Greenthal, Paula M. Kozol, Jan Seidler Ramirez (Boston,

1986), pp. xi-xvii. American medalists not only saw the work of their European

preceptors in libraries and historical societies in the United States, they also saw the

small bronze reproductions of famous Graeco-Roman and neo-classical sculptures

brought home from the Grand Tour: see Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste

and the Antique, The Lure of Classical Sculpture, 1500-1900 (New Haven and Lon-

don, 1981), p. 124.

3 Wayne Craven, Sculpture in America (New York, 1968), chap. 3, "The

Artistically-Inclined Stonecutter," and chap. 4, "The First Expatriates: Neo-classicism

vs. Naturalism;" EdmundV. Gillonjr., Victorian Cemetery Art (New York, 1972),

Introduction and the plates with their captions.

Medallic and Marble Memorials 97

4 See C. Vermeule, Philatelic Art in America, Aesthetics of the United States

Postage and Revenue Stamps (Weston, MA, 1987), p. 69.

5 The Milmore Memorial, 1889-1893: Michael Richman, Daniel Chester French:

An American Sculptor (New York, 1976), pp. 71-79.

6 The two greatest Egyptian monuments in America are the obelisks for George

Washington in the nation's capital and at Bunker Hill in Charlestown, MA, although

one could count the real "Cleopatra's Needle" in Central Park, New York. See G.D.

Scott III, Ancient Egyptian Art at Yale (New Haven, 1986), p. 11, fig. 1 (the New

York obelisk still in place in Alexandria, 1876); Labib Habachi, The Obelisks of Egypt

(New York, 1977), pp. 176-82, pis. 48-50 (erected in New York January 1881).

In the art of United States paper money, the famous Educational Note of 1896,

designed by Will H. Low and engraved by Charles Schlecht, does feature the

Washington Monument as the focus for the allegorical figures and the names of great

Americans in classical wreaths on the reverse: see R., A.L., and I.S. Friedberg, Paper

Money of the United States (New York, 1978), p. 50.

7 Strangely, save for the panorama on the reverse of the Educational Note (see

above, n. 6), United States paper money almost escaped Egyptian graphics, the ocular

pyramid on the reverse of the dollar since 1935 being part of the Great Seal of the

United States: Friedberg (above, n. 6), pp. 160-61.

8 Gillon (above, n. 3), p. 129, fig. 193 (the Milmore sphinx); p. 131, fig. 197 (sphinx

and obelisk in Lowell, MA); pp. 46-47, figs. 60, 63 (pyramid, Egyptian portal, sphinx

adoring the Virgin and Child, and St. John the Baptist, in Greenwood Cemetery,

Brooklyn, NY). The obligatory sphinx in the "Africa" group for Cass Gilbert's United

States Custom House, New York (1903-7), is very archaeological, depicting the bat-

tering caused by Napoleon's artillery on the face of the great Sphinx at Gizeh. See

Richman (above, n. 5), pp. 103-11, figs. 6, 11.

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9 The famous Shaw Memorial of 1884-97, the bronze relief of the Colonel on

horseback with his troops marching in columns beside him, is, of course, opposite

the State House on Boston Common, see John H. Dryfhout, The Works of Augustus

Saint-Gaudens (Hanover and London, 1982), pp. 222-29, no. 166; Kathryn Green-

thai, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Master Sculptor (New York, 1985), pp. 141-51.

10 Kenneth M. Failor and Eleanora Hayden, Medals of the United States Mint

(Washington, 1972), p. 35, no. 116; Vermeule (above, n. 1), no. 44. Compare the

various Lincoln inaugural medals which feature only inscriptions and wreaths, or

both, since the Great Emancipator was still alive and no sepulchral connections were

implied: Neil Mac Neil, The President's Medal, 1789-1977 (New York and Washington,

1977), p. 32.

11 For the Adams Memorial of 1886-91, see Dryfhout (above, n. 9), pp. 189-93,

no. 143; Greenthal (above, n. 9), pp. 130-35, figs. 126-32.

Among the related allegorical figures, compare Richman (above, n. 5), pp. 143-50,

"Manhattan and Brooklyn," 1913-16, figs. 11, 12, in place outside the Brooklyn

Museum. Beyond their own archaeological studies and travels, Saint-Gaudens, French,

and Sargent saw the worlds of French, Italian, Greek, and Ottoman art and antiqui-

ty in the precise yet spirited paintings and water colors of Joseph Lindon Smith

(1863-1950); see Philip Hendy, European and American Paintings in the Isabella

Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 240-43; also J. Lindon Smith and C.

98 Cornelius Vermeule

Lindon Smith, Tombs, Temples and Ancient An (Norman, OK, 1956), especially

chaps. 1-3 on Egypt and 45-49 on the classical world.

12 Illustrated in Barbara A. Baxter, The Beaux-Arts Medal in America (New York,

1987), pp. 54-55, no. 209. Compare the reverse of this medal with the very dramatic

painting Return of the Conquerors, September 29, 1899 by Edward Moran

(1829-1901) in the collection of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, MD,

showing the victorious fleet steaming in lines abreast and firing salutes past the Statue

of Liberty: The American Renaissance, 1876-1917 (New York, 1979), pp. 15-16,

fig. 9. The two-dollar note in the second Federal Reserve issue of 1918 has a bat-

tleship steaming confidently across the reverse: Friedberg (above, n. 6), p. 119.

13 Compare, for example, the Dumesnil monument or the Faria monument,

sculpted by Charpentier in 1912, in St. Vincent Cemetery, Paris: Judi Culbertson and

Tom Randall, Permanent Parisians, An Illustrated Guide to The Cemeteries of Paris

(Chelsea, VT, 1986), pp. 132-39; also the Eros seated on a block of stone at the feet

of a small grave in Division 2 of the Passy cemetery near the Eiffel Tower, pp. 146-47.

The Triumph of the Republic, an overlifesized bronze group by Jules Dalou

(1838-1902), unveiled in the Place de la Nation, Paris, in 1899, includes figures related

to the reverses of these medals: H.W. Janson, 19th-Century Sculpture (New York,

1985), pp. 196-97, fig. 224.

l* Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Contemporary Medals, The

American Numismatic Society, March 1910, Rev. ed. (New York, 1911), p. 49.

15 For the Berlin goddess, see German Hafner, Art of Rome, Etruria, and Magna

Graecia (New York, 1969), p. 60; E. Langlotz and M. Hirmer, Ancient Greek Sculpture

of South Italy and Sicily (New York, 1965), p. 266, pis. 50, 51; B.S. Ridgway, The

Severe Style in Greek Sculpture (Princeton, 1970), pp. 93-94, fig. 125. For the Lady

in a Peplos, see C.C. Vermeule III, Walter Calm and Rollin van N. Hadley, Sculpture

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in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), frontispiece and pp. 6-7,

no. 10. C.C. Vermeule, Greek and Roman Sculpture in America, Masterpieces in

Public Collections in the United States and Canada (Malibu and Berkeley, 1981),

p. 40, no. 14 and color pi. 3.

16 In painting, the confident era can be summed up in the artists working together

or individually in the major centers of the United States: e.g., Trevor J. Fairbrother

etal, The Bostonians, Painters of an Elegant Age, 1870-1930 (Boston, 1986). The

American Impressionist Theodore Robinson (1852-96) painted a panoramic view of

the World's Columbian Exposition in 1894, a vista which reminds us that the focal

point of the end of the Lagoon, the central axis of the fairgrounds in this celebration

of the triumph of confident America, was both classical and Egyptian, a colonnade

and an obelisk: see Carol Troyen, in Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Carol Troyen, and

Trevor J. Fairbrother, A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting 1760-1910

(Boston, Washington, and Paris, 1983), pp. 319-20, no. 95.

17 The two parkland cemeteries of greater Boston, Mount Auburn and Forest Hills,

faithfully proclaim the changes in American architectural and sculptural taste, especial-

ly the arts of sculptural decoration, from 1830 to 1930. The first cemetery has a

grand Egyptian gate with winged solar disc on the upper facade and obelisks flank-

ing; the second cemetery features a perfect Gothic entryway, right out of England

during the Wars of the Roses or, contemporarily, the Victorian crescendo of the Albert

Memorial in London. The famous sculptures of Mount Auburn, from the Milmore

Medallic and Marble Memorials 99

sphinx to Thomas Ball's Chickering allegories (both dating in the early 1870s), belong

to the classical and Egyptian phases of American creativity, while Forest Hills abounds

in ideal figures and settings which go from the Gothic to the Celtic and then to the

continental traditions of Saint-Gaudens and French, including the classical settings

(hemicycles, exedras and benches) developed by Stanford White and his pupils. Among

the latter, Henry Bacon, who worked with his cousin Francis on the reconstructions

of Assos in the Troad (between 1882 and World War I), did the setting for French's

statue of Abraham Lincoln (seated in mighty Georgia marble on a Roman magistrate's

throne) in Washington, D.C. (1922) and since 1959 visible in this architectural set-

ting on the reverse of the United States cent by Frank Gasparro (the obverse being

Victor D. Brenner's famous profile bust of 1909). See Richman (above, n. 5), pp.

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171-86, figs. 1-19.

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John Cotton Dana and the

Ideal Museum Collection of Medals

Dorothy Budd Bartle

Coinage of the Americas Conference

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

The American Numismatic Society, 1988

102 Dorothy Budd Bartle

The formation and use of a medals collection for an American

public institution during the Beaux-Arts era is exemplified unique-

ly by the theories and practices of John Cotton Dana. Pioneering

librarian and innovative museum director, Dana was essentially a

great educator. His ideas were perfectly suited to interest the public

of a thriving industrial city and the Newark Museum was his own

creation.' The theories he introduced at Newark in the early years

of the twentieth century influenced the direction of libraries and

museums throughout America.

Certain aspects of Dana's philosophy were put into practice in

the field of medals. Here he involved the Newark-born sculptor, John

Flanagan, and a local medal manufacturer, Chester R. Hoag, of the

firm of Whitehead & Hoag. Dana was a man of many words, very

quotable; a colorful public figure about whom much has been writ-

ten. Flanagan was a successful sculptor, active and recognized

throughout a long life. The Whitehead & Hoag Company, closely

associated with the Museum since its founding, mass-produced

medals, badges and novelties on an international scale.

Exhibitions of 1910 and 1928 illustrate how medals could be us-

ed successfully for education and enjoyment in a general museum

of "art, science, technology and history." Museum archives con-

tain particular information regarding loans, gifts and purchases.

These often-overlooked references reveal many of Dana's personal

insights as to how he worked to build his ideal museum collection

of medals and use it for the common good.

The Newark Museum's participation in the American Numismatic

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Society's 1987 conference on "The Medal in America" and its ac-

companying exhibition brings us full circle. The "International Ex-

hibition of Contemporary Medals," hosted by the Society from

March 9 through April 1, 1910, provided Dana with an unparallel-

ed survey of the field: its history, techniques of manufacture and

its contemporary artists. Dana was well aware of the activities of

New York institutions. The ANS's major exhibition and its detail-

ed, illustrated catalogue had both an immediate and long-lasting in-

fluence, one which, to his credit, Dana acknowledged.2

The exhibition, however, was a summary of Beaux-Arts styles here

and abroad without a full introduction to modernism such as the

Armory Show would present only three years later. Nonetheless,

by the end of 1910, the Newark Museum had shown medals by at

least nine American artists3 represented in the Society's exhibition

and, in January 1911, it had purchased twelve examples for its per-

manent collection, some perhaps the very works illustrated in the

Society's catalogue.4

John Cotton Dana

103

One of Dana's talents was his ability to involve people in certain

activities which he administered. John Flanagan, one of the finest

medalists of the Beaux-Arts period, was closely associated with the

NM throughout his life. There are more than 70 of his art works

in the collection because Dana firmly believed that American artists

should be promoted over Europeans. The long acquaintance of Dana

and Flanagan must have begun in 1902 since John Cotton and Nadine

Dana came to Newark in January of that year and Flanagan return-

ed home from Europe some months later.

There are three medallic portraits of Dana by Flanagan, based on

life sketches and commemorating Dana's accomplishments. One,

a bronze galvano plaque, is a typical Flanagan profile, certainly part

of his series of portraits of friends, fellow artists and distinguished

persons (fig. 1). Dated 1933, this is posthumous (Dana died in 1929)

and made at the request of Dana's friend, Henry Watson Kent of

the Metropolitan Museum of Art.5 In 1942 Kent presented a replica

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to the Century Club where he and Dana had been members. Because

104 Dorothy Budd Bartle

the portrait shows an aged Dana, it is difficult to reconcile this por-

trayal with the sharpness and vigor in the catalogue description of

the Century Association's collection:

Dana, a hell-fire Puritan from Vermont, did more than

any other man to attract Americans into museums. He

sharpened his language by studying law and then form-

ed his philosophy of public service by working in libraries

to "put the right books in the right hands at the right

time." As the organizer of The Newark Museum, he lam-

basted "that popular ideal, the classical building of a

museum of art, filled with rare and costly objects. It adds

to its inutility a certain power for harm.... Objects do not

make a 'museum,' they merely form a 'collection.'6

Other portraits of Dana were produced for the new Newark

Museum building, dedicated in 1925 when, because of the growth

of collections and activities, the museum became an entity separate

from the library. The new building was only a block away and Dana

continued as administrator of both institutions. A large bronze pla-

que to him was installed near the main entrance.

A companion piece, also by Flanagan, shows Louis Bamberger

who donated the bulding at a cost of an estimated $750,000.

(Bambergera "merchant prince" of Newarkwas one of Dana's

most ardent supporters from the business world.) The original

Flanagan sketches were also used in the creation of small bronze

plaquettes of Dana and Bamberger which served as souvenirs of the

dedication of the building. Like the larger plaques, they were struck

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in 1928 and 1925 respectively. The plaquettes were by the Medallic

Art Company which made many of Flanagan's works. They were

issued approximately in the same number and materials and sold

at the same prices: Dana's unique gold piece at $230; 12 silver pieces

at $12; and 200 bronze at $2.60 each.7

Dana's library career began in Denver, Colorado; there he in-

troduced new concepts, such as open book stacks so that visitors

could browse freely. Use of the library rose dramatically and news

of Dana's innovations received wide notice. Although he had no

formal training in the field, he was elected president of the American

Library Association in 1895. He soon moved to Springfield, MA,

where a large library functioned with museums of science and art.

Dissatisfaction developed over the administration of the museums,

and Dana resigned to accept the position of librarian at the Free

Public Library in Newark. He came at age 46, his ideas and

philosophy of education fully matured. It is quite possible he arriv-

ed with the very idea of establishing a museum.

John Cotton Dana 105

Newark at the turn of the century was the major city in New

Jersey. Its population nearly doubled between 1890 and 1900, with

skilled and unskilled workers of diverse nationalities. When two

library trustees journeyed to Springfield to offer Dana the position

of librarian, one warned him that Newark was neither a book-reading

community nor a library center. Dana replied, "Let's make it

both."8 When he arrived in Newark "he found a city of 23 square

miles, with a population of 300,000 and only one public high

school."9

The era of peace and prosperity following the Civil War brought

to Newark, as to many American cities, a generation of monied

families whose businesses and homes were in the city. Many travel-

ed abroad, acquired collections and became patrons of the arts. In

spite of close proximity to New York, there was a growing desire

to have their own public cultural institutions. Pride and some

gratitude for their prosperity prompted an interest in donating

statues and buildings to beautify the city's public parks and avenues.

There was a spirit of new beginning and adventure with the arrival

of a new century.

Dana assumed his position in a library building completed only

in the previous year. He must have approved of its Renaissance style

because it was not as forbidding as the classical, which suggested

to him an aloof, bank-like stronghold. Also, the library as a public

institution was readily accessible, located in a small park; not

isolated, but downtown on one of the city's main arteries.

Understandably, Flanagan was awarded the commission to create

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a large sculpture in high relief to be placed over the main door of

the library. He was the only Newark-born sculptor to supply statuary

for the city. Dana never failed to point out the international suc-

cess of this local artist, the "foremost medalist in this country,"10

and use it as a source of civic pride. Wisdom Instructing the Children

of Men, was installed on the library facade in 1909.

For his staff, Dana intentionally chose persons who had little for-

mal training and thus could easily break with tradition and be recep-

tive to his unusual ideas. His most able assistant was Beatrice Winser,

who assumed the routine duties of running both library and

museum. (Much of Flanagan's correspondence was therefore with

Miss Winser.) At Dana's death, she became director and carried on

his policies. Others on Dana's staff were apprentices who learned

the profession by working in all departments. Dorothy Dudley of

the Apprentice Class of 1925/26, became a member of the Exhibits

Department and was in charge of the "Medals Made in Newark"

exhibition of 1928. With Dana as editor and coauthor, she also pro-

106 Dorothy Budd Bartle

duced an illustrated booklet for the show.11 From Newark, she

went on to a distinguished career at the Museum of Modern Art in

New York where she served as registrar for 33 years.

Dana's Board of Trustees, made up of interested citizens, generally

supported his innovations. With Dana as librarian, a wide variety

of contacts and activities reached out into all areas of the communi-

ty. Constantly writing and speaking, Dana publicized the institution

in awareness of the value of public relations. In general, this was

greeted with appreciation and enthusiasm, especially when the suc-

cess of the"new" library received national recognition. Among his

later credits were: "citizen" who "helped to create our greater ci-

ty" and who "blazed intellectual trails in culture, education and

industry."12

From the beginning, the library had informally exhibited objects

in its public rooms. Fortuitously, the top floors of the building (ac-

cessible by elevator) were not yet needed for the library's literary

collections and thus were available for meeting rooms and galleries.

Approximately a third of the fourth floor was devoted to science.

Three other rooms became art galleries for changing exhibitions.

At first, by necessity, these were largely objects on loan from

trustees, members and local collectors. Clubs, institutions, businesses

and individuals were invited to participate. The exhibitions were

well received and the library's own collection grew by gift and pur-

chase. With the city's blessing, the Newark Museum Association was

formed on April 29, 1909-

An especially ambitious undertaking was the milestone 1912

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"Modern German Applied Arts" (Werkbund Exhibit of Industrial

and Applied Art), the first museum showing in America of an in-

dustrial art exhibition. Dana brought to Newark more than 1,300

objects, created by contemporary artists and craftsmen in Germany

and Austria, which traveled to museums in five other American

cities. Dana had long advocated the theory that beauty can be found

in everyday objects. He was now established as the major museum

proponent of the need for a close relationship between the artist

and the manufacturer.13

The average exhibition contained a variety of objects shown

tastefully in combination. Installation provided a simple unobtrusive

background, the colors pale and the materials plain so that they

could be reused without costly, time-consuming changes. Exhibi-

tion cases and furniture were sturdy golden oak "library bureau,"

still in use today. Several of the cases were donated, along with

medals, by Whitehead & Hoag.14 Objects were always well label-

ed, and inexpensive booklists, checklists or small, easily-carried

John Cotton Dana

107

catalogues usually guided visitors through the exhibition and led

on to additional information about the objects. Printed material, con-

sidered a vital supplement, was often produced in the library's print-

shop under Dana's direction. Especially important were posters

displayed throughout the building to advertise current exhibitions.

A view of an exhibition held in the center court of the museum

building shows a variety of objects from different cultures arran-

ged together (fig. 2). Openness and accessibility allowed a visitor

to be free to browse at will (as he could in open stacks of the library)

and make discoveries on his own.

...The court exhibits change frequently. Tables spread

with all manner of museum news and periodical literature

invite those who would rest and read. Rugs laid on the

marble court add an inviting and home-like air."

The cases in the foreground, grouped where they could receive the

most natural light, are filled with medals and coins. These were easi-

ly installed, in their storage boxes, already labeled, and were raised

on bases to be nearer the glass for closer study. Thus Dana attemp-

ted to create a pleasant welcoming environment in his new kind

of museum. The general public could enjoy discovering and learn-

ing about objects, such as medals, too often hidden away in a cabinet

by an individual collector.

Medals were included from the beginning in these changing ex-

hibitions and in the growing collections of objects acquired by gift

or purchase. Many came directly from the artist or manufacturer,

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2. Frank I. Liveright coin collection displayed in the Court of the Newark Museum,

1926

108 Dorothy Budd Bartle

chosen specifically for the museum's use. Two examples, or cliche

strikes, were often supplied so that both sides could be seen on ex-

hibition. Small in size, produced in quantity and variety, medals

could be easily accommodated in limited gallery, storage and in-

stallation facilities. Dana often combined them with bronzes, coins

and gem stones. He saw them as miniature art works often represen-

ting eminent artists when larger, more costly examples were beyond

his budget. Certainly, he was most interested in these objects for

their craftsmanship, manufacture and for the patterns of words and

letters in their designs. He was personally more interested in medals

as illustrative of a country's culture or history than as fine art per

se.16

In 1910 the focus was particularly on medals, with at least two

exhibitions including them (this no doubt due to the ANS's large

exhibition). "A Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Bronzes" was held

from February 25 to March 11. Gutzon Borglum, Victor D. Brenner

and John Flanagan were represented by medals as well as by other

sculpture including casts and marbles. (These artists, with Chester

Beach, Eli Harvey and Isidore Konti, were also represented in the

ANS exhibition.) All of the artists were currently living in America

although some were foreign-born and many foreign-trained. It was

stated in the catalogue that the works were lent by the artists

themselves and that many were for sale with prices on application.

Attendance at the exhibition totaled 4,631.17

A more comprehensive survey of medals was included in the ex-

hibition of December 6, 1910, to January 15, 1911. The poster read

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in part:

AN EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS & OTHER OBJECTS

OF ART:

52 American paintings....Samples of the Work of

American Potters and of French & American Medalists;

Hand-wrought Jewelry; Lenox China; Oriental Rugs; Por-

trait Coins; Pottery & Porcelain lent by a Newark

Collector....18

More than 325 medals were borrowed from 14 Newark and New

York lenders.19 Supplementing the 16 "modern medals struck at

the French Mint" from the library's collection20 were 150 French

medals from the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration.

The loan and a visit from Dana are described from Cooper Union's

point of view in their 1911 Annual Report:

This museum, first in America for what is now called

industrial arts, has been fortunate in lending to...the

Newark Museum, New Jersey, ninety bronze portrait

John Cotton Dana 109

medals "Les Grands Hommes Francais," thirty-nine

bronze medals by F. Vernon of Paris.... In this way,

by...temporary loans, the Cooper Union Museum should

become a center for assisting the formation of similar

museums throughout the United States. The visits of

many Curators and Librarians from all parts of the coun-

try have made this year interesting. The Librarian of the

Newark Free Public Library listed the numbers of casts

of bronze locks, knobs, etc., made by the Musee des Arts

Decoratifs, for purchasing similar ones for Newark.21

Several of the lenders of the American medals were to become

closely involved with the museum and many of the loans became

purchases or gifts. Dr. William S. Disbrow lent an undetermined

number of portrait medals of men of science and medical medals;

his large science collection (already on view in the library) and his

numismatic collection would come to the museum in 1919 and

1922. The 57 medals struck by the Whitehead & Hoag Company

"after designs by Bela L. Pratt and others" and five pieces "il-

lustrating the process of making a medal"22 would be only part of

large donations steadily received from this important local industry.

Chester R. Hoag, an original partner in the company, was one of

the first trustees and was president of the Association 1920-25.

Dana's long and friendly correspondence with Mr. Hoag began with

the first exhibitions and continued until Dana's death in 1929. Some

letters reveal Dana's personal ideas about the museum's activities.23

The 10 American medalists lent 61 pieces "nearly all secured

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through the kind offices of Mr. John Flanagan."24 A letter from

New York dated January 13, 1911, from Flanagan to Dana, illustrates

that he was already directly involved as a contact with other artists:

Dear Mr. Dana,

I must have some of the medals tomorrow...your ex-

hibition closes Jan. 14--...so I will come over in the even-

ing towards 8:30 to get them. I don't want to interfere,

however, with your plans for buying some of them so

if you will let me know which are not likely to be kept

I will take [?] them....

Very truly yours,

John Flanagan25

The museum was to purchase 12 medals from American artists in-

cluded in this exhibition: works by Victor D. Brenner, John-

Mowbray Clarke, Adolph A. Weinman and Flanagan. (All had been

represented in the ANS exhibition.) In his Report of the Board of

Trustees to the Association at the Annual Meeting of April 25, 1911,

110

Dorothy Budd Bartle

Dana stated that 13 American medals had been acquired at a cost

of $220.26 In addition, a loan of medals was accepted from

Whitehead & Hoag.

By these means, Dana provided practical and active support for

living American artists by giving their works exposure in exhibition,

making price lists available and by purchasing works for the collec-

tion. He preferred to acquire objects directly from the artists

whenever possible and was able in some instances to acquire study

or experimental pieces which often had more of the artist's personal

creativity than the final work. An example is Flanagan's The Delver

medallion, a sketch for the reverse of the Essex Agricultural Socie-

ty of Massachusetts medal, 1913 (fig. 3)27 To support these artists

was the responsibility of a public museum and although he said he

could not understand modernism, Dana felt strongly that the new

styles should be shown at Newark:

...in this world of change I am convinced that the institu-

tions in my charge must see and feel and respond to the

world's changes...there is always hope that the new is

good and helpful and let us help it find itself.28

Also purchased early in 1911 as a result of the 1910 exhibitions

were 84 French medals costing $220. These were almost entirely

bronze copies from the Monnaie de Paris acquired through George

E. Stechert of New York.29 No doubt these were similar to those

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(Reduced)

John Cotton Dana 111

borrowed from Cooper Union. Certainly, too, the ANS exhibition

had shown the great influence of the French on recent medallic art.

Dana was not ashamed to acquire and use less-costly replicas or

restrikes along with the authentic. In 1912 he wrote to his secretary

from Europe asking her to inform the president of the Museum

Association regarding the recent purchases:

I have tried to have in mind what I think to be his

ideas...."Applied Art," replicas at moderate prices, many

kinds with the hope of interesting many minds. When

we are rich we will buy real things.30

He continually sought out, often on his travels overseas, objects

which illustrated the common, everyday life and culture of the peo-

ple. These would be used particularly in the lending collection,

developed from the library's lending out of books and other printed

material. Most of these objects were meant to be handled and ex-

amined closely, even by school children, who could thus gain an

experience not possible in the usual museum exhibition. Coins and

medals were ideal for this purpose. While in Rome in 1912, Dana

purchased five replicas of Italian medals in terra cotta and 100

sulphur replicas of coins of the Roman Empire: "Strong, almost un-

breakable. Can be freely handled. Color of originals."31 Replica or

authentic, these objects were seen for their great educational value,

for the worth of a museum object is in its use and "beauty has no

relation to price, rarity or age."32 With great success, the lending

department also circulated "process exhibits" which explained the

manufacturing processes used in local industries. The raw materials,

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parts and finished products were mounted, complete with labels

and illustrations, on charts. Process exhibits were also included in

the permanent collection and exhibitions. Dana believed that these

could encourage visitors of all professions, interests and skills to

better appreciate the finished object, whether hand or machine

made.

Flanagan assembled such exhibits for the museum from the ar-

tist's viewpoint, to illustrate how his medals were made through

"...a whole series of models from the sketch to the die."33 In 1913,

a series of eight pieces was acquired which showed the steps in

creating the gold medal issued by the Pennsylvania Society. The par-

ticular works were originally issued in 1909 and 1910, and the ex-

hibit was a composite of medals for Horace Howard Furness and

Andrew Carnegie. Flanagan's plaster models were, at his request,

supplemented by bronze cliches and two steel dies from the Penn-

sylvania Society itself (fig. 4). The artist asked that these bronze-

proofs always be exhibited with his other medals and plaquettes and

112

Dorothy Budd Bartle

not with the dies, perhaps because there was machine tooling not

from his hand of which he did not approve.

A gift from Flanagan in 1914 consisted of two wax models of

1910. These were an interim step not included in the series just

described: trial strikes made from the reduced plaster models for

the purpose of detecting flaws. The designs were for the

Massachusetts Horticultural Society's George Robert White Medal

of Honor, awarded to Charles Sprague Sargent in 1909-

A particularly interesting and sensitive exhibit consisted of three

parts for a galvano plaque made in 1908: a wax model, a negative

galvano and the finished galvano plaque (fig. 5). When the finished

work was shown in the ANS 1910 exhibition it was titled Portrait

of a Man. When the exhibit was donated to the museum in 1927

Flanagan called it Portrait ofProchaska. He does not appear to have

answered Beatrice Winser's question in correspondence, "...who

is or was Prochaska?"M

During the late 1920s, as a means of creating civic interest and

pride, Dana held several exhibitions calling attention to products

made by major city industries. Many of his ideas regarding the use

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4. (Reduced)

John Cotton Dana

113

5. (Reduced)

of medals culminated in "Medals Made in Newark," held throughout

1928, which featured products of Whitehead & Hoag. It was Dana's

policy to exhibit the same objects over and over in different con-

texts.35 Thus many of the objects in the 1910 loan exhibition reap-

peared here, the majority as gifts and purchases received along with

many other acquisitions during the ensuing years. Whitehead &

Hoag, for example, had donated more than 130 medals, both of emi-

nent artists and of a more commercial kind. Included were process

exhibits which illustrated striking methods and machine production.

Along with several sets of dies, hubs and finished medals, the Com-

pany lent to "Medals Made in Newark" (and later donated) a pro-

cess exhibit "How Medals are Made."36 In particular the making of

the Lincoln Prize Essay Medal, designed by Charles Hinton after por-

traits by Leonard W. Volk and his son, Douglas Volk as shown (fig.

6). The Company needed to borrow the dies at times to strike new

medals which were still used as awards. The process required for

mass-producing a medal was illustrated by 19 objects in plasticine,

plaster and bronze, with photos of the machinery required.37 The

objects carried through the process from a copy of the artist's large

model to the finished medals with different patinations. The il-

lustrated booklet for the exhibition has on its title page one of Dana's

many dicta: "The good workman is an artist; a good artist is first

of all a good workman."38 The medals process was traced, the

history of the medal described and a brief description of the com-

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pany and its products presented. Both authentic pieces and replicas,

coins, medals and gem stones were discussed in relation to the

medal. The classical tradition was traced even to work being done

114

Dorothy Budd Bartle

currently in the city. (The French medals acquired in 1910-11 were

illustrated and, even in 1928, continued to be termed

"modern".)39 Complete with a book list compiled by the library,

the booklet was typical of Dana's publications as a supplement to

an exhibition.

"Medals Made in Newark" also summarized Dana's personal

preferences regarding fine and applied art in exhibitions for his

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6. (Reduced)

John Cotton Dana 115

museum. A letter of October 20, 1927, to Mr. Hoag states frankly:

I am sending you herewith my little pamphlet, "The In-

dustrialist is an Artist," to show you that my interest in

matters of this sort is very keen, and that I would much

prefer to show a Whitehead & Hoag Exhibit than I would

an oil painting. This, of course, is between ourselves.40

In conclusion: Dana's theories regarding the use of medallic art

can be illustrated by Flanagan's Portrait ofProchaska (see above,

fig. 5). The plaque lent by the artist to the American Numismatic

Society's 1910 exhibition had developed into a three-part "process

exhibit" by 1927 when donated by him to the Newark Museum.

On loan to the Society's 1987-88 Beaux-Arts exhibition, these

works41 show Dana's influence in an American museum dedicated

to public education.

NM indicates The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ. All objects discussed are in its

collections. All NM official publications were written or edited by John Cotton Dana

unless indicated otherwise. Source material is in its files: letters, records pertaining

to acquisitions and their documentation in the registrar's department; publications

and other printed material, copies, etc., in the Museum Library. The author has also

drawn from personal knowledge and experience of more than 36 years on the staff.

She is particularly grateful to William J. Dane, supervisor of the Art Department,

Newark Public Library, and David M. McFadden, curator of decorative arts, of the

Cooper-Hewitt Museum. Illustrations are by Armen Shamlian, Armen Photographers,

with the exception of fig. 2, and are reproduced here courtesy of the NM. Publica-

tions issued for the NM's 70th Anniversary, provided background: B. Lipton, "John

Cotton Dana and The Newark Museum," NM Quarterly 30, 2, 3 (Spring, Summer

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1979). Also: D.B. Bartle, "Coins and Currency. The Dana Influence," NM Quarter-

ly 30, 4 (Fall 1979), pp. 21-31.

2 J.C. Dana and D.H. Dudley, Medals Made in Newark (Newark, 1928), p. 19.

3 Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Bronzes (Newark, 1910), pp.

13-15; The Newark Museum 2, 1 0an. 1911), p. 7; see also, NM registrar's loan records.

4 NM 11.467-78. Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Contemporary

Medals, ANS, Rev. ed. (New York, 1911), hereafter IECM.

5 Letter, J. Flanagan to B, Winser, July 18, 1934.

6 A. Hyatt Mayor and M. Davis, American Art at the Century (New York, 1977),

p. 96.

116 Dorothy Budd Bartle

7 The Museum 1,7 (Oct. 1926), p. 101; also, letter, B. Winser to A.F. Kgncr, Sept.

28, 1928.

8 E.A. Kent and H. Lancour, eds., Encyclopedia of Library and Information

Science, 6th ed. (New York, 1971), p. 420.

9 B. Winser, ed., "Letter from J.H. Bacheller," The Museum 2, 10 (Oct. 1929), p.

77.

10 The Museum (above, n. 7), p. 101.

11 Medals (above, n. 2), pp. 3-4; also, letter, E.S. West of Whitehead & Hoag to

Dudley, Dec. 12, 1927 with Dana's notations.

12 Bronze tablet erected May 16, 1930, in Newark Public Library.

13 D.H. Pilgrim, D. Tashjian and R.G. Wilson, The Machine Age in America

1918-1941 (New York, 1986), pp. 66, 276.

14 Letter, C.R. Hoag to J.C. Dana, March 28, 1912.

15 The Museum 1, 6 (Sept. 1926), p. 90.

16 The Museum 1, 2 (April 1925), p. 32 (illustration caption).

17 Annual Report 1910-1911, Newark Museum Association 2, 1 (Jan. 1911), p.

11; The Newark Museum 1, 2 (Feb. 1910), pp. 9-10.

18 The paintings were lent by William T. Evans, Montclair, NJ. The poster was ex-

hibited in "The Dana Years, 1909-1929," The Newark Museum, 1979.

19 The Newark Museum (above, n. 3), pp. 1-8; also Annual Report (above, n. 17),

pp. 12-16.

20 Registrar's loan records: Roty, Moria, Baudichon, Pillet, Dicy, Lefebvre, Merot,

Coudray, Yencesse, Vernon, Chaplain were artists represented.

21 Annual Report 1911, Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration 53

(New York, 1911), p. 55. Probably gifts from Sarah C. Hewitt: CU 1907-17-3 to 157.

22 Registrar's loan records. Disbrow loans totaled about 61 pieces. Whitehead &

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Hoag objects lent for the 1910 exhibition became permanent loans in 1912, and even-

tually gifts.

23 For example, a letter, J.C. Dana to C.R. Hoag, Oct. 20, 1927.

24 Annual Report (above, n. 17), p. 7.

25 Letter, J. Flanagan to J.C. Dana, Jan. 13, 1911 (from 1931 Broadway, Manhattan).

26 Including: NM 11.467, Brenner, $5; NM 11.468, Clarke, $15; NM 11.469, Wein-

man, $20. Annual Report (above, n. 17), p. 13.

John Cotton Dana 117

27 Flanagan, NM 14.454, $45. Purchase from the artist.

28 Letter, J.C. Dana to Max Weber, Jan. 14, 1929.

29 Including NM 11.77, Charpentier; NM 11.80, Moria; NM 11.82, Dupuis, at about

$ 1 each.

30 Letter, J.C. Dana to Miss Gilson, May 23, 1912; the president was Franklin Mur-

phy, former governor of New Jersey.

31 Dana Purchases, July 5, 1912 and List of Purchases, J.C. Dana, Oct. 8, 1912, Nos.

6,7.

32 J.C. Dana, The New Museum (Woodstock, VT, 1917), pp. 17, 32-33, 37; The

Museum 2,12 (May 1928), title page; see also The Museum 2, 5 (Feb. 1929), p. 40.

33 Letter, J. Flanagan to Miss Gilson, May 20, 1912; also, letter, Pennsylvania Socie-

ty toNM, Feb. 1, 1912.

34 IECM (above, n. 4), p. 94, 8; letter, B. Winser to J. Flanagan, Feb. 18, 1929.

35 Letter, J.C. Dana to C.R. Hoag, Oct. 24, 1927.

36 For example, the sets NM 29.2117, Vice President Thomas R. Marshall; NM

292119, Handel and Haydn Society; NM 29.2117, New York Athletic Club; also ap-

proximately 40 medals from machine and hand cut dies (registrar's loan records).

37 NM 29.2109-21.

38 Medals (above, n. 2); J.C. Dana and K. Coffey, A Weston Electrical Instrument

(Newark, 1927), title page (a booklet for the first "Art-in-Industry" exhibit).

39 Medals (above, n. 2), p. 18.

40 Letter (above, n. 35).

41 Barbara A. Baxter, The Beaux-Arts Medal in America (New York, 1987), no.

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148.

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The Medals of John Flanagan

Donna J. Hassler

Coinage of the Americas Conference

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

The American Numismatic Society, 1988

120

Donna J. Hassler

While instrumental in the formation of the contemporary

American medal collection at The Newark Museum under the direc-

tion of John Cotton Dana, John Flanagan was more esteemed by

fellow artists for his own medallic work. Frederick W. MacMonnies

considered him "the leading medalist of America," while Daniel

Chester French thought that "he was one of the few men who knew

all about the technique of medal making.1 Flanagan was, in

essence, a medalist's medalist. Lorado Taft noted that he was among

those who realized "that the designing and elaboration of a good

medal represents as much study as the making of a statue."2

Although Flanagan received numerous commissions for public

sculpture and portrait busts throughout his productive career, it was

ultimately his medals which established his reputation here and

abroad as an important American Beaux-Arts sculptor.

Flanagan's first medals were executed in Paris at the turn of the

century. Among his most successful medallic works from this period

are his portraits of Mabel Clarke (1895-98; fig. 1), and Hortense

Lenore Mitchell (1896-1900; fig. 2), which reveal the sculptor's

mastery of bas-relief. From the delicate modeling of the women's

hair to the naturalistic rendering of their dress, it is evident that

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1. Galvano, gilt copper, 117 mm

Medals of John Flanagan

121

2Galvano, gilt copper, 120 mm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1909

Flanagan was influenced by the work of his teacher, Augustus

Saint-Gaudens.

Born in Newark, NJ on August 4, 1865, John George Flanagan was

apprenticed to his father, a marble cutter, before he studied model-

ing in the evenings from 1880 to 1882 at Cooper Union in New

York. After working briefly for Truman H. Bartlett in Boston,

Flanagan was employed at the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Works in

New Jersey. At the age of 20, he became Saint-Gaudens's studio assis-

tant, while the sculptor was working on his Lincoln, Puritan, and

Shaw Memorial. One of Flanagan's principal jobs, besides running

errands, was to model an American eagle, wings spread, on the back

of Lincoln's chair. In order to do this, he reportedly borrowed a

large bird of prey from the zoo in Central Park. During this time

Flanagan was also enrolled in life classes under George de Forest

Brush at the Art Students League. Following Saint-Gaudens's advice,

the young sculptor went to Paris in the spring of 1890 and continued

his studies under Henri Chapu at the Academie Julian and Alexan-

dre Falguiere at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he became a

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matriculant in July of 1891. At the Ecole, Flanagan was awarded

122

Donna J. Hassler

3. Struck cliches of obverse and

reverse, bronze, 64 mm.

third prize for his figure drawing after the antique. During 1891-92

he assisted MacMonnies, also a pupil of Falguiere's, with his col-

ossal Barge of State for the World's Columbian Exposition in

Chicago. After a trip to Italy in 1893, Flanagan received a commis-

sion for a statue entitled Commerce and a monumental clock for

the Rotunda Reading Room of the Library of Congress in

Washington, D.C. Returning to Paris after a few months in New

York, he set up a studio at 16 Impasse du Maine, where he lived

and worked until 1902.3

In 1898 The Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia

commissioned Flanagan to design a commemorative medal in honor

of Dr. Garrison Brinton (fig. 3). Brinton, an anthropologist, physi-

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cian and surgeon, who was also a professor of ethnology and ar-

Medals of John Flanagan

123

chaeology in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, as

well as a professor of American linguistics and archaeology at the

University of Pennsylvania, is characteristically portrayed in full

beard and period dress. The seal of the Society is represented on

the reverse. The owl, perched on the shield, is in strikingly high

relief.

While Flanagan's portrait medallions and plaquettes varied in style

during this early period, many were similar in format to the work

of the French medalist Jules-Clement Chaplain, who played an im-

portant role in releasing medallic art from the formulas of routine

and returning it to a direct study of nature. In his portrait of Agnes

Lane, 1899 (MMA collection), in particular, Flanagan enlarged the

head of the figure, heightening the visual impact of the composition.

At the Paris Salon of 1899, Flanagan exhibited several medallions

and plaquettes, including a gilded portrait of a young woman. The

following year he won a silver medal for his display of portrait

medallions at the Paris Exposition Universelle.

After 12 years working in Paris, Flanagan returned to New York

in June of 1902 and eventually established a studio on Broadway.

4. Cast bronze, 200 mm, Collection of The Newark Museum, Purchase from the Ar-

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tist, 1914

124

Donna J. Hassler

5. Galvano, gilt copper, 117 x 89 mm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund,

1909

At this time he also received a commission for a high relief in bronze

symbolizing "Wisdom Instructing The Children of Men" for the Free

Public Library in Newark.

One of Flanagan's first medallions upon his arrival home was a

portrait of Walt Whitman, 1903 (fig. 4), cast by the Griffoul Foun-

dry in Newark. Reminiscent of Thomas Eakin's sensitive photograph

of this eminent American poet,4 the sculptor also chose to capture

Whitman in a contemplative mood; his profile almost lost beneath

his flowing beard. In a later medallion, (plaster model, The Newark

Museum; bronze cast, ANS), Whitman is depicted frontally in a more

animated fashion. Even though Saint-Gaudens once remarked "that

a full face in a medallion was too much for the gods,"5 Flanagan

successfully modeled several portraits from this point of view.

Like many sculptors of the Beaux-Arts school, Flanagan also ex-

perimented with the color of his bronzes. In his portrait of Leo

Tolstoy, 1907, for example, one medal has been gold-plated (fig.

5, Metropolitan Museum of Art), while another has a brown patina

(ANS). The degree of surface play varies considerably in these two

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pieces. While Tolstoy's beard shimmers in light and shade in the

Medals of John Flanagan

125

6. Galvano, gilt copper, 116 mm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1909

MMA portrait, this sculptural effect is not apparent in the ANS medal.

In 1904 Flanagan began modeling a relief entitled Aphrodite,

which was later carved in marble and tinted for a dining room in

the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York. Upon seeing this work in

Flanagan's studio, Saint-Gaudens wrote to Stanford White,

"Flanagan has made a beautiful Venus in bas-relief that I thought

you would like to see. I think it is really very fine and I volunteered

to write to you to go and see it. You might find a chance to place

it in some of your houses. In marble or gilded bronze I think it would

be swell."6 Several years later Flanagan took a plaster cast of the

head of the panel and made a reduction of it (fig. 6). Portrayed in

a seductive manner with loose flowing hair and lips slightly parted,

Aphrodite is the sculptor's most impressionistic work.

Included among Flanagan's many commissions for com-

memorative works is his medal for The Pennsylvania Society's

Horace Howard Furness Award for Distinguished Achievement,

1909 (illustrated above, p. 112, fig. 4). The obverse shows a por-

trait of William Penn with appropriate inscription, while on the

reverse three nude men symbolic of Character, Force, and In-

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telligence, are presented a laurel branch by Fame, a draped female

126 Donna J. Hassler

figure. With the development of the Beaux-Arts medal in America,

there was greater acceptance of the nude in medallic art as more

academically-trained sculptors were drawn to the field. Seventeen

years earlier, Saint-Gaudens's design for the reverse of the World's

Columbian Exposition medal had been rejected by a Senatorial com-

mittee because of the inclusion of a nude youth. Although he at-

tempted several modifications, Saint-Gaudens found no alternative

but to redesign the medal excluding the figure altogether.

Also in 1909, the newly-established Circle of Friends of The

Medallion asked Flanagan to design their first medal commemorating

the Hudson-Fulton Celebration (ANS). The circle, led by the poet

and literary figure, Charles de Kay, was formed "to encourage in

the public a taste for small sculptures and especially bas-reliefs."

For the obverse Flanagan modeled a double portrait of Henry Hud-

son and Robert Fulton. On the reverse a figure of a nymph recum-

bent on a cloud holds a light bulb aloft, rather than a torch, represen-

ting the present age of electricity. She gazes down upon the vessels

of the two voyagers, the Half Moon and the Clermont. "Past and

present are knit together; three centuries are suggested in one small

bronze."7

For the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Flanagan designed

the George Robert White Medal of Honor in 1910 (ANS). The medal

demonstrates how well the sculptor could fit any theme within a

circular format. On the obverse a young horticulturist kneels to plant

a tiny tree on the grounds of a public park or a private estate, where

there is an elaborate gazebo or a greenhouse depicted in the

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background. As Cornelius Vermeule observed so well, writing in

1971,"the sense of mission, of repose, and of manicured nature in

this vista is perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the medal and

the tastes of those who sponsored it."8 The weight of the inscrip-

tion, on the reverse, is carefully balanced with an elaborate bou-

quet of fruits and flowers.

In 1912 Flanagan was voted by the United States Congress to

design a gold medal in honor of the British captain, Arthur Henry

Rostron, whose crew rescued survivors of the Titanic in the mid-

Atlantic (fig. 7). Rostron's portrait, modeled from life, and the ex-

planatory legend fills the obverse, while the reverse symbolically

depicts the heroic rescue at sea.9 Flanagan's muscular figures were

most likely inspired by Michelangelo's powerful forms in the Sistine

Chapel, which he saw on his trip to Italy.10 A lifeline has been

thrown to a man and woman floating in the water as jagged icebergs

loom in the background. The date of the rescue is inscribed above.

For the Proctor Award Medal of The Essex Agricultural Society

Medals of John Flanagan

127

(1OL-JK x

7. Struck cliches of obverse and reverse, bronze, 70 mm, Collection of The Newark

Museum, Purchase from the Artist, 1913

of Massachusetts of 1913, Flanagan executed a work illustrating

"Rural Home Life and Labor." In his treatment of the former

Flanagan presents a family group of a mother and two children in

a setting composed of a barn, beehive, fruit tree, flowers and

chickens, representing the farmer "blest beyond all bliss." The older

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child, who stands in the foreground, is beautifully composed. The

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128

Donna J. Hassler

8. Cast bronze, 120 nun, The Brooklyn Museum, John B. Woodward Memorial Fund

9. Cast bronze, 138 x 95 mm, The Brooklyn Museum, John B. Woodward Memorial

Fund

Medals of John Flanagan 129

reverse depicts a bare-chested man spading the soil, symbolic of the

physical aspect of his work. As a result of his academic training,

Flanagan first executed this figure in the nude. He later chose to

cast this study separately and entitled it The Delver, (illustrated

above, p. 110, fig. 3). In an interview with DeWitt M. Lockman,

the sculptor stated that he always used models as much as possible

for his medals.11

Flanagan's skill in modeling the nude form is also evident on the

reverse of the award medal he designed for the Panama-Pacific In-

ternational Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 (ANS). Seemingly

weightless male and female figures are shown facing one another,

each extends a hand to the other. In the background the sun is shin-

ing and billowy clouds fill the sky. The symbolism of the figures,

however, representing the union of the two seas between the

Isthmus of Panama, was found questionable at the time.12

Probably the most familiar of Flanagan's medals are his portraits

of artist friends, which he began in 1917 with the sculptor Paul

Wayland Bartlett (fig. 8). Like Saint-Gaudens before him, Flanagan

looked to his colleagues as subjects for his own work. His portraits,

however, are more classically restrained than Saint-Gaudens's reliefs,

which are more spontaneous in quality. With the "Bartlett," in par-

ticular, Flanagan has simplified the head in favor of linear clarity.

His plaquette of the painter Julian Alden Weir, 1919 (fig. 9), has

been called "the masterpiece of medallic portraiture."13 Weir's

mature head is superbly crafted, successfully evoking the character

of the sitter. Flanagan's ability to capture a likeness, as well as the

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personality in clay, is evident in his other portraits, most notably

of Walter Griffin, Joseph Pennell, Daniel Chester French, and Childe

Hassam (all Brooklyn Museum).

Flanagan also executed portrait medals of Frederick W. MacMon-

nies, 1929 (ANS) and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1934 (ANS); the lat-

ter was later reduced by the Medallic Art Co. to commemorate a

dinner on April 9, 1937, in honor of the sculptor.

With his medal for the Garden Club of America, 1920 (ANS),

Flanagan once again found a coherent solution to a difficult thematic

problem. On the obverse a woman is depicted in a natural position

tending her flowers. The curve of her back gracefully echoes the

contour of the medal. On the reverse a simple but elegant floral motif

surrounds a plaque bearing the recipient's name.

The following year Flanagan received his most important com-

mission: The Verdun Medal, 1921 (fig. 10). The gold medal was

presented to the people of Verdun by the United States government

in recognition of the heroic defense of their city during World War

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130

Donna J. Hassler

10. Uniface casts of obverse and

reverse, bronze, 102 mm

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Medals of John Flanagan

131

11. Cast bronze, 73 mm

132 Donna J. Hassler

I. A competition was arranged by a congressional committee, which

asked sculptors Paul Manship, Chester Beach, Sherry Fry, Anthony

de Francisci, Robert Aitken, John Flanagan, Henry Hering and An-

na V. Hyatt, to submit a plaster model according to a suggested

design. While the design of the obverse of the medal was left to the

artist, it had to bear the inscription "From the people of the United

States to the City of Verdun;" the reverse had also to include a

representation of the Porte Chausee of Verdun with the inscription

"lis ne passeront pas"the cry of the French troops under General

Petain. After carefully inspecting each model without knowing the

identity of the artist, the Committee of Fine Arts, which included

James Earle Fraser and invited guests Daniel Chester French and

Herbert Adams, unanimously selected Flanagan's work. His design

was chosen for its simplicity and innovative use of the motto even

though it did not strictly conform to the committee's suggestions.14

In 1922 Flanagan received the prestigious J. Sanford Saltus Award

from the American Numismatic Society in recognition of his artistic

achievement in the field of medals.

After working on several commissions for public sculpture,

Flanagan remodeled Aphrodite for the obverse of a medal issued

by the Society of Medalists in November 1932 (fig. 11). The god-

dess of love now flirtatiously plays with a string of pearls, and her

identity is clearly stated. The reverse depicts the Lampadedromy,

a race run in ancient Greece to honor such gods as Prometheus,

Athena, and Hephaestus. Two athletes are shown passing the torch;

one has just collapsed in exhaustion. Movement is cleverly suggested

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here by the men's swirling drapery as well as the steep incline

awaiting the next runner. Flanagan had previously used this motif

on his clock for the Library of Congress.

Having modeled medals for almost 50 years and having exhibited

them in all the major expositions in America, Flanagan became in-

ternationally known for his work, as his numerous awards and cita-

tions proved. After a long illness, he died in a welfare hospital in

New York on March 28, 1952." Although his obituary in the New

York Times credited him first as the designer of the Washington

bicentennial quarter, still minted today, Flanagan should be

remembered foremost as an important sculptor of medals.

Medals of John Flanagan 133

1 Frank Owen Payne, "John FlanaganSculptor and Medalist," International

Studio 75 (1922), p. 114.

2 L. Taft, The History of American Sculpture, rev. ed. (New York, 1924), p. 549.

3 I am grateful to Fmely K. Bramson who helped me transcribe DeWitt M.

Lock man's handwritten notes taken during an interview with John Flanagan on

September 22, 1925. DeWitt McClellan Lockman Interviews, Box 2, The New-York

Historical Society, New York.

4 See G. Hendricks, The Photographs of Thomas Eakins (New York, 1972), p. 122,

figs. 157-58.

5 H. Saint-Gaudens, ed., The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 2 (New

York, 1913), p. 24.

6 H. Saint-Gaudens (above, n. 5), pp. 215-16.

7 As quoted from the book which held the first medal issued by the Circle of

Friends of the Medallion in Manhattan, September 1909. See the article by Joseph

V. Noble, later in this volume.

8 C. Vermeule, Numismatic Art in America (Cambridge, MA, 1971), pp. 125-26.

9 "The Rostron Medal," Art and Progress 4 (1913), p. 944.

10 Lockman interview (above, n. 3), p. 15.

11 Lockman interview (above, n.3), p. 23.

12 "Coins and Medals Produced in the United States of America during the Year

1915," AJN 49 (1915), p. 200.

13 Whitney Allen, "Our Contemporary Medallic Art," International Studio 83

(1926), p. 62.

14 I am grateful to Sue Kohler for sending me copies of the Minutes of the com-

mittee meetings on the Verdun Medal (July 7, 1920-December 13, 1921), from the

archives of the Commission of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C.

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15 The Medal Collector 3 (1952), p. 11.

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The Medals of Daniel Chester French

Michael Richman

Coinage of the Americas Conference

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

The American Numismatic Society, 1988

136

Michael Richman

In 1899, critic Charles Caffin lauded Daniel Chester French's Ad-

miral George Dewey medal of honor:

The beautiful artistic possibilities involved in the

designing of medals have been almost completely ignored

in this country.... The trouble has been that they have

been simply manufactured; the fact that they may be

made the vehicle of an expression of artistic skill peculiar-

ly their own has been lost sight of. Their genesis has been

little nobler than that of buttons.... What an excellent

thing it would be if this beautiful medal should awake

a vivid interest among us in the Glyptic Art. Whenever

art has flourished, it has been one of the by-paths to

1. Obverse, Architectural League medal, 1896. Photo: Courtesy, National Sculpture

Society; illustrated in NSS, Exhibition of American Sculpture Catalogue (New York,

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1923), p. 291

Medals of Daniel Chester French

137

which sculptors turned partly for recreation, partly for

the secrets of decorative expression which it revealed.1

That Caffin wrote so positively about French is a tribute as much

to his growing national reputation as monument maker as it is to

his potential as a numismatist. By this time he had produced just

two designsthe Dewey and a medal for the Architectural League

of New York (fig. I).2

It is not documented how French learned of the Dewey project

but on June 3, 1898, Public Resolution No. 38 passed Congress,

authorizing the Secretary of the Navy:

To cause to be struck bronze medals commemorating

the battle of Manila Bay, and to distribute such medals

to the officers and men of the ships of the Asiatic

Squadron of the United States under command of Com-

modore George Dewey on May first, eighteen hundred

and ninety-eight....3

Perhaps the offered fee of 87,000 provided sufficient incentive.

But more likely French became involved because as president of the

National Sculpture Society he was active in efforts, both in and out

of government circles, to improve the design of American

coinage.4

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2. Reverse, first design, plaster, 1898, Private coll. Photo: Michael Richman

138 Michael Richman

A three-member Board comprising Charles H. Allen (president),

Senator Henry C. Lodge and United States Naval Academy professor,

Marshall Oliver, was appointed by the Secretary of the Navy.5

Almost immediately they must have contacted French, learned of

his terms for undertaking the work and agreed to permit him to make

a design. Apparently there was no formal competition but at least

34 proposals were received.6 That French's actual numismatic ex-

perience was the 1896 President's prize medal for the Architectural

League did not seem to matter; his credentials as a punctual public

monument maker were sufficient.

By July 18, 1898, he began his first sketch and on August 16, he

wrote in his diary that designs were completed.7 By August 27,

1898, the duplicate plasters of the sketches were sent to Oliver and

to Allen and they were formally approved by October 7.8 The first

design for the obverse has not survived but the first model for the

reverse has been located in a private collection (fig. 2). It is a study

of a shirtless sailorFrench's first executed ideal male figure, albeit

at considerably under-lifesize scale.

As a profile portrait, the likeness of George Dewey (fig. 3) is cer-

tainly adequate. The head is erect, the contour of the face well

modeled. The curve of the shoulder and chest terminus is nicely

balanced with the outer edge of the medal, which is marked by a

series of decorative beads. The necessary lettering surrounds the

head unobtrusively. It was only after he had submitted the "official"

design, promised by December 15, 1898, but not delivered until

January 2, 1899, that a problem was noticed. On January 6 French

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wrote to Allen:

The mistake concerning the title will be rectified and

I will send you another cast with the correction made.

I shall also of course change the stars, if you wish it, but

may I venture the suggestion that the insignia of the rank

which was given Commodore Dewey in honor of his

great victory, might very properly appear upon the medal

struck to commemorate it?9

Although he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral just three

weeks after the battle, the Navy preferred that the medal give

Dewey's rank as Commodore. French's idea was quietly ignored.

The obverse portrait, which critic Caffin praised as "excellent"10

was probably not changed appreciably between August and January.

But the design of the reverse (fig. 4) was modified. French explain-

ed his first model on August 24, 1898:

The specifications also called for a figure of Victory on

the reverse and here I have taken the liberty of

Medals of Daniel Chester French

139

5W5 ^V

/o"nc?5 .

3.Obverse, first design, plaster, 1898. Photo: Museum Archives, Chesterwood,

Stockbridge, MA

4. Reverse, second design, plaster, 1898. Photo: Museum Archives, Chesterwood,

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Stockbridge, MA

140 Michael Richman

substituting for the conventional female figure, the figure

of a sailor in fighting costume. "The man behind the gun"

has occupied so prominent a position in the late war that

it seems proper that he should be represented and cer-

tainly our sailor is the embodiment of Victory in most

peoples' minds just now.11

By October 16, 1898, French reported to his brother that he still

had not finished the design.12 The reason was the sculptor's deci-

sion to rework the composition on his own initiative.

The young sailor and the cannon barrel on which he sits are con-

stant in both concepts. The preliminary design (see above, fig. 2)

with its marvelously-foreshortened cannon and the jutting diagonal

of the right knee, seems overly large and too active for the circular

space. In the final design for the reverse (see above, fig. 4), the figure

has been subdued; it is more frontally, and for French, more con-

sistently posed. The cannon, slightly tilted, is now parallel to the

surface plane, the flag more evenly draped across his lap. The

flagpole now becomes the unifying compositional element. It divides

the lettering around the circumference and isolates the sailor's tor-

so and face in uncluttered background of the upper half of the medal.

In the placement of the feet French moves easily between the

necessary details of story telling and decorative design. The right

foot is posed on a floating rope fragment that has no apparent begin-

ning or end. The sailor's left foot rests on the plaque which is a func-

tional part of the medal; it is not a detail found on the deck of a

naval vessel. This juxtaposition of narrative elements with design

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requirements is successfully repeated twice moresuperimposing

the sailor's head over the letter T in the word Victory and the con-

tinuation of one stem of the letter M in Memory into the flagpole.

French made a final change when he corrected Dewey's rank on

the obverse; he replaced the sailor's cap with a scarf (fig. 5).

French and the Department of the Navy signed a contract on

January 19, 1899, and the medal was struck by the Tiffany Com-

pany in July 1899, in two sizesthree inch diameter bronzes for

the "notables" and one and 11/16th inch reductions for the 1,634

sailors and Marines who served during the short-lived Battle of

Manila Bay on May 1,1898 (fig.6).

The Dewey story has two more tangential chapters. The first in-

volves New York City's celebration of George Dewey's military ex-

ploits, September 28-30, 1899. As a member of the National

Sculpture Society and its recent past president, French was invited

to make one of the sculptural groups for architect Charles Lamb's

Dewey Triumphal Arch which spanned Fifth Avenue at Broadway

Medals of Daniel Chester French

141

5. Reverse, third design, plaster, 1899. Photo: Juley coll., National Museum of

American Art, SI

and 23rd Street. French's subject was Peace (fig. 7), and was paired

with Philip Martiny's Call to Arms. French's group was modeled

in the spring of 1899, with the actual enlargement and production

in staff (hemp-reenforced plaster) for his and all of the sculptural

decorations completed in less than two months. The group of the

mother and young child dressed in a sailor's suit documents an ap-

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propriate reuse of French's profile portrait of Admiral Dewey.

142

Michael Richman

7. Working model of Peace Group in DCF's studio, plaster, 1899. Photo: Museum

Archives, Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA

The second involves French's manufacture of a commemorative

plaque (fig. 8) for Dewey's flagship, the Olympia, a project com-

missioned by the State of Washington and citizens of the state capital

in 1898 and placed on the ship before it entered New York Harbor

in September 1899. The nearly floating allegory, holding Dewey's

rather prosaic utterance that began the lopsided battle in the

Phillipines, "Gridley you may fire when ready," seems more like

Saint-Gaudens's Amor Caritas with its billowing gown than French's

normal, more refined drapery treatment in the figure of Wisdom,

one of the Boston Public Library doors.13

French's next foray in the medal lie arena came in the summer of

1917, when he was asked to make a medal (fig. 9) to commemorate

the visit of the French and British War Commission to New York

City, May 7-10, 1917. Mayor John P. Mitchell appointed a citizens'

committee to plan the celebration. That summer, the Committee

on Decorations proposed issuing a commemorative medalstruck

in gold for the two English visitors, two French delegates and Mayor

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Mitchell, and subsequently in bronze and silver for members of the

Medals of Daniel Chester French

143

8. Plaster model of Olympia plaque for Dewey's flagship. Photo: Museum Archives,

Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA

American Numismatic Society at subscription prices of $5 and $10

respectively. Chairing the group and the man responsible for secur-

ing French's services was architect Cass Gilbert.14

French was only interested in the project if he could seek the

assistance of a helper. In this instance, Evelyn Beatrice Longman

designed the group on the reverse, portraying the inspiration of

France as symbolized by Joan of Arc, the chivalry of England as a

medieval knight and American Liberty.

The obverse shows French's portrayal of Victory (fig. 10), wear-

ing a "modified" trench helmet that is covered with a sprig of oak

leaves, a lily and a cluster of pine needles. The profile on the obverse

is one of French's most exquisite female portrait heads and its source

was the recently-completed head of the Spirit of Life, the principal

feature of the Spencer Trask Memorial located in Saratoga Springs,

NY. Obviously French was pleased with this ideal portrait, a stir-

ring, triumphant image that replaced the reserved allegories such

as the Republic and the Hunt Memorial figures. This alert portrayal

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was first suggested in the head of America, one of the Four Con-

144

Michael Richman

tinents that embellish the entrance of Cass Gilbert's impressive

Beaux-Arts building, the old United States Custom House in lower

Manhattan.15

At the same time that he was at work on the War Commission

medal, French was approached by another personal friend, Robert

de Forest, president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Board of

Trustees. De Forest was a member of the Mayor's Catskill Aqueduct

Celebration Committee and chairman of the Medal sub-committee.

The medal (fig. 11) was issued to commemorate the 12-year public

works project, building of the Catskill Aqueduct, a major water sup-

ply for New York City, and offered by the American Numismatic

Society at a subscription price of $25.00 for a silver medal and $7.00

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for a bronze.16

Medals of Daniel Chester French

145

10. Plaster model for the obverse, War Commission medal, 1917. Photo: Juley coll.

National Museum of American Art, SI

French agreed to make the obverse and offered de Forest the same

proposal he had offered Gilbert:

While I would be responsible for the head on the

medal, I should have to get all the help possible in mak-

ing the models for the medal and I should probably ask

Lukeman to aid me. He is here for the summer.17

The matter of the fee in this type of project always presented a

special problem:

For a medal that we recently made together, he was

paid $600.00 for his share of the work and I have no

doubt that he would be glad to do this for the same

amount. If there are funds enough, you may pay me four

hundred dollars. If there are not, I will contribute that

amount to the fund and pay myself!18

In this project the reverse was designed by both and executed by

Augustus Lukeman and credited to him alone. At French's sugges-

tion he modeled a standing nude male figure, holding a symbolic

water vessel in such a way that maintains the overall vertical em-

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phasis, but with a twist of the shoulders that enhances the horizon-

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146

Michael Richman

11

Medals of Daniel Chester French 147

tal as it flattens the figure. The lettering and the faintly-outlined Cat-

skill mountain range, one hundred miles north of the city, share the

background in a balanced manner.

French created his image for the obverse, aptly described in an

American Numismatic Society circular as the symbolic head of the

City of Greater New York, as a composite of heads of his groups,

Brooklyn and Manhattan, that flanked the Brooklyn entrance to

the Thomas Hastings's Manhattan Bridge which are now located at

the entrance of the Brooklyn Museum. When de Forest presented

three medals to the Metropolitan as a gift, Henry Kent, the Museum's

secretary wrote to the donor:

I have received the copies of the Catskill Aqueduct

medal made by Mr. Daniel Chester French, one in silver

presented by you in behalf of the Mayor's Catskill

Aqueduct Committee, and two in bronze in different col-

ors presented by yourself. I shall take the necessary steps

in the matter. May I say how very fine I think the medals

are, more distinguished and finer than any medal I have

seen since the work of David.19

French's third medal (fig. 12) of this period was executed at a time

when the carving of the Lincoln Memorial statue was well under-

way in the Piccirilli Brothers' Bronx studio. It too was ordered by

Robert de Forest on March 31, 1919, and was awarded to 12 prom-

inent New York businessmen who generously gave their time and

resources for the War Council of the American Red Cross.

I am involved in another medal but this time a pretty im-

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portant one. It is a medal to the War Council of the Red

Cross intended to be given to each one of them to com-

memorate their long and effective service. Is this

something you would at all care to undertake yourself?

If not whom would you recommend? It should be artistic

and distinguished.20

Although de Forest offered an out by suggesting that French might

name another artist, he agreed to take the commission on April 9,

apologizing for taking more than a week to reply. De Forest was

pleased:

That is fine, but I do not want you to do it on personal

grounds. Feel perfectly free to say no. As to remunera-

tion, it should be fair compensation, whatever that be.

I think our Committee can afford to pay that.... I should

think that either the program of your Catskill medal

should be followed, that is a large medal which could be

cast for presentation, with a possible reproduction in

148

Michael Richman

smaller size, or else the medal should be of the largest

size that can be stamped with a die.21

Issued late in the year, both the obverse and reverse have special

design histories. Given the "private" nature of the medal, French

eliminated all lettering on the obverse, although an earlier model

includes, in the left field, the initials AEF, identifying the American

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Expeditionary Forces who first entered the fighting in France in the

Medals of Daniel Chester French

149

13. Final plaster model for reverse of the American Red Cross medal, 1919. Photo:

Juley coll., National Museum of American Art, SI

spring of 1917. In making the portrait of the young American soldier,

French used his nephew, Prentiss, as his model. While the helmet

seems slightly too large for the circular frame, and the strap an

unavoidably intrusive detail, the portrait and general feel of the relief

recognizes the war as the work of young soldiers. The fact French

strenuously opposed America's entry into the European fighting but

then encouraged his nephew to serve once war had been declared,

is captured in the youthfully naive but alert face.22

In designing the reverse, French made a sketch which has not sur-

vived showing a recumbent wounded soldier with a nurse behind.

Will H. Low, a fashionable New York muralist, saw the sketch and

told French that he had once considered designing a poster for the

American Red Cross along the same lines. Low suggested that the

nurse stand in front of the bed, a change French readily incorporated

and credited the artist as collaborator by including both sets of

initials, DCF and WHL, barely visible beneath the nurse's feet (fig.

13).23

French was almost successful in his attempt to superimpose the

cross on the medal's surface. French's wounded soldier, who ap-

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pears considerably older and nearer death in the first model (fig.

150

Michael Richman

14. Preliminary clay model for the reverse of the American Red Cross medal, 1919.

Photo: Museum Archives, Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA

14) and the uneasily stiff-backed nurse have a basic symmetry that

adequately records the nurse's vital role in the healing process of

war.

Although it was not issued until 1920, the history of French's last

important medal, the Pulitzer, begins in 1918, one year after the

School of Journalism of Columbia University, with a bequest from

Joseph Pulitzer, began its annual prize "for the most disinterested

and meritorious public service rendered by any American Newspaper

during the year...."24

In May 1918, Columbia president Nicholas Murray Butler sought

French's advice about the best method for securing a design. French,

always opposed to competitions, tactfully responded:

You ask if it is "desirable to invite two or more

medalists to submit suggestions." In general I think it best

to decide upon a sculptor and require that he shall sub-

mit designs for consideration by the committee in charge.

The compliment of being selected to execute a work of

art is in itself an incentive and I think that most artists

do their best work when a commission is put unreserved-

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ly into their hands.25

Medals of Daniel Chester French

151

15. Preliminary clay model for reverse of the Pulitzer medal, 1918. Photo: Museum

Archives, Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA

By mid-June, Butler asked French, long a member of the Univer-

sity's art advisory committee, to make the medal.26 Before respon-

ding to Butler, French wrote Augustus Lukeman:

What is your price for a medal made all by yourself?

Also what is your price for a medal supervised by me,

if I can't get it given to you outright?27

The next day French replied, declining the project for himself:

Only one who has made a medal appreciates how much

work there is in one. A statue hardly is more exacting

in time and patience and it is not a thing that can be done

successfully as a side issue. I am explaining this in order

that you may not think that I am rejecting your flatter-

ing proposition lightly.28

He then offered to supervise the work suggesting that he and

Lukeman could do the work for J! 1000.00 but concluded:

I make this suggestion because of the wish you have

expressed that I should be identified with the medal, but

I really should advise that you should put the commis-

sion entirely into Mr. Lukeman's hands. This probably

would reduce the expense two or three hundred

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dollars.29

152

Michael Richman

By September 28, 1918, French wrote to Butler, submitting a

photograph (fig. 15) of the rough design for the reversea clay

model with the date of 1917 and a fictitious award line to the New

York Times. He explained:

On the reverse we have represented Franklin's press

in operation with the inscription. I think I remember that

you suggested that only the inscription should be on the

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reverse, but it seemed to Lukeman and me that the in-

Medals of Daniel Chester French 153

terest would be increased by introducing an early press

with a figure of a printer at work. I hope you may think

so.30

Butler responded promptly, commenting favorably on the pro-

file bust by Houdon of Franklin on the obverse that was a basic re-

quirement of the medal and adding:

I... am particularly pleased that you thought of putting

the printing press on the reverse. That is a little touch

which is quite a stroke of genius.31

When the medal (fig. 16) was finally issued in 1920, the dies were

changedFranklin's birth and death dates were removed, Colum-

bia's identification was added as was a place for inscribing the reci-

pient's name. On the reverse the inscription JOSEPH PULITZER

MEDAL was added beneath the printing press.32

While the execution of the reverse should be credited to Lukeman,

its overall design, and control of the project belonged to French.

In making the final model, several modifications were made. The

printer acquires shoes, pants and a hat but remains barechested as

he strains to tighten the press. A coat, referring to the fact that

printers came to work properly attired, is draped over the press

frame. The requisite lettering works with only modest success as

it is suspended in front of the press almost pushing at the printer's

back. These details, refinements that enhance without interfering,

were unquestionably made at French's suggestion.

French's place in American numismatics has been little known,

quite possibly because his medals have not been widely distributed

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and were personal rather than "public" endeavors. Despite this

disclaimer, French attacked his medal designs with a stylistic con-

sistency that marked his career. He worked in a timely manner; he

thoroughly explored all of the design possibilities, giving first con-

cepts and final models the same creative effort, and he generously

recognized the contributions of friends and associates.

1 Charle H. Caffin, "The American SurveyThe Dewey Medal," The Artist, Mar.

24, 1899, pp. xlvi-xlvil.

2 The Architectural League medal is known only by an illustration published in the

1923 exhibition of the National Sculpture Society. A letter written to the secretary

of the American Numismatic Society provides the sole historical record:

154 Michael Richman

I received your circular letter asking for information in regard to

medals which have been executed by me during the last year or formerly.

I have made no medals during the last year. I have designed but two

medals in my life.

The first was in 1896, when I modeled the Presidents prize medal

for the Architectural League of New York. This was a cast medal, cast

in bronze and gilded and was five inches and five eighths in diameter.

I believe it has been superceded by another and smaller and better medal.

French to Bauman L. Belden, Jan. 13, 1915, The Daniel Chester French Family

Papers, Library of Congress, Washington (hereafter DCFP).

3 Elmer A. Lewis, ed., Laws Authorizing Issuance of Medals (Washington, 1929),

pp. 2-3.

4 Marshall Oliver sheds some light on the early history of the project and the

Board's interest in securing a qualified design. The letter to the Assistant Secretary

of the Navy offers an "after-the-fact" confirmation about French's overall concern

but little on his direct involvement. Oliver cites an article in Scribner's Magazine

that mentions unnamed sculptors capable of revitalizing American coinage:

I wrote to the editors of "Scribner's" requesting them to ask "W.

W." who the two or three artists might be that he had in mind. The

letter was referred to R. S., Mr. Russell Sturgis, the well known architect,

from whom I received a note this morning, telling me that Mr. Walton

(W. W.) was in Europe, but that he (R. S.) knew that the artists intend-

ed were Mr. Daniel C. French, and Mr. Augustus Saint-Gaudens. I ought

to say that this information I regard as being of a quasi-confidential

character. Mr. Sturgis is good authority, for he is versed in such mat-

ters, having been associated with Messrs. French and Saint-Gaudens as

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president of the commission appointed to secure, for the U. S. Mint,

designs for a new coinage.

Marshall Oliver to Charles H. Allen (Assistant Secretary of the Navy),

Oct. 2, 1898, File no. 7774, General Correspondence, 1897-1915,

General Records Navy Department, Record Group 80, National Archives

and Records Administration, Washington (hereafter RG80). I

acknowledge the assistance of my colleague on the French Papers Pro-

ject, Daniel Preston, for this research. The article cited is William

Walton, "The Field of Art: Artistic Die-Sinking of the Present Time,"

Scribner's Magazine (Oct. 1898), pp. 509-12.

5 Charles H. Allen to John D. Long (Secretary of the Navy), Oct. 7, 1898 (RG80).

6 Of the 34 designers who submitted to the Dewey Medal of Honor committee,

only 6 have "sculptural" credentialsFrench, Henry Jackson Ellicott, Theo. Starr,

Gorham Mfg Co., Thos. S. Clarke and Tiffany. The remaining entries were from

engravers, jewelers or silversmiths (RG80).

7 Chesterwood Diary, 1898, pp. 37-38 (DCFP).

8 Oliver to Allen, Aug. 27, 1898 and Long to French, Oct. 7, 1898 (RG80). Long

concluded his letter:

With high estimation of your distinguished ability, and anticipating

a result in keeping with the reputation of your monumental and public

Medals of Daniel Chester French 155

works, the Department reserves the right to look elsewhere for a design,

should disappointing delays occur or should your design fail in technical

adaptability.

9 French to Long, Oct. 19, 1898. French thought he would have the models ready

by Dec.l but no later than Dec. 15. French to Allen, Jan. 2, 1899 (RG80); French

to Long, Jan. 6, 1899 (RG80).

10 Caffin (above, n. 1), p.lxvi.

11 French to Allen, Aug. 24, 1898 (RG80).

12 French to W.M.R. French, Oct. 16, 1898 (DCFP).

13 Michael Richman, Daniel Chester French: An American Sculptor (Washington,

1983). Wisdom is illustrated on p. 14.

14 American Numismatic Society Pamphlet, Subcommittee on Official Medal, Feb.

16, 1918.

15 Richman (above, n. 13). The Trask Memorial commission began on Dec. 11,

1913, and was completed with the unveiling of the statue on June 26, 1915. The

Trask is illustrated on p. 130; the Republic on p. 10; the Hunt Memorial figures

on p. 87; and America on p. 108.

16 American Numismatic Society Pamphlet, Subcommittee on Official Medal, Nov.

10, 1917.

17

French to Robert W. de Forest, Aug. 4, 1917 (DCFP).

See above, n. 17. The medal French and Lukeman worked on was the Public

School Athletic League. French oversaw the work which called for Lukeman to rework

French's statue of the Minute Man in relief on the obverse. French asked $200.00

for his services, per French to Gustavus T. Kirby, Jan. 18, 1917 (DCFP).

19 A comparison with David D'Angers serves French well. H.W. Kent to de Forest,

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Nov. 9, 1917 (Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives).

20 De Forest to French, Mar. 31, 1919 (DCFP).

21 De Forest to French, Apr. 10, 1919 (DCFP). French submitted a bill to de Forest

for $ 1,250.00 for designing the medal and $250.00 for making the dies. He willing-

ly made a concession in price, indicating that he would have charged $2,500.00.

French learned that gold medals could be struck for about $250.00. Fifty bronzes

could be purchased at $4.00 each, 100 or 125 would reduce the unit cost to $3.75;

see French to de Forest, Jan. 30, 1920 (DCFP). French was paid by the American

National Red Cross on Feb. 6, 1920.

22 French to Prentiss French, May 11, 1917 (DCFP). French was pleased that his

nephew enlisted, understood why his sister-in-law was so opposed and hoped that

the war would be over before American soldiers fought.

156 Michael Richman

23 French to Will H. Low, Apr. 28, 1919 (DCFP).

I am proud to follow your lead and it will interest you to know that

I have decided to take your advice which I am sure is good and put

the figure of the nurse in front of the recumbent soldier figure. I have

the model far enough advanced so that it is evident that this arrange-

ment is the better one. I really feel guilty that I have infringed your

patent however innocently.... I still feel as I suggested to you that your

name ought to go with mine on this side of my medal, and I shall be

proud to put it there if you do not disapprove.

24 Quoted in Nicholas Murray Butler to French, June 17, 1918, Central Files, Col-

umbia University Archives, New York City (hereafter NNC). The first recipient in

1917 was the New York Tribune. A gold medal valued at $500 was proposed in the

will, but did not accompany the first award.

25 French to Butler, May 30, 1918 (NNC).

26 Butler to French, June 17, 1918 (NNC).

27 French to Augustus Lukeman, June 18, 1918 (DCFP).

28 French to Butler, June 19, 1918 (NNC).

29 See above, n. 28. Butler accepted the termsFrench and Lukeman would work

together. Butler to French, June 20, 1918 (NNC).

30 French to Butler, Sept. 26, 1918 (NNC).

31 Butler to French, Sept. 28, 1918 (NNC).

32 It was not until July 1920 that changes in the inscription were contemplated.

French indicated that if the modifications were required, new dies and a new plaster

model would have to be made at a cost of $300.00. The changes were made and

Fackenthal assured French that the corrections were necessary:

I know President Butler would be very reluctant to do anything to

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the medal that would in your opinion make it one bit less beautiful than

it now is. It is one of the most admired of our medals, and its beauty

should not be marred.

It is not clear whether Fackenthal was referring specifically to the medals issued by

Columbia University or in general terms to medals produced by American artists.

French to Frank D. Fackenthal (Secretary), July 19, 1920 and Fackenthal to French,

July 21, 1920 (NNC).

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Bela Lyon Pratt (1867-1917):

Medals, Medallions and Coins

Cynthia (Pratt) Kennedy Sam

Coinage of the Americas Conference

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

The American Numismatic Society, 1988

158

Cynthia Kennedy Sam

The medals, medallions and coins created by Bela Lyon Pratt were

sketched and sculpted with both enthusiasm and pleasure by Pratt

himself. It is hoped that the following first-hand material will serve

to cast light on this less known, currently neglected sculptor.

Bela (pronounced Beela) Pratt was born in Norwich, CT, in 1867.

His father, George Pratt, was a respected Norwich lawyer; his

mother, Sarah Victoria Whittlesey Pratt, came from a long line of

artists and musicians. Her father, Oramel Whittlesey, had in 1835

founded Music Vale Seminary in Salem, CT, which was the first Nor-

mal Academy of Music in this country. It was because of her artistic

heritage, perhaps, that she had the foresight and conviction to en-

courage her fourth child and second son, Bela, to pursue his pas-

sion for modeling, which had evidenced itself at a very early age.

Pratt's father was a graduate of Yale University and so it was a

natural step for Bela to be guided toward the Yale School of Fine

Arts, which he entered at age 16. After three years of successful study

under Professors Neimeyer and Weir, and after having won the Ethel

Child Walker Prize for Sculpture, Pratt moved on to further studies

at the Art Students League of New York (fig. 1).

1. Sculpting class at the N.Y. Art Students League, ca. 1887. Front: Pratt in smock,

M.T. Lawrence in front of him, Caroline Peddle (Ball) to his right; center: young

model, Prof. Elwell; rear: Edith Woodman (Burroughs), unidentified.

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Photo, Hakim Raquib

Bela Lyon Pratt

159

2. Galvano, silvered copper, 92 mm

The greatest American sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, was an

instructor at the Art Students League of New York. It was here that

Pratt began a life of intense study, cautious reverence, and painful

jealousy of his famous mentor. In 1889 Pratt won the coveted first

prize, the "Concours," at the Art Students League. Saint-Gaudens

directed his protege, whom he later described as "a great student

of mine," to travel to Paris for study under Chapu and Falquiere

at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

Pratt flourished in France, winning several medals and prizes at

the Ecole and finishing first in his class. Saint-Gaudens called him

back to the States in 1892 to undertake a commission for two col-

ossal groups on The Water-Gate Peristyle at the World's Columbian

Exposition in Chicago.

Dr. and Mrs. Frederick Cheever Shattuck, prominent Boston

patrons who were responsible for financially aiding Pratt while he

was in Paris, commissioned of him two marble medallions. The first

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was of their daughters Elizabeth and Clara, and the second of Mrs.

160 Cynthia Kennedy Sam

Shattuck with her youngest daughter Clara. These low reliefs were

completed in 1893, but it was not until 1897, after Pratt had gained

some experience in medallic work, that he launched a speculative

venture to reduce the marble medallions and cast them in silver (fig.

2).

Paris 12/20/96

Mrs. Shattuck has sent me the reliefs of herself and Clara,

and of Lizzie and Clara. I'm going to have them reduced

to about four inches and cast in silver. This is specula-

tion on my part. I hope that they will look so well that

I can get lots of things of that sort to do when I go back.

I believe people would be willing to pay a price for a thing

that seemed as precious as a silver medal or relief, that

would scare them if asked for plaster or bronze, and I

think, myself, that there is more sense in having a thing

of that kind around than a large relief, or at least unless

one has a truly good light for the latter. If the rich peo-

ple could see enough of this sort of a thing it would

become very popular with them and I do like to work

in that way, part of the time anyhow....1

As a result of Saint-Gaudens's recommendation, Pratt was ap-

pointed to a professorship at the Boston Museum School of Fine

Arts in 1894, a position which he held for the rest of his life. In

Boston, surrounded by Harvard loyalists, Pratt's devotion toward

Yale, his first love, never wavered. Nevertheless, on the occasion

of Charles William Eliot's twenty-fifth year as President of Harvard,

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Pratt was commissioned to sculpt a commemorative medal. A gold

edition of the medal was to be presented to Eliot at the commence-

ment day alumni dinner. According to notes written by Bela's wife,

Helen Lugarda Pray (whom he met as a student in his sculpting class

at the Boston Museum School and later married in 1896), the gold

medal at the time it was made was worth $500. Six bronzes were

also cast. The plaster had been reduced in Paris. The following let-

ter from Saint-Gaudens to Pratt, dated Jan. 11, 1895, refers to the

Eliot medal:

Dear Pratt :-

My friend Mr. Bion has replied to my inquiry with

regard to the medal, although he tells me that he has not

heard directly from you as I told him he would. He says

that he does not know of any person that casts in gold

but thinks that is jeweler's work, and may possible be as

well done in this country as abroad. The cost of the reduc-

tion from your model, that will be necessary in any case

Bela Lyon Pratt 161

(whether cast or struck) if it is about 50 centimeters in

diameter will cost from fifteen to twenty-five Dollars; in

other words if you send a model of fifty centimeters to

Paris you will have a most faithful reduction to any size

you desire for Twenty-five Dollars. This reduction will

be furnished you in iron, and in order to have it cast in

gold I think you would have to bring that iron model to

Tiffany & Co. who I believe do the best work of that kind

in this country....

Yours sincerely

A. St. Gaudens

In 1894 Pratt was awarded three separate commissions for the

decoration of the new Library of Congress Building in Washington

D.C. The most well-known pieces today are the six female span-

drel figures, flanking the three arches, and sculpted in high relief

granite above the main entrance. They represent Art, Science and

Literature. His second commission, an eleven foot symbolic figure

of Philosophy, stands high in the central rotunda. The third and final

commission was for ornamental bas-relief medallions on "four

separate subjects," to be placed in the pavilions. Pratt chose the four

seasons as his separate subjects. He considered Spring to be the "best

of the lot." His sensitive treatment of women and children, as

depicted in the four medallions, recurred in many sculptural forms

throughout his lifetime. It echoed his innate respect and tenderness

toward the women in his lifehis mother, sisters, wife, and

modelsas well as toward his own children.

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In view of the fact that Pratt had studied at the Yale School of

Fine Arts and had received an Honorary Bachelor of Fine Arts degree

from Yale University in 1899, it was appropriate that Yale "catch

up" to Harvard by commissioning Pratt's second medal. As with

most of his commissions, this one involved a long and trying period

before artistic realization. The classic design illustrates Yale's mot-

to of LUX ET VERITAS, Apollo's chariot being guided by Truth over

the clouds (fig. 3).

Boston, May 14 1899

I had a letter from Prof. Weir this week and from that

I judge that they would like to give me the medal to do,

but as they have already asked some N.Y. sculptors to

submit designs, they don't feel quite free. However, they

want me to make a sketch for it and I'm going to do it.

It's queer how I always seem to be on the ground a little

too late. I wonder how other fellows get onto jobs, or

prospects of jobs, so quickly? I believe my business sense

162

Cynthia Kennedy Sam

is very poor. I'm hoping that it will develop some day

and then I shall be rich!...

Boston, Oct. 22 1899

I believe I'm going to get the Yale Bi-centennial medal

to do after all. I had a long letter from Prof. Weir saying

that the committee was very much pleased with my

sketch and had decided to have me make it in a larger

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size. If they do not accept it they will pay me for my trou-

Bela Lyon Pratt 163

ble but he writes as if they expected to give me the job.

No news from the Hale...[Pratt here refers to his Nathan

Hale life-size sculpture, the smaller model for which he

had already completed. This important commission was

not awarded him until 1914, after years of waiting on

the sidelines while Yale unsuccessfully wooed Saint-

Gaudens to create a version of the famous Yale graduate.]

Boston, Nov. 19 1899

I hear nothing from Yale and I begin to fear that I shall

not get the medal. Did I tell you that Adams design was

"rotten" and that (according to Prof. Wier's brother, who

told Tarbell) I am to have the job. However, if it is a fact

I don't see why I don't hear directly...

Boston, Dec. 17 '99

I have had another letter from Prof. Weir in which he

says that all the other sculptor's designs have been re-

jected and that I am to go right on with mine as they have

no thought of giving the medal to anyone but me. They

will pay me $1000.00 for the work. This ought to leave

me about $500 after paying for the die cutting etc. But

I am glad to do it at any price...

Over one year later, Pratt commented on Tiffany & Co.'s execu-

tion of the die:

Boston, March 3 1901

They have suggested some more slight changes in the

medal but I wrote them that I objected "to tinkering any

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more with my design as not one of the alterations sug-

gested by the committee had improved it in the least."

The design was fully and officially accepted seven months

ago but they seem to have gotten hold of some man at

the place where the die is being cut who is trying to

"queer me" with them. I hope my letter doesn't make

them mad but I felt mad when I wrote it and it is all for

the good of the medal....

Five years elapsed before Pratt was given another chance to

display his talents for medal work. In June 1906, Professor Charles

Eliot Norton of the Longfellow Centenary Committee and under the

auspices of the Cambridge Historical Society, asked Pratt if he would

be willing to undertake the making of a medal. This bronze medal,

which was fashioned to commemorate the birth of Longfellow, was

to be about 2 1/2 inches round. It would bear on one side the head

of Henry W. Longfellow, and on the other a brief inscription. The

164

Cynthia Kennedy Sam

number of copies to be issued was strictly limited to 200, and in-

dividual collectors could purchase one of the medals for $10 (fig.

4). Norton, in a letter to Pratt, noted:

I do not know whether the die can now be made in this

country as well as in Paris. You will remember that the

attempt to have the die for the Eliot Medal made here-

proved unsatisfactory, and that we had finally to have

the work done in Paris....

Pratt, writing to his mother in Kansas City, MO, on November

18, 1906, mused:

One thing that is quite interesting is the fact that Pier-

pont Morgan has ordered two of the Longfellow Medals

and wishes to have them struck in gold! They will cost

him about $300 each but I suppose he doesn't mind a lit-

tle thing like that. He says he is getting a collection of

gold medals and he wants two so he can show a obverse

and reverse in the case....

A few of these 200 medals were reserved by the Cambridge

Historical Society, to be awarded one each year as prizes for the

pupils in the Cambridge school system for essays on the poet's life

and works. Pratt, who generally disliked and avoided making public

appearances, seemed to enjoy the Centennial Celebration:

Mar. 3d, 1907

The Longfellow celebration was the biggest kind of suc-

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cess. I was very sorry that I did not have the medal realy

Bela Lyon Pratt 165

finished when the photograph that was used on the pro-

gram was taken. It looks twice as well now and I have

made some very important changes in the face, especial-

ly about the eyes. Anyhow people seemed to admire it.

But I shall not have it cast untill I am satisfied with it

myself. I wish you might have seen me on the platform

with all the great people. Gov. Guild, Pres. Eliot, Charles

Eliot Norton and any number of distinguished people.

The sad thing is that they did not put my name in the

paper with the others, but as they had only about half

of the big men mentioned, a little man like me ought not

to feel slighted....

One remarkable exception to the standard treatment for medal

design was Pratt's sunken relief $2.50 and $5 Indian Head gold coins,

also referred to as the quarter and half eagles, commissioned by

President Roosevelt in 1908. A passion in Pratt's life was American

Indian artifacts, for which he dug and hunted on many occasions.

He even surmised that he must have had some Indian blood in his

lineage, so ruddy was his complexion, so dark his hair, and so

enamored was he with Indian lore.

One day early in 1908, Dr.William Sturgis Bigelow, a Trustee at

the Museum of Fine Arts, visited Pratt's Boston studio and asked

if he knew of anyone who could interpret an idea of his regarding

a new coin. In 1908 many artists were talking about the Saint-

Gaudens coins, including Pratt and his assistant who had just been

discussing how they would have done the Saint-Gaudens coins. They

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envisioned sinking the relief, but abandoned the idea as being too

radical a change to be admitted by the mint. When Dr. Bigelow

became an interested champion, Pratt's excitement rose and he

wrote:

His idea was even more radical and startling than mine,

for while I had thought of a ground sloping more or less

gradually to the relief, his idea was to sink the relief at

right angles to the coin after the manner of the old Egyp-

tian reliefs. I at once began work on the models, and they

looked so well and promised so much that I could hard-

ly keep away from them long enough to make a bluff at

doing my regular work....

On February 2, 1908, he had forged ahead:

I've got the coin model very well along and it has work-

ed out very nicely. I can't believe that those in authority

can possibly fail to see that it is just what we have all been

166 Cynthia Kennedy Sam

looking for! It realy looks handsome to me and everybody

to whom I have shown it says that it is the best ever. I

wish you could see it just to help out in the general ex-

citement and give me the courage to see the thing

through. Do you suppose that I will realy take it to

Washington and show it to Teddy? I don't think there

any use in just sending it. There are too many ways that

it would get sidetracked, which is just what is most like-

ly to happen to it anyhow....

A week later he was still elated:

The coin continues to be the admiration of all to whom

I show it, but Dr. Bigelow has been sick abed with the

grip and so things are rather at a standstill. I need not

tell you that I am feeling very happy and cheerful. I

always do when there is plenty of work promised and

I am feeling well enough to tackel it. The fact is that I'm

feeling very agressive just now. There seems to be

something in the atmosphere of Boston not unlike that

found in Paris, among the artists, and I am right in the

midst of it. I think and believe it is what we have all been

looking for for so long, the beginning of a real American

School of Art. I wonder if I am right! I certainly believe

it. It's all very exciting and not at all unlikely. Boston is

showing a life in Art matters which can't be matched in

any other city in the country at any period....

Boston, Feb 19, 1908

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Dear Dr. Bigelow,

I am sending you the medal in plaster, of the coin on

which we have been working for the past fortnight. It

seems to me that your idea of having a sunken relief is

going to work out perfectly. This arrangement protects

the design from wear as well as possessing the advantage

of presenting a level surface which will not interfere with

the coins being stacked satisfactorily. Owing to the fact

that the surface exposed is broad and flat, the wear on

the coin will obviously be less than the wear on the ir-

regular surface of the ordinary coins; thus reducing the

loss of metal and rendering the coin of considerable

economic value.

Aside from these practical considerations, the sunken

relief has a distinct and original decorative quality. The

Indian head seems particularly appropriate for use on a

United States coin, being essentially American in

Bela Lyon Pratt 167

character. The Indian is a decorative type, and the head-

dress adapts itself admirably to artistic treatment. The

backward sloping arrangement of the feathers allows

space for a head of generous proportions, while the con-

tour of the profile and the shape of the head-dress are

in sympathy with the circular shape of the coin....

One set of the casts is gilded and the other has a dark

finish. The relief of these coins may be strengthened or

diminished to any extent necessary in the minting.

All the artists and others who have seen these designs

have been enthusiastic in their admiration of it and I feel

sure that if the project could be carried through that it

will be found entirely satisfactory.

Yours very truly

B.L. Pratt

Pratt's studio was often open to friends, colleagues, and on cer-

tain occasions to the public, since transporting monumental pieces

of sculpture to small galleries for exhibition was not always feasi-

ble. He also felt, and quite rightfully so, that everyone liked to "get

a smell of the sculpture." In a letter dated Feb. 23, 1908, he refers

to a special visit:

Yesterday Henry Higgenson, Mrs. Higgenson and their

son Alexander came in to see the bust [a portrait of Henry

Lee Higgenson to be placed in Boston's Symphony Hall.

Higgenson was founder of the Boston Symphony Or-

chestra], and they were all most complimentary. I'm so

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pleased to have the family pleased as that is often the most

difficult part of a portrait. The committee have been

perfectly satisfied. In the afternoon the Higgensons came

in again and brought Mrs. Tyson with them. Mrs. Tyson

is the prime mover in getting the bust made and she said

that they all felt they had been most fortunate in getting

me to do it instead of St. Gaudens! Also, they all thought

my coins much superior to St. G's. Of course they are

quite right in both cases!...

In the next few months, interesting details were revealed concern-

ing the issue of the coins. Dr. Bigelow, a personal friend and confi-

dant of President Roosevelt, wrote to Pratt from the U.S. Senate

Chamber in Washington on April 8, 1908:

U.S. SENATE CHAMBER

8th-4-8

Dear Mr. Pratt,

168 Cynthia Kennedy Sam

The President likes the coinboth the idea of a counter-

sunk relief and your Indian head. I saw Mr. Leech (Direc-

tor of the Mint) at the White House yesterday and again

at the Freeman this morning. He seems well disposed. The

laws limiting the changes in design to once in fifteen or

twenty years (I forget exactly) make it doubtful when

either process or design can be adopted, but he is going

to look it up and see what coins will be available for new

designs within a reasonable time.I told him to go ahead

with the sunken relief idea on anything, as far as I am

concerned but that I could not give him authority to use

your design without consulting you, and moreover that

I thought you would want to retouch it if it were adopted.

He asked me to write to you about it.Of course, you

are insured against loss in any case since it stands as a

private commission from me even if the gov't does not

take it.But suppose they do.shall I refer Mr. Leech

directly to you for terms, or can I give him any message?

Of course the suggestion of the gov't paying out money

will set a different set of wheels turning, and the creak-

ing may wake up some watch-dog of the Treasury from

Illinois or S. Dakota who is trying to make his constituents

think him a financier, and it might be an obstacle to get-

ting this thing judged on its merits, and it is conceivabley

possible that the best may be for me to say to Mr.Leech

"this idea of a sunken relief I give the gov't outright.

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The design of the Indian Head has cost me so & so. If

there is no appropriation available I will pay the bill &

give the Gov't the design too for the sake of seeing the

experiment tried." That would eliminate the idea of a job,

which every department or official shies at like a colt at

a pile-driver.

Please write me

Sincerely yours

W. S. Bigelow

14-4-8

PRIVATE

Dear Mr. Pratt,

So far so good

I told Mr. Leech about the $300 [yes.that was the amount

Pratt charged for his coin design] and offered to foot the

bill myself. He said he had been looking for available

funds, and that the U.S. will pay the bill.... Now the on-

Bela Lyon Pratt 169

ly question he knows of is what coin it can be got on to,

and he is going to Phila. to the mint to see. The Presi-

dent wants the St. Gaudens eagle on the reverse, also in

"recessed relief, but there is a technical question

whether "recessing" it would be"changing the design"

within the meaning of the act. There is hope of getting

it on a $5.00 piece anyway. Everything is ready for a new

issue, but only the specimen pieces have been struck and

none have gone out. There is a chance that this whole

issue can be stopped and our coin substituted. But keep

all this to yourself till further notice.

Yours sincerely

W. S. Bigelow

I am much pleased with the outlook.

THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON

May 1st - 1908

Dear Mr. Pratt,

Mr. Leech has got back from Phila. and reports everything

favorable there. He had started one of the men there on

the reverse, but when I told him what you said about do-

ing it, he said he saw no objection to your going ahead,

and that heor wecould see which came out best. Do

you want to try on that basis? Why don't you? I will stand

in the gap as before.The President wants the standing

St. Gaudens eagle of the $10.00 piece reproduced in

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"sunken relief... Mr. Leech said unofficially that he did

not think it necessary for you to reproduce "every

feather." I got the idea that he would not object if you

should improve it in any way. But I would not, if I were

you, get too far from the original, as the President likes

it. Perhaps you can make him like it better.

Yours sincerely

W. S. Bigelow

They thought highly of your Indian at the mint, Mr. Leech

says. How are you getting on with him? Don't be too

careful or you may spoil him. Le mieux est l'ennemie du

bien...

1765 Mass Ave.

Washington DC.

13-5-8

PRIVATE

Dear Mr. Pratt,

170 Cynthia Kennedy Sam

The coin it goes on depends on whether it is possible to

get it on the $5.00. Everything is prepared for a new issue,

and the dies are made. But the coins are not yet struck.

If they were, nothing more could be done for twenty five

years. Mr. Leech takes the ground that the law refers to

the date of issue of the coins, and not to the date of the

cutting of the dieThis is the point we are now wres-

tling with.

Yours sincerely

W. S. Bigelow

I hope you are getting on well with injuns and eagles.

Don't get the slope from surface to outline too gradual,

or you may lose the character the outline gives....

By fall, Pratt wrote to his mother with great excitement:

Boston, Oct. 11 1908

...Remember the coin is a secret!

We went to the Symphony concert last night, the first

night of the season with the new conductor, Max Fidler.

He's all right! The program was fine and he kept the or-

chestra together in a very masterful style; but that is not

what I want to write about....

Well, Helen [Pratt's wife] thought it would be nice to

walk in the corridor to see if we could find our friends.

We found the Woods, one and all, waiting for us and I

had only just shaken hands when Dr. Sturgis Bigelow

pounced on me and with a most misterious manner,

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husteled me off under a light away from the crowd and

produced the first of the coins from his pocket! He says

the President and mint people are most enthusiastic and

it is their plan to get the coin all distributed for circula-

tion and in fact into circulation before there is a chance

to rase a row. Bigelow says there is sure to be a big fuss.

I suppose he will get all the glory if there is any. There

is always somebody ready to snatch every bit of credit

for things of this kind, but it is a fact that Bigelow has

engineered this thing through and it is sure that without

him it never would have gotten through. I shall feel bad-

ly to have it called the "Bigelow coin" when it is really

the "Pratt coin."

The papers here, except the Transcript, gave credit of

the design for the Archbishop medal to LaRose! However,

he came out like a little man and the Herald published

his letter in a conspicuous place saying that he had

Bela Lyon Pratt 171

*.:**"

nothing to do with it and giving me full credit....

Boston, Oct. 25th 1908

After the first of November you can all you want of my

coins at any bank, but that is still a secret. They have

"knocked spots" out of my design at the mint. They let

their diecutter spoil it, which he did most thoroughly,

so try not to be too disappointed when you see the coins.

The little $2 1/2 coins don't look so badly but the $5 is

a sight! I could not sleep for a night or two after I saw

it. The first impression, which Dr. Bigelow showed me

at the Symphony two weeks ago looked quite well. But

they tried to retouch it and gee! they made a mess of it!

With a few deft touches the butcher or blacksmith, who

is at the head of things there, changed it from a thing that

I was proud of to one which I am ashaimed! Still it is the

best coin the U.S. has ever had....

Boston, Nov. 8th, 1908

There have been several newspaper notices of the "New

coin designed by W.S. Bigelow." They usually mention

that Dr. Bigelow got me to "make the models." There

seems to be no excitement about it at all and I suppose

that is because they have not yet appeared. Anyhow, I

shall have very little of eather the credit or discredit. I

had not thought it possible that they would play such a

trick on me and it realy looks much as if Dr. Bigelow was

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to blame. If a person gave a painter an order for a pic-

ture and told him in a general way what sort of a picture

he wanted he would never think of claiming that he

"designed" the picture and then proceed to take all the

credit for it. As near as I can make out that is what Dr.

Bigelow has done. It's just the same thing that La Rose

did in regard to the Archbishop medal. Tiffany & Co.,

who struck the Yale medal and got all the credit for that,

played much the same trick. This seems to me the

meanest kind of robbery....

Once the coins were in circulation (fig. 5), Dr. Bigelow wrote Pratt

172 Cynthia Kennedy Sam

to clarify this point:

Nov 17, 1908

Dear Mr. Pratt

I have a quantity of clippings taken from papers all over

the country about the new coins. Would you like to see

them? There is only one comment that is otherwise than

favorable and that is a short paragraph from the New York

Herald. There is also one from the Transcript which said

point blank that I designed the coins. If I had seen this

when it came out I should have written to correct it.

I am sorry that they do not put you more in the

foreground as a general thing. I have in my hand a copy

of a memorandum I sent Mr. Leech who asked if I had

anything to say about the designs for publication, as he

expected an invasion of inquiring reporters. It ends with

these words: "The credit for this particular design is

wholly Mr. Pratt's." In a private letter to him enclosing

this memorandum I said: "If we could be sure that the

thing was going to be a success I should be inclined to

withdraw entirely and have the thing known as the Pratt

design. As it may turn out a popular failure, however, I

think it may be safer to couple the names and call it either

the "Pratt-Bigelow" or the "Bigelow-Pratt" design."

Of course you and I, who have thought more about

it than anybody else, can now see points where the thing

could be done better if it were done over. Some of these

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the Mint is responsible for, others not. But on the whole

the thing seems to be a success and I think we may well

congratulate ourselves. At any rate nothing but an act of

Congress can withdraw these coins from circulation for

twenty years, at the end of which time I hope they will

come to you for another design. If they do, remember

and get the relief completely below the level of the sur-

rounding surface at all points....

In January 1909, Pratt delivered a talk in Boston to the Thursday

Evening Club, to which he had recently been elected a member. He

offered some amusing reflections about his new coins:

I am sure that up to the time that Saint-Gaudens made

his beautiful coins the United States had the most inane

and ugly coins the world has ever seen. We did have one

handsome one once, about 1862-3 they got out a nickel

cent with a flying eagle, which was really fine but it only

lasted two years, when it was revised in favor of the

Bela Lyon Pratt 173

ridiculous one-cent piece of today....

The Latin, German, Indian, English and Sanskrit words

for coin all mean some kind of cattle. The Bible work

"shekel" means a lamb. Out West they have begun to get

busy with a name for the new gold coins which have just

been minted. In a clipping which some kind friend has

sent me from Denver is the story of a man who tried to

pass some of them on the street cars and elsewhere but

they were all refused; those to whom he offered them

not being sure whether they were milk checks or a new

kind of tobacco tag. No farther West than Jamaica Plain

[Boston, where Pratt and his family lived], I offered for

my fare a $5 bill, being short of change. Upon the con-

ductor's refusing to change it I told him I had nothing

smaller except a $2.50 gold piece, which I produced. He

looked at it for a moment and said he would rather

change the bill. I told him it was a perfectly good coin

as I had made it myself, but even this failed to convince

him....

When we had the models well along, Dr. Bigelow pro-

posed that we ship them to Washington... It was not long

before things began to happen. I got letters written on

Congressional paper, Cabot Lodge paper and paper

stamped with the stamp of the White House. We soon

knew that we had a very good design: Mr. Roosevelt said

so. The models were sent to the Mint and there

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slaughtered after the manner in which the Mint always

treats designs. They milled the edge, chopped off the

margin, re-modelled the feathers and did other damage....

One of the principal advantages of this coin is that it

is nearly friction proof, as nearly so as a coin can be made;

the background being slightly above the level of the relief,

and the broad surfaces of the background taking all the

wear and being perfectly smooth, the friction loss is very

slight. It has been stated on good authority that the gold

in circulation in the United States decreases daily in value

from friction losses alone considerably over one thou-

sand dollars. When it is borne in mind that this loss is

absolute, not simply squandered or going elsewhere, but

annihilated, it is evident that any saving of this loss should

certainly be considered if it can be done without effec-

ting in any way the real or artistic value of the coin itself.

That is what it is hoped we have accomplished in this

coin. Another of the clippings which I received was from

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174

Cynthia Kennedy Sam

Bela Lyon Pratt 175

Providence R.I., and ran something in this manner: "The

new $5 and $2.50 gold pieces have just been received

at a local bank. They are the ugliest things in the way of

coins which have ever been seen outside the show cases

of some museum where the coins taken from ancient

tombs are exhibited as curiosities." Of course, the hand-

somest coins that were ever made were those made by

the Greeks along about the fifth century B.C. and later.

They had much greater freedom in treatment of design

than is allowed by the modern system, which sacrifices

artistic effect to economic and practical value and facili-

ty of handling....

By 1908 it seemed that Pratt was beginning to have a corner on

centennial medals! In July of 1908, the same year his coins were

issued, he was commissioned to model a medal commemorating the

one hundredth anniversary of the Roman Catholic diocese of

Boston. He writes:

The only new excitement is that I am going to make a

medal for Arch Bishop O'Connal and I shall have to work

on it some this summer. I've got to have the model ready

by Sept. 1st. The Bishop is a very fat man and looks the

part to perfection. There will be at least 100,000 copies

struck of the smaller medal and several hundred of the

larger. I am to get $ 500 anyway and more if the sales war-

rant it. I expect to get my full price of $1000....

The medal was indeed struck in two sizes, the smaller edition

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about the size of a quarter, with a loop at the top through which

a small red, white and blue ribbon was run, long enough to be tied

in a bow. It was speculated that every Catholic man, woman and

child in the diocese of Boston would wear one of these badges in

their lapels, offered at ten cents apiece. The larger edition, illustrated

here (fig. 6), shows Pratt's delicately precise bas-relief modeling

which was never vague nor indefinite. The relative scale of the many

objects was composed and proportioned admirably, the inscription

becoming an integral part of the design. The fact that Pratt himself

modeled his medals, as works of love and leisure, quite obviously

gave them an added, personal dimension.

Pratt's most active year in medal work was to be 1909- His In-

dian Head coins had brought him recognition beyond Boston, and

in the fall of 1908 after the coins were in circulation, he finished

a relief of Abraham Lincoln for Lincoln Park in Lowell, MA, and

adapted, from the same design, a medallion for the Abraham Lin-

coln School in Boston. Shortly thereafter, New York commission-

176 Cynthia Kennedy Sam

7. Photo, Hakim Raquib

ed of him an Abraham Lincoln Centennial medal (fig. 7). By January

25, 1909, he was making frequent trips to New York:

I'm back all right (from N.Y.) with two orders for medals,

one for the "Spanish Historical Museum" and another for

the "New Theatre" these are both quite important things

and are well paid for. They are ordered by Mr. Archer

Huntington who inherits all the wealth of his father who

was one of the richest men in the country... He was very

much pleased to think that he had "discovered a new

sculptor"! Well anyhow things do seem to be coming my

way. Just think three medals for New York and the little

bronze figure bought by the Metropolitan Museum!...

His confidence builds:

Boston, Jan 31, 1909

The New York Lincoln Medals have been struck and I

think they have come out better than could have been

expected. They are making them in four sizes and of both

bronze and silver. They expect to sell a lot of them and

the money is to go for a big Lincoln Memorial in New

York. I think it is about the best medal I have made and

I designed it in a very few minutes. I had it all finished

in less than a week from the time I started it. I don't en-

joy hurrying things this way but I'm quite proud to think

that I can do good work in a hurry when necessary. It

was done at white heat of creativity, that's for sure, and

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has the advantage of being spontaneous....

I think I'm getting quite conceited about my medals.

Bela Lyon Pratt 177

I'm sure no one can do them any better just now! There

are lots of men who can do "slicker"and perhaps more

correctly finished things of the kind than mine but to me

my things have "more stuff in them" and what pleases

me is that other people seem to feel this too. I do hope

that I can manage to hide my conceit! It would spoil all

my chance of success if people knew how good I think

work in this line is!...

April llth 1909

I had to go "down" to N.Y. on Wednesday and I had

one of the queerest experiences of my life! I went down

to show Huntington the photos of the medals for the

Spanish Museum and for the "New Theatre."

He was very enthusiastic, especially about the Theatre

medal. He said "I consider it the very best medal ever

made by an American sculptor, the best ever made in this

country, and I have seen them all." You know he is presi-

dent of the Numismatic Society and has given them land

and built them a building. Then he said, "By the way,

there is another medal I should like to have you make

if you would care to, it is for the Natural History

Museum.'' Of course I said I should be delighted and then

he said "There is another one for Columbia University.

It's for President Butler." This also I said I should be glad

to do. Huntington allowed it was too bad that he did not

have a better head for a medal and then asked if I had

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ever seen his father. He then showed me a fine photo of

him and he had one of the most magnificent heads I have

ever seen. "I want to get you to make a medal of him

if you will?" I was beginning to get embarassed but as

the head was realy so fine I accepted with enthusiasm,

but when he said that he also needed a tablet of his father

for the Museum I actually almost collapsed! Four jobs in

20 minutes! That is a record! I broak away at once fear-

ing that I would use them all up at one sitting, and I had

kind of a feeling that I might''wake up'' at any minute....

The following fall Pratt recounted an adventure on Oct 23rd:

I had one excitement last week. Thursday evening I got

a telegram from Archer Huntington requesting that I meet

him at the Spanish Historical Building in New York at the

"first possible moment." So I took the midnight train and

could hardly sleep thinking of the big job I was going to

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178

Cynthia Kennedy Sam

Bela Lyon Pratt 179

get. But it turned out that he only wanted me to make

some changes in the Theatre Medal which I had already

been paid for and which was pronounced entirely

satisfactory last spring. I shall charge him $ 150 for the

trip although he gave me a fine ride in his big motor car

almost the whole length of Manhatten Island and gave

me a great chance to see the Hudson Fulton Naval parade

which was impressive and quite worth while. The change

is of no very great importance, I'm going to take out the

central figure on the reverse to make room for inscrip-

tions. When I made it first they said that they didn't want

any inscription except just space for the name of the per-

son to whom it is presented....

The gold medal was presented to Miss Ellen Terry on January 15,

1911, by the founders of the New Theatre, amongst whom was J.

Pierpont Morgan. As may be seen here, the central figure on the

reverse side of the medal was never actually taken out (fig. 8).

In 1894 Pratt joined the Tavern Club, a Boston eating and drink-

ing club, and a center to spirited, artistic and sympathetic minds.

He enjoyed warm, lifelong relationships with a number of promi-

nent artists, writers, musicians, academicians, lawyers, doctors, and

bankers, all of whom were fellow club members.

This club voted, in 1909, to have Pratt design a silver medal bas-

ed on their club logo, a bear, which would be presented to members

of 25 years standing. As he had done on previous occasions, he

designed this medal on North Haven Island, ME, where he and his

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family summered in their Bartlett's Harbour home, adjacent to his

artist friend and colleague at the Museum of Fine Arts and fellow

Tavern Club member, Frank W. Benson. Pratt's delightful, loving

interpretation of a segment of nature, which he so cherished, is par-

ticularly endearing (fig. 9). It is difficult to label as "Beaux-Arts,"

"Gilded," or "Elegant."

The Tavern Club produced silver medals which are still passed

down from member to member, after their names and dates of

membership have been inscribed on the reverse.

Boston, Nov. 7th '09

I've got the medal for the Tavern Club almost ready to

cast and I think it is going to be a success. I have used

the bear that we used to see last summer in the spruce

tree against the western sky. Of course I have had to

change it some but in general it is about the same....

Boston, May 8, 1910

Tonight is the Tavern Annuel dinner. They are going

180

Cynthia Kennedy Sam

9. Photo, Hakim Raquib

to give out the first of the new medals which I made, for

members of 25 years standing... I don't think anyone

knows how good the medal is except myself!...

Pratt was quite an accomplished sportsman, carefully allotting

much of his time away from his studio for fishing, golfing, hunting,

or archery. He enjoyed competing on one particularly beautiful golf

course at the Country Club in Brookline, MA. Pratt was actually

startled to be elected a member at this highly exclusive club in 1910.

One of three Pratt medals which is still distributed was commission-

ed by the Country Club. Whimsical in nature, the jaunty squirrel,

logo of the club, lent itself well to the restrictive, circular format

of the medal. Pratt's love of nature again shines through in his treat-

ment of this little creature. The medal today decorates various of

the club's silver sporting trophies. This illustration is of a silver edi-

tion presented to Pratt by G. Herbert Windeler, who introduced curl-

ing to the U.S.A. in 1898, and Herbert Jaques, a prominent architect,

both overseers of the Country Club, "with grateful remembrances"

(fig. 10).

Pratt's monumental work had reached a point where the demand

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was such that he had little time to accept small commissions. He

Bela Lyon Pratt

181

10. Photo, Hakim Raquib

made no more medals until 1914, when the Nicholas Murray Butler

Medal, already begun in 1909, was finalized.

2/21/15

The Nicholas Murray Butler medal for Columbia Univer-

sity has just been struck and a proof copy sent to me. I

am realy quite proud of it. It wasn't an easy subject to

treat....

The Children's Hospital in Boston is in the 1980s the most

renowned and important hospital of its kind in the world. Their

seal, which Pratt designed in March 1916, was soon adopted as the

hospital's logo and is today widely recognized and distributed

around the world, although few people realize who designed it! The

original bronze seal is located in the lobby of the Hospital's Walbach

building (fig. 11).

Although the medals, medallions, and coins he created

represented barely five percent of the total number of works in Bela

Lyon Pratt's short lifetime, they were an important reflection of his

constant search to marry subject to artistic interpretation. The diver-

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sity and depth of Pratt's work are exhibited to a far greater extent

182

Cynthia Kennedy Sam

11. Photo, Hakim Raqutb

in his portrait reliefs, portrait busts, colossal groups, monumental

statues, religious figures, decorative tablets, as well as marble and

bronze fountain and ideal figures. On June 19, 1915, Pratt was reci-

pient of a Harvard College Master of Arts Honorary Degree. Presi-

dent A.L. Lowell bestowed the degree upon Pratt with these words:

"Bela Lyon Pratt, a sculptor who has taught bronze and marble to

whisper his secrets of beauty and power." No one, not even his

closest friends and family, anticipated that heart failure would

prematurely end Pratt's life, on May 18, 1917, in his forty-ninth year.

1 Unlesss otherwise noted, all quotations in this paper are from Pratt's weekly let-

ters to his mother. These and other correspondences have not been previously publish-

ed and they remain in my possession in Cambridge, MA. Pratt was hardly a student

of orthography. No attempt has been made to correct his errors in spelling; for Pratt

it was the substance of what he was saying which was important to him. On one

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occasion, when asked to spell "pigeon," he replied that he would rather sculpt it!

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The Coins and Medals

of James Earle Fraser

August L. Freundlich

Coinage of the Americas Conference

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

The American Numismatic Society, 1988

184 August L. Freundlich

James Earle Fraser, American sculptor, is best known for two of

his early works: his figure of a desperately-tired Indian brave sit-

ting on an equally-exhausted pony at the End of the Trail, and his

very famous "Buffalo" nickel. Some seventy-odd years after these

two American icons were first created they are still universally

recognized by the American public, while the name of their creator

is not. Aline Loucheim, late art critic of the New York Times called

Fraser "America's most famous unknown sculptor," in a Times

Magazine feature article, later reprinted by Reader's Digest.1

In the second and third decades of the twentieth century, Fraser

was the single most influential individual responsible for the

aesthetics of American coins. His wife, Laura Gardin Fraser, who

survived him by a decade, was also a medalist of considerable stature

and influence. She is responsible for three commemorative half

dollars: the Alabama Centennial of 1921; the Fort Vancouver of

1925; and the U. S. Grant. Together the Frasers created the Oregon

Trail Half Dollar, termed by Taxay the "most beautiful" U. S.

coin.2 At the peak of her career in 1958, she was commissioned by

the American Numismatic Society to design its Centennial Medal.

Fraser was quite feisty when it came to the aesthetics of coins,

and was a widely-commissioned sculptor, who served a five-year

term on the National Arts Commission (1920-25). George Morgan,

who in 1917 succeeded the younger Barber as Chief Engraver of

the U. S. Mint in Philadelphia, was challenged by Fraser with more

success and persistence than anyone, including his early master Saint-

Gaudens. As a Commission member and later consultant to the Com-

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mission for coins and medals, Fraser selected or approved the ar-

tists of most government medals and coins, and rejected, criticized

and/or praised proposed designs, all to improve the artistic stan-

dards of American numismatics. He took on artists, bureaucrats, and

even congressmen, but still managed to remain on friendly terms

with those of the establishment who counted.

Fraser's earliest years were spent in the Dakota Badlands, where

his father was an engineer for the new railroad lines which were

being laid westward. In the rough and tumble of pioneer life a young

boy could learn to ride his pony, and to admire the great outdoors

of the American west. Indian children were often young Fraser's

playmates, and he learned to respect and admire the native American

culture.

In his early teens, Fraser's family moved back east, first to Min-

neapolis and then to Chicago. Fraser enrolled at the Chicago Art

Institute, and apprenticed to the sculptor Richard Bock, just in time

for the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893. As an apprentice

James Earle Fraser 185

to Bock he was introduced to the Great White City of the Exposi-

tion, which was the product of the largest gathering of American

artistic talents to that day, and a wonderful conglamoration of

Beaux-Arts with pride in America as represented by architecture and

sculpture. Two years later he was in Paris at the Academic des Beaux-

Arts, in the studio of Falguiere. Here his work brought him to the

attention of Whistler and Saint-Gaudens. At the end of his school-

ing in Paris he was hired by Saint-Gaudens to assist in the develop-

ment of his sculpture of General Sherman, now at Fifth Avenue and

59th Street in New York City. Fraser stayed with Saint-Gaudens until

shortly before the latter's death, having become his chief and favorite

assistant.

Saint-Gaudens, with the sympathetic support of President

Theodore Roosevelt, hoped to create a change in American coins.

As President, Roosevelt brought with him a great interest in art in

general, and a desire to improve the artistic quality of coins and

medals in particular. His friendship led to the first assignment of

an American artist, Saint-Gaudens, rather than the engravers of the

mint, to create a U. S. coin.

The mint at Philadelphia had been under the direct control of its

chief engravers, the English trained Barbers, William and Charles,

father and son, and their associate and chief engraver, George

Morgan. They had all been trained as metallic artisans in England,

which begins with the engraving of fine script on copper plate, and

continues with rigid adherence to traditional decorative elements.

The emphasis in the training of the Barbers was less on original

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design than was the practice across the channel in Paris. An aesthetic

difference between a Beaux-Arts trained sculptor and technically-

oriented metal artisans at the mint was inevitable.

Saint-Gaudens was struck by the medals of the quattrocento and

Pisanello in particular. He passed this interest along to the young

sculptors who assisted him. In addition to Fraser, these included

Adolph Weinman, Phillip Martiny, John Flanagan, Frederick Mac-

Monnies, Bela Pratt, Charles Keck and Henry Hering, all of whom

in their more mature years created medals, coins and reliefs with

much of Saint-Gaudens's influence apparent.

Fraser settled in an old stable on MacDougal Alley in Greenwich

Village about 1900. Here he met other young American artists who

were also starting to make their way. Among them were John Sloan,

Henry Glackens, George Bellows and others of the Ash Can School.

He was instrumental in bringing Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney to

the Village. For a time she was his student. Fraser's early work in

New York City consists largely of portraits of children and society

186

August L. Freundlich

notables, both in relief and in the round. Through these commis-

sions he earned his livelihood and made many friends in the worlds

of art and society.

In 1901 Fraser was asked to create a special medal for Saint-

Gaudens, to be awarded at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo

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(fig. 1). In the medal to honor his old master, the design elements

James Earle Fraser 187

the placement and relative size of the contentsare straight out of

Pisanello and the Renaissance, a style which Saint-Gaudens admired

so greatly. The undraped, profile bust of the sculptor faces left.

While it dominates its circular field, the figure is well clear of the

rimless edges. Above the head, circling from left to right, there ap-

pears PAN AMERICAN EXPOSITION. Horizontally, at shoulder

height, is SPECIAL MEDAL OF HONOR CREATED FOR AUGUSTUS

ST. GAUDENS, and at the bottom rim, BUFFALO NEW YORK MCMI.

The signature of the artist appears in the straight line under the

shoulder cut-off. On the reverse is found Pegasus, the winged horse

symbolizing the Arts, an icon used on numerous occasions by Fraser,

including his gargantuan Memorial Bridge figures in Washington,

D.C.

A letter from Saint-Gaudens to Fraser, dated November 11, 1904,

tells Fraser that he has been selected unanimously by the jury of the

National Sculpture Society to do a medal of Edison.3 Saint-Gaudens

asks the younger man to make four or five sketches "showing

modifications of your present idea, or of new ones that may oc-

cur," and concludes by writing "I congratulate you and feel very

happy about it myself as I know you will do a good thing.'' A reverse

side bronze casting of one of these sketches is in the collection of

the Albright Knox Art Gallery. It shows a crouching male nude figure

in profile, facing left, with hair reaching to his shoulders. He holds

up a light bulb, and is cleverly curled to echo the tondo. The

signature "Fraser" is incised under the figure. The modeling is loose-

ly handled yet clearly shows the muscular structure.

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When Saint-Gaudens was in his final illness, he recommended

Fraser to do the official portrait bust of Theodore Roosevelt. Thus

began a long and fruitful friendship between the two. The first ver-

sion of the bust (1906) shows Colonel Roosevelt in his Rough Rider

mode. The Senate, where the portrait was to be installed, wanted

a more conservative dress however, and the second version in mar-

ble, now in the Capitol, shows Roosevelt in a business suit.

While it was with the aid of Roosevelt that Fraser was first sug-

gested as a designer for the five cent piece, it was during Taft's

presidency that he was commissioned. His relationship with

American presidents continued throughout his career.

The first Buffalo nickel was minted in 1913 (fig. 2); not, however,

without major discussions both before and since. Fraser's design

won the approval of Treasury Secretary MacVeigh and of President

Taft, chiefly because of its American subject matter. Fraser wanted

to make a coin design "using symbols which would only be fitting

to the United States of America."4 He believed that the majority of

188

August L. Freundlich

U.S. coins used symbols that could be representative of almost any

country. The eagle and other similar birds had been in standard use

by many royal houses of Europe; the American versions of this royal

bird were little different. As to the classic heads, be they Liberty

or Columbia, their like had been used since Grecian times.

Many years later, Fraser wrote "American coinage, outside of por-

traiture and lettering, might as well have belonged to any other coun-

try in the world. I felt that this was not as it should be and that is

the reason for the American character of my design. In other words,

I wanted a coin which could be mistaken for no other country in

the world outside the United States."*

Fraser's childhood experience in the west, and his admiration for

the Indian made the choices of the Indian head and the buffalo

natural ones. As a resident of New York City, finding a suitable buf-

falo for the obverse might have proved difficult except for the New

York Zoological Park, where a suspicious beast kept his head turn-

ed toward the artist who wanted a side view.

Although there has been considerable interest in who posed for

the Indian on the reverse side, no single person, according to Fraser's

frequent testimony, was the model. The head is a combination of

three different men, including Chief Iron Trail, who was at the time

employed at a Coney Island sideshow; John Big Tree and Two

Moons were the others.

Officials of the mint raised major objections, particularly to the

coin's extra thickness. A new patent had just been issued to a

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manufacturer of slot machines, designed to prevent slugs from be-

ing substituted for the older, flatter coins. The patent holders join-

ed with the mint in raising objections. Fraser, with the aid of an

attorney, found that the law required such devices to be adjustable

to at least three types of coins. The mint was not yet ready to give

in, however. It was claimed that the thicker coin would not stack

well, and the engravers proceeded to make minute but critical altera-

tions in the depth and thickness of the coin, much to Fraser's

chagrin. Secretary MacVeigh came to the rescue and had the original

design restored.

Most critics have agreed with Fraser that he achieved his goal of

James Earle Fraser

189

creating a first uniquely American and well-designed coin. Vermeule

has called it "the ultimate homage to our native or Indian-prairie

tradition. The small coin is overwhelmed by the mighty plasticity

of the Indian's rugged head and the majestic buffalo on his plot of

prairie."6

The Harriman Medal of 1914 was awarded by the American

Museum of Safety to the Southern Pacific Railroad. Fraser held

strongly to the Renaissance ideals of coin design; using all of the

surface without borders and bringing the lettering out to the rim,

he treated his modeling in detailed romantic naturalism. The por-

trait of the railroad's founder shows a fortyish gentleman with

mustache, facing left. The reverse indicates Fraser's talent for com-

bining the figure of a railroad worker walking the tracks with the

ideals of his art, without sinking into the sympathy of social

commentary.

The Spanish American War Medal, for New York State, was issued

in 1915 (fig. 3). On the obverse the rimless circle displays an

American doughboy in uniform, wearing a wide brimmed hat, put-

tees, and a blanket roll diagonally across the shoulder. His bayonet-

ted rifle is fixed for a charge to the left. The rays of the sun and

a warship are seen against the horizon in the background. On the

reverse a sword is pointed vertically and down. Around the edge

the inscription reads, AWARDED BY THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

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Beginning at mid-level and running horizontally are the words, TO

190

August L. Freundlich

ONE WHO SERVED THE NATION WITH HONOR 1898.1899.1900.

The Gold Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters was

a commission of 1915 (fig. 4). Here again Fraser used the Pegasus

as the icon of the reverse. In this version, the horse rears above the

clouds from rim to rim toward the upper left; the right front hoof

intruding over the lettering. The relief is quite low and flat. The

obverse has a classically-described male nude seated on artfully-

stepped boulders. He holds a lyre on his left, the right arm rests atop

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the boulders. AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS ap-

James Earle Fraser 191

pears in a block at the right in the lower half. The artist's initials

JEF are opposite. On a sketch for the medal, Fraser had combined

the image of the youth with the text from the reverse (fig. 5).

The Henry Elias Rowland Medal was commissioned by Yale

University in 1916. The obverse shows a well-muscled nude male

facing right. The bow he holds with his left hand echoes the curve

of the coin. Its rim is formed by a row of tiny rosettes. The reverse

features a Greek warrior's helmet with a galloping Pegasus worked

into the bristled crest. The lettering is placed horizontally at mid-

level and reads HENRY ELIAS HOWLAND at the bottom rim and

MEMORIAL MEDAL. This face of the medal is cut with a shallower

relief than the obverse, heightening the effect of the simple design.

In 1919 Fraser created a medal memorializing the Peace of Ver-

sailles (fig. 6). On the obverse, a warrior goddess strides toward us

wearing a radiant crown and breast plates. She carries a shield and

points her sword down, as a sign that the fighting has been com-

pleted. The figure is vertically-centered, the out-stretched wings of-

fer horizontal opposition. The background is plain and smooth. On

the reverse the fasce surmounted by the blade of a double-headed

battleaxe is seen against the U.S. Shield. At the top edge of the round

the inscription reads THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILIZATION. At the

bottom, six five-pointed stars are well-spaced. The participating

countries are named and placed on either side of the shield. On the

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left they are France, Italy, Serbia, Japan, Montenegro, Russia, and

192

August L. Freundlich

Greece. On the right they are Great Britain, Belgium, Brazil, Por-

tugal, Rumania, and China. The overall effect is of clean, modern

design. An earlier version of this face shows only the fasce and bat-

tleaxe with four countries, America, France, Britain, and Italy, and

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the date May 1919 (fig. 7). When required to add the names of the

James Earle Fraser 193

additional signators of the treaty, Fraser was able to adapt the

numerous additional letters to the basic design idea yet still keep

his uncluttered feeling.

The Theodore Roosevelt Medal of Honor dates from 1920. It was

one of many images of Roosevelt created by Fraser. The medal was

commissioned by the Roosevelt Memorial Association, and award-

ed for distinguished public service in an area of Roosevelt's con-

cern. The obverse profile likeness faces right. Roosevelt's eyes are

in a typical squint with the pince-nez indicated. He appears to be

wearing a business suit. There is no rim. "J.E. Fraser 1920" appears

behind his shoulder; MDCCCLVIII-MCMXIX on the right. The

reverse features a flaming sword centered vertically. ROOSEVELT

MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION circles around the top half, FOUNDER'S

MEDAL at the sword hilt. Running across the center is a favored

quote of the President: "If I must choose betweeen Righteousness

and Peace, I choose Righteousness." The lettering is occasionally

overlapped or interlocked in the case of a double O, which helps

to give an indication of Art Nouveau style.

The Williams College Medal also dates from 1920, although the

inscription on the obverse says FOR HUMANITY 1918. Eight

bayonets on rifles point to the left, held by soldiers in World War

I battle gear, although parts of only four are shown. On the reverse

a Revolutionary War officer rides his mount toward the right, three

foot soldiers appear partially behind him, and a marker stone reads

LAKE GEORGE 1755- The rimless medal is lettered above E.

LIBERALITATE. E. WILLIAMS, ARMIGERI, 1793, and below the

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groundscape, THE WILLIAMS MEDAL. The lettering seems a bit

crowded, the modeling naturalistic.

A poetic and well-thought-out pair of images occupies the two

sides of the American Institute of Graphic Arts Medal of 1920. The

obverse face presents a sturdy deciduous tree, its crown properly

fitted to the medal's top curve. Above it appears the single word

BEAUTY. Below the tree branches the inscription reads SPECIAL

MEDAL OF AWARD, below its roots UTILITY. The circular inscrip-

tion along the bottom rim says AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF GRAPHIC

ARTS. This quiet scene contrasts with the visually active reverse.

The diagonal spokes of a printing press are contrasted with the

varied angles presented by the printer's arms and legs as he strains

to turn the spokes and operate the press. In the upper right of the

rimless circle the sculptor's name appears, "Fraser 1920."

The Norse American Centennial is an eight-sided medal issued

through a commission from the Congress in 1925 (fig. 8). Both the

obverse and reverse are modeled in clear simple lines and surfaces,

194

August L. Freundlich

quite unlike the complex and scumbled surfaces of other Fraser

medals of this decade. On the obverse a Viking warrior is striding

ashore wearing a horned helmet, carrying a down-pointed sword

and holding up a shield. The inscription above reads NORSE

AMERICAN CENTENNIAL (1825-1925). On the reverse, a Viking ship

is shown with the inscription, AUTHORIZED BY THE CONGRESS

OF THE U.S. OF A.

Among the many commemorative fifty cent pieces of the 1920s,

in May of 1920 Congress authorized a half dollar honoring "The

Fathers and Mothers who traversed the Oregon Trail" (fig. 9). This

became the only occasion in which both Frasers acknowledged

working together. The obverse by James shows an Indian facing right

with full trailing headdress and a blanket, left arm outstretched. He

stands before a map of the continental United States, and holds a

bow in his right hand, just below which is inscribed UNITED STATES

OF AMERICA. HALF DOLLAR appears along the lower rim. The

reverse, by Laura, has a pioneer wagon moving toward a sunset at

the left, inscribed across the rays of the sun IN GOD WE TRUST.

OREGON TRAIL MEMORIAL appears in a slight curve just below

the wagon. The coin is dated 1926. Taxay concludes his admira-

tion for the combined design by noting "it testifies to the fact that

authentic genius, even when trammeled by the necessities of a

modern, mechanical mint, can transform our coinage into a work

of art."6

The Navy Cross Medal of 1919 was one of Fraser's most successful

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commissions (fig. 10). He described his design in a letter of 1943:

James Earle Fraser

195

Blades of battleaxes were placed head to head to form

a cross. Symbols old enough so that there would never

be a change in their meaning, I felt were necessary. For

instance, as an emblem of the Navy, one of the early

caravels was centered over the axe heads. On the op-

posite side, anchors and ropes were employed with the

initials U.S.N. Between the blades were clustered laurel

leaves. I purposely made the medal rich and full as I

thought it would hang better and not have a tinny or disk-

like appearance.7

Early in his career Fraser's relief work was mostly in portraits of

children and society figures, cast in bronze. The greatest number

of his coins and medals were completed between 1915 and 1925,

after the success of his Buffalo nickel, and before he was overwhelm-

ed with his commissions for major public sculpture. Through his

medallic designs he was able to explore his Saint-Gaudens's-inherited

admiration for Renaissance coins, and gradually develop a more

modern feeling through the use of san serif lettering and simpler

modeling of the subject and coin surfaces, as well as freer place-

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10

196 August L. Freundlich

ment of the iconographic elements. The latter part of this period,

Fraser also was serving as a member of the National Fine Arts Com-

mission and from there was in a position that required him to review

the work submitted by artists for government projects. It fell par-

ticularly to him to be the arbiter, not only for sculpture but specifical-

ly for coins and medals. Fraser was frequently and vociferously on

record as clearly favoring and promoting the better designs and the

more professional standards of sculpture as submitted to the

Commission.

As early as 1920, Fraser was asked by Commission Chairman

Charles Moore to pass on a drawing for a proposed Maine Centen-

nial half dollar. He rejected the design as very ordinary, and sug-

gested that his assistant Anthony de Francisci be engaged to prepare

a working model of the idea from which the mint might work.

Fraser's aesthetic judgement spoke for the Commission, and this

assured artistic standards for the U.S. government on com-

memorative coins including:

The Pilgrim Tercentenary of 1920 by Cyrus Dallin

The Alabama Centennial, 1921, by Laura Gardin Fraser

The Missouri Centennial, 1921, by Robert Aitken

The Ulysses S. Grant Centennial, 1922, by L.G. Fraser

Monroe Doctrine Centennial, 1922, by Chester Beach

Huegenot-Walloon Tercentennary, 1923, for which

Fraser took direct criticism of George Morgan who

designed the coin himself

Stone Mountain Memorial, 1924, by Gutzon Borglum

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Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial, 1924, by Chester

Beach

Bennington, VT Sesquicentennial, 1925, by Charles Keck

California Diamond Jubilee, 1925, by Jo Mora (Fraser re-

jected this design totally but was no longer a Commis-

sion member. Lorado Taft, who had replaced him as the

sculptor member approved and forwarded the sketch as

submitted).

The Fort Vancouver Centennial, 1925, by L.G. Fraser

For many years Fraser continued to be looked to as a spokesman

for better coins and medals. He served a term as president of the

National Sculpture Society, and testified on its behalf before

Presidents Coolidge, Hoover and F.D. Roosevelt at various times.

During the late months of 1929, George D. Pratt, industrialist and

art patron, along with Robert W. de Forest, president of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art, invited Fraser to help found the Society

of Medalists. Its purpose was to promote well-designed American

James Earle Fraser 197

medals, and to commission for its members two or three artist-

designed works each year.

In the summer of 1932, John Flanagan, Laura Fraser, Adolph Wein-

man, Paul Manship, Frederick MacMonnies, and James Earle Fraser

were invited to represent the United States in an international ex-

hibition of medals held at the Jeu de Pommes, Paris. Several of

Fraser's pieces were purchased by the Louvre, including the Graphic

Arts, Saint-Gaudens, Williams College and Harriman Memorial

medals.

In the last several years of his life, Fraser returned again and again

to the pioneer west he so admired. He had received many major

sculpture commissions which remained unfinished, or were long

delayed during World War II; nevertheless the western theme oc-

cupied his attention. In 1952 The Society of Medalists struck his

Pony Express medal as its forty-fifth issue (fig. 11). In it Fraser return-

ed to the covered wagon seen in the Oregon Trail Memorial half

dollar. The same theme was used again in his final and incomplete

work entitled Oklahoma Run, intended as a major-sized relief show-

ing a settlers' stampede at the opening of a section of land. The

obverse of the Pony Express medal has a youthful rider galloping

on his pony toward the right, while he looks back aiming his

revolver at a pursuer. The inscription reads PONY EXPRESS. TEN

DAYS TO SAN FRANCISCO. The reverse is simply rimmed and

shows a Conestoga wagon moving through mountainous country.

The ground surface is slightly concave and toward the bottom is

inscribed NEW FRONTIERS. Under it the date 18-49 is divided by

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a small cow skull. The name "James Earle Fraser" appears at the

rim below.

In 1945 Fraser completed a logo for a South Dakota high school

which is strongly reminiscent of the Buffalo nickel, the beast's head

is slightly bigger, and again the head touches the rim of the design.

The style of the modeling is also unchanged. In the logo a

background of rolling hills and a sunrise peeking over the farthest

hill have been added. On this a wide rim has been added as well,

to hold the inscription HOT SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL SOUTH

DAKOTA 1893.

Fraser's major contribution to numismatics was the Americaniza-

tion of subject matter. He developed a uniqely American coin using

symbols fitting only to the United States. But a second contribution

was to bring to bear a strong Beaux-Arts esthetic, not only in his

own coinage and medals, but through his strong leadership of an

entire generation of others engaged in the field. Saint-Gaudens had

first held up the classic ideals in coin design, but it was Fraser's con-

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198

August L. Freundlich

tribution to develop and propagate use of American iconography

and high artistic standards in the process.

11

James Earle Fraser 199

1 A.L. Saarinen, "Most Famous Unknown Sculptor,"The New York Times

Magazine, May 31, 1951, pp 24-25, 65-67; Reader's Digest, September 1951, pp.

117-19.

2 Don Taxay, An Illustrated History of U.S. Commemorative Coinage (New York,

1967), p. 122.

3 Letter Augustus Saint-Gaudens to Fraser, Nov. 11, 1904. There is no evidence

that the medal was ever produced. However in 1909, Fraser completed the Thomas

Alva Edison Award for the American Institute of Electrical Engineers which incor-

porates a bust of Edison as its obverse type.

4 Unpublished autobiography by James Earle Fraser, Ahrendts Library, Syracuse

University, Syracuse, NY.

5 Letter Fraser to Mr. Hamilton, Oct. 11, 1949, Ahrendts Library, Syracuse Univer-

sity, Syracuse, NY.

6 C. Vermeule, Numismatic Art in America (Cambridge, MA, 1971), p. 128.

7 D. Taxay (above, n. 2), p. 122.

8 Letter James Earle Fraser to C.B.W. Gray, Dec. 23, 1943, JEF Archive at Ahrendts

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Library, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY.

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The American Woman Medalist,

A Critical Survey

Elaine J. Leotti

Coinage of the Americas Conference

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

The American Numismatic Society, 1988

202 Elaine J. Leotti

The American woman medalist was not able to leap to life until

the very end of the nineteenth century. The barricades which had

kept women out of art schools had only begun to fall at the time

of the Civil War, and life drawing classes with nude male models

remained closed to young ladies until 1877. The first American

female sculptors braved their way across the Atlantic in the 1860s

to study the classics in Italy. Their medallions and bas-reliefs, such

as Harriet Hosmer's portrait of her "beloved master," sculptor John

Gibson, and Edmonia Lewis's study of abolitionist John Brown, were

highly romanticized neoclassical works, all executed in marble.

The first American medals designed by a woman were done in

the early 1880sand the designer was not an American woman at

that. The United States, which had initiated a "rent-a-medalist"

policy in 1790 by hiring French artist Pierre Duvivier to create the

"Washington Before Boston" medal, continued in this practice with

the Swedish Lea Ahlborn. Born in Stockholm in 1826, Mrs. Alhborn

succeeded her father as engraver to the Stockholm mint when she

was 27. Among her U.S. medals are the 1883 centennial com-

memorative of the evacuation of New York by the British, and a

Columbus medal executed for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposi-

tion in Chicago. Both medals, the first with its effective "camera

angle" view of a statue of George Washington, the second of an

armored Columbus confronting two awed Indians, seem extreme-

ly patriotic works to have been executed by a foreign hand.

It was the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago that

gave two American women, Janet Scudder and Helen Mears, the

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foundation for their sculptural and medallic careers. The spunky

Miss Scudder who, at age 18 had already shrugged off an impoverish-

ed childhood and the disappointment of a failed career as a wood

carver, worked as assistant to Lorado Taft on the Exposition's

monumental sculpture. Her sculpture earned her a bronze medal,

but of more importance to Scudder's future was the opportunity

to witness Frederick MacMonnies at work on the Exposition's center-

piece, a monumental Beaux-Arts fountain. "That," Scudder told

herself, "is the man who will teach me to sculpt."

As soon as the Exposition closed, Scudder sailed to Paris where

she brashly convinced MacMonnies to allow her to work in his

studio. Years later, he was to refer to her as his finest assistant.

Janet Scudder went on to win wide acclaim for her delightful foun-

tains of impish children in which the influence of MacMonnies is

clearly evident. She was also the first woman whose medals were

purchased by the French government for display at the Luxembourg

Museum in Paris.

The American Woman Medalist 203

As MacMonnies was the author of few medals, it is difficult to com-

pare the work of the pupil with that of the master. A more apt com-

parison would be between Scudder and MacMonnies's mentor,

Augustus Saint-Gaudens. We tend to revere Saint-Gaudens as the

American Master of bas-relief, but Miss Scudder's plaquettes show

her to be of equal skill, giving the impression of fully fleshed-out

individuals in whisper-low relief. Many of her works are self-framed,

usually with nothing more elaborate than the suggestion of two Ionic

columns and capitals. Saint-Gaudens also used this device, although

many of his plaquettes are set in actual frames designed by his friend

Stanford White.

Like Saint-Gaudens, Scudder almost never placed her subject ex-

actly in the center of her "canvas," and she too learned to use the

device of having a hand or elbow brush the frame, and in some cases,

actually protrude from the frame thereby jolting the viewer to the

reality of the person posed therein. This trompe-l'oeil device had

been used many times in other branches of art, notably by the early

eighteenth century French engraver Pierre Drevet whose portrait

of Hyacinth Rigaud features voluminous sleeving which drapes

down from a window-like frame partly obscuring the inscription

below. In Miss Scudder's portrait of Bishop Hare, his chosen path

in life is accented by his Bible which juts out at us over the thick

ledge of the plaquette. She creates a similar effect with lovely Mildred

Barnes, who seems oblivious of us as she sits, head bent over her

picture book, yet who has unknowingly entered our world by lean-

ing out of her "window."

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A 1906 silver plaquette of a little girl named Alice has the same

plastic quickly-sketched look as have some of Saint-Gaudens's

renderings of small children. The innocence of youth comes through

to us without being cloying. That the artist felt sympathy for her

subject is evidenced by the lack of detailthe modeling was done

quickly before the child began to squirm in the discomfort of being

held to a long pose.

Scudder's portraits of Arthur Middleton Reeves and his daughter

Caroline Reeves Foulke show her love of detail and her ability to

utilize graphics to define the character of her sitter. That Arthur

Reeves is a man of means is brought home to us by the elaborate

frame which surrounds him with its lion and dragons. With her crisp

rendering of the waves and curls of his full head of hair, his long

moustache and fashionably-parted beard, as well as all the tiny

details of Mr. Reeves's clothingeven to the lion's-head tie tack in

his cravatMiss Scudder has drawn a man of self-confidence and

still youthful vigor.

204

Elaine J. Leotti

Reeves's daughter Caroline is portrayed as a haughty young beauty

of imperial bearing (fig. 1). She is seated on a throne-like chair, her

wonderfully-modeled left hand resting lightly and naturally on its

arm, the sweep of her long skirt enforced by the chair's classic lines,

lovingly traced by the artist. The lettering of the sitter's name im-

itates Greek characters suggesting that we are in the presence of a

muse. Miss Scudder does not invite the viewer into this plaquette,

nor does the subject lean from it into our world. We are not meant

to intrude on her patrician thoughts.

Young Helen Farnsworth Mears was also on the Exposition

grounds in Chicago hard at work on a commissioned sculpture called

the Genius of Wisconsin. The nine-foot statue attracted honors,

prize money, and the attention of a patron, all of which enabled

Mears, who came from a poor Wisconsin family, to realize a dream.

She moved to New York to study with Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Within a few short weeks she was promoted from student to

assistant.

In 1896 another generous gift from Mear's patron enabled her to

travel abroad for further study. In Paris she studied and worked with

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Frederick MacMonnies, Denys Puech, and Alexandre Charpentier,

The American Woman Medalist

205

and finally she rejoined Saint-Gaudens in his Paris studio to assist

in the execution of his General Sherman monument. In between ses-

sions on the heroic equestrian bronze, she modeled her master's

likeness in small scale relief.

The portrait of the male sculptor, executed in 1898, depicts him

standing in his studio, the equestrian statue of Sherman a subtle

shadow in the background (fig. 2). The pose reminds us of Saint-

Gaudens's bas-reliefs in which the subject stands or sits in a relax-

ed, informal manner. His right hand rests lightly on his hip holding

his coat open and an engraving tool dangles loosely from his left

hand. The magnificent profile with leonine nose, beard and a curly

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206

Elaine J. Leotti

mane of hair, is drawn with strength and has, to quote Saint-

Gaudens's own criticism of Mears's sculpture, "a subtle tangible

quality exceedingly rare and spiritual."1 The portrait has the ap-

pearance of a quick rough sketch, reminiscent of Charpentier with

whom Means had recently studied. Charpentier, who in a traditional

time disdained traditional portraiture, executed a large number of

bronzes with ragged edges which have the unfinished quality of wax

models. Mears's portrait of Saint-Gaudens reflects her study with

the French master, yet it perfectly captures both the essence of the

subject and of his profession.

Another woman sculptor who worked closely with Augustus

Saint-Gaudens was Frances Grimes. Born in Ohio in 1869, she spent

seven years in Saint-Gaudens's Cornish studio doing the actual cut-

ting of some of his marble works and contributing to the modeling

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of at least one medal. Prior to working in Cornish, Grimes had

The American Woman Medalist 207

studied at the Pratt Institute and worked as Herbert Adams's assis-

tant from 1894 to 1900. She is best remembered for her portraits

of children both in relief and in the round.

The critic Adeline Adams described Grimes as an artist of integri-

ty, one who knew where she was going with a piece from the mo-

ment she first set chisel to marble or immersed her fingers in clay.2

Her relief work bears out this analysis. The subjects are always placed

"just so" and are masters of their surrounding space. There is a quiet

dignity to Frances Grimes's people, as true of the Coolidge baby as

of Mrs. Parsons in her "Whistler's Mother" pose. The Clement

sisters, aged five and three when Miss Grimes sculpted them in 1921,

are solemn little girls, the older standing almost maternally behind

her sister (fig. 3). There is loving detail in the smocking of the

dresses, in the pudgy fingers and hands, and in the soft page-boy

hair cuts. The artist's sympathetic treatment of the sisters and her

soft-edged style remind us of Mary Cassatt's sensitive pastels of

children.

Anna Hyatt Huntington's overwhelming sculptural output includes

no more than a handful of medals, but these, like her large works,

are a rich gift to the world of art. Like her large works, they too

reflect her lifelong love affair with the beauty and strength of animal

locomotion. In the pamphlet which accompanied her 1943 Society

of Medalists piece, Mrs. Huntington described her passion for obser-

ving and modeling animals as a selfish one, adding her vexation over

not having "fingers enough to catch in clay all that [I] see."3 The

medal is a plush tapestry of African animalsan elephant on the

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obverse smugly dining on flowers; a group of zebras and a gnu calm-

ly drinking and feeding at a water hole on the reverse. Tails swish

at flies and sunlight sparkles on the ripples created by the thirsty

beasts. The ability to capture the vastness of the African tundra on

the tiny surface of a medal without losing scope is the mark of a

true master of scale.

The reverse of Mrs. Huntington's 1926 Mitre medal for the

Hispanic Society of America features a toga-clad horseman astride

a prancing horse balanced on the tightrope of a narrow inner border

ringed by oak leaves. The steed's head is tightly reined and two of

its hooves are smartly raised in the air. Life and rippling musculature

are suggested on a small scale, and a sense of arrested action is im-

plied by the drape of the rider's cloak, his uplifted right arm, the

perpendicular torch, and the fact that he has twisted his head to

stare behind him. The nervous energy here is reminiscent of the

sculptor's work in the round, particularly her Joan of Arc, and can

even be likened to the tense moment created by Verrocchio in his

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208

Elaine J. Leotti

The American Woman Medalist 209

late fifteenth century equestrian statue of Colleoni in Venice.

Anna Huntington's 1925 medal for the American Academy of Arts

and Letters shows that her abilities are more than those of a skilled

animalier (fig. 4). William Dean Howells appears on the obverse,

his left profile to us, spectacles held in his upraised right hand, a

thoughtful, dignified and thoroughly human man in his later years.

By placing Mr. Howells off center, the artist has cleverly managed

to draw our eyes to his as he studies something just beyond the

medal's edge. His chin is lifted, his moustache luxuriant, his hair

is slightly unkempt. His body is "at attention" but certainly not rigid.

We almost expect that he will complete his perusal of the unseen

object, turn his gaze in our direction, and begin to speak.

On the reverse are inanimate objectssheets of writing paper,

a quill pen and two palm brancheswhich pulse with life. On both

sides of the medal the treatment of the lettering is exactly in balance

with the design. For someone who has stepped out of her metier,

this is a masterful work indeed.

Another woman sculptor who specialized in capturing animal life

was Gertrude Katherine Lathrop. Lathrop's specialty was not

heavily-muscled Percherons and lithe jungle cats but young domestic

animals, which she rendered with a delicate and often somewhat-

bemused touch. Born in Albany, NY in 1896, she studied at the Art

Students League under Gutzon Borglum and with Charles Grafly in

Gloucester, MA. After Laura Gardin Fraser, Gertrude Lathrop was

the second woman to win the American Numismatic Society's Saltus

Award.

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For the eighteenth issue of the Society of Medalists in 1938, Miss

Lathrop chose to do a pronghorn antelope and what she termed a

"brilliantly colored wood duck."4 The use of the word "color" in

her description is apt: the duck's plumage seems to vibrate with the

hues of the rainbow. The fiddleheads in the background also serve

to intensify the impression of color. Her kneeling antelope is smooth

and graceful in contrast to the prickly texture of the spines of a bar-

rel cactus.

Her 1942 medal for Brookgreen Gardens is very similar in con-

cept. On the obverse a bright feathered parrot (again, it is easy to

imagine color), in deep relief contrasts with the placid recumbent

deer on the reverse. Lathrop's creatures are contained within the

boundaries of her medals. The birds are each caged within a ring

of lettering, and her use of a vertical bar as a pediment causes the

beasts to "stay put." Compare this with Anna Hyatt Huntington's

African animals, unfenced and free, filling the surface so that they

seem part of a larger space.

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210

Elaine J. Leotti

The American Woman Medalist 211

In her Cervantes medal for the Hispanic Society, Lathrop

trespasses from her normally calm, ordered world into one of chaos.

Don Quixote sits awkwardly astride his bony mount, the blunt end

of his lance about to burst the border of his world. Rocinante rears

and flays about, eyes rolling, nostrils snorting at the medal's edge.

The artist has placed horse and rider off-center, adding to the feel-

ing of disorder. Around the rim run a frantic flock of sheep and lambs

which Lathrop has rendered with her usual loving attention to detail,

nubbly fleece, pert hooves, and all. The reverse is a bit more ordered.

A battered shield and sword act as background to a barber's basin

overflowing with books. The sword slashes across the field touching

each edge of the medal, its tip an exclamation point after Cervantes's

date of death.

As Beatrice Proske so aptly put it, "Miss Lathrop's rigorous sense

of design, carried out with a delicate touch and enlivened by a fer-

tile imagination, lent itself to medallic art."5

From Huntington and Lathrop we step easily and naturally to our

next artist, Laura Gardin Fraser, one of America's best known and

most prolific medalists. The Society of Medalists chose her to design

its very first issue, the American Numismatic Society marked its

centennial with a medal of her design, and she was selected to sculpt

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medallic portraits of two of the nation's great heroes, Rear Admiral

212 Elaine J. Leotti

Richard Byrd and Charles Lindbergh. Born in Chicago in 1889, her

art education was almost entirely with James Earle Fraser, whom

she married in 1913. Sculptor Janet deCoux, who worked as an assis-

tant to James Fraser during the 1930s, described Laura as "a very

tense and serious person - very difficult to know." In Miss deCoux's

opinion, Fraser's work was largely reflective of her husband's

sculpture, as she was never able to "develop as one would who had

fought it through alone."6

It would be a foolish waste of time to attempt conjecture of

Fraser's artistic development had she never met James. We know

that, like Anna Hyatt Huntington, she was deeply interested in the

anatomy and movement of animals, particularly horses, so certain-

ly Laura would have honed her skills as an animalier with or without

the tutelage of James Earle. Her love of animals is apparent in all

of her medal lie "portraits" of dogs and horses in which a fluidity

of line and a feeling of joy can be detected. The stallion on her

Morgan Horse Club medal of 1923 is a noble embodiment of the

sire of the breed, while the mare and foal on the reverse are treated

with a tenderness and delicacy befitting a Madonna and Child. For

the Irish Setter Club of America, she created what Cornelius

Vermeule described as a "very Renaissance, very Pisanellolike

medal" featuring a portrait of a "most humanistic" setter (fig. 6).7

Fraser's Better Babies medal done in 1913 for the Woman's Home

Companion is her only piece which can truly be called feminine

(fig. 7). It is a well-balanced medal, nicely executed if a bit on the

sentimental side. The babies' bare flesh is soft, almost palpable; their

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curls and dimpled elbows invite touch, thus appealing to exactly

the audience the medal was meant to impress.

That Mrs. Fraser is rarely paid tribute for her portraits of human

The American Woman Medalist 213

beings is a slight which should be remedied. Her 1930 portrait of

Charles Lindbergh, which was modeled from life for presentation

to him as the Congressional Medal of Honor, depicts a man start-

lingly young, as Lindbergh indeed was. To underscore his bold ac-

complishment, Fraser's reverse is of an eagle, its wings outstretch-

ed, soaring above the clouds and the earth as the sun sets behind

it. She has balanced the humanness of the man with a clear and

powerful allegory.

Her Admiral Byrd portrait, completed in the same year for the

National Geographic Society, is similar in style. Both figures are trun-

cated at mid-chest much like Fraser's better known George

Washington medal, a technique which harks back to such early

masters as Pisanello and Niccolo Florentine. Byrd wears his fur-lined

parka just as Lindbergh is clad in aviator's cap and scarf. The reverse

of the Byrd medal is of a winged man, Daedalus perhaps, gliding

across the face of the sun. Both the Byrd reverse and the Lindbergh

reverse, each with a figure cutting across a linear sunburst

background, are similar in conception to the reverse design by Lu-

cien Bazor for his famous medal of Richard Wagner.

A more down-to-earth reverse done for the John Endecott medal

marking the Massachusetts Bay Tercentenary in 1931 is of twin pear

trees, their roots intertwined (fig. 8). The trees are lovingly drawn

with much attention to the detail of each leaf and plump round pear,

the fruit of the Governor's labors being passed on to future genera-

tions of the colony. It is the work of a medalist secure in her art,

one who has gleaned from classic sources as well as from her modern

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American husband.

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, who was born into a comfortable

home life in Philadelphia in 1880, showed early promise as a

sculptor. At the age of 19 she entered Rodin's Paris studio, and two

years later she exhibited at the Salon. Her first commission was a

life-sized bronze portrait plaque of Dr. Abraham Jacobi for the New

York County Medical Society in 1910. Charles Aronson, the author

of Sculptured Hyacinths, a paean to Harriet Frishmuth's sculpture,

states that the plaque tells us nothing about either the sculptor or

her style.8 In a sense this is true, for the half-figure of the

gentleman of serious mien is detailed and natural. It has neither the

hurried quality of Frishmuth's early master, Rodin, and of most of

her own early work in the round, nor does it reflect her later "lyric

years" when she created her well-known sensuous female nudes.

What the plaque does tell us is that Frishmuth was a patient artist

with the ability to capture mood and the dignity of her subject.

We can see this again on the obverse of her New York Academy

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214

Elaine J. Leotti

The American Woman Medalist

215

of Medicine medallion executed in 1929 (fig. 9). This is a serious

business and the artist has set her hand to it with that knowledge.

She has modeled a classical profile of Hippocrates set in a medal

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within the medal, but she has given the piece the lyrical Frishmuth

216 Elaine J. Leotti

touch by centering the small rondelle between the graceful and

caressing branches of two olive trees, the gnarled roots of which

spring from the rim. On the reverse, she has allowed herself almost

free rein. She could not, of course, place a dancing naiad there, but

she has come as close as she dares with the draped female figure

of Truth in Science. The young woman kneels toward the left but

turns her torso almost directly toward us; her arms are upraised like

those of a dancer as her fingers gently lift the folds of her evanes-

cent garment. There is a peacefulness and a grace to this figure, so

perfectly balanced on the circular field. The clever placement of the

draperies draws our eye around and aroundwe are swept into the

medallion by Miss Frishmuth's poetic workmanship.

It is interesting to compare this kneeling figure with Adolph Wein-

man's nymph on the Saltus medal for the American Numismatic

Society. Weinman's nude figure, in profile to us, is nicely contain-

ed on the medal's surface; the tree she kneels beneath shares the

same plane. The young lady is certainly curvaceous, but the design

is definitely linear. Frishmuth has created depth on her medal by

revealing both of the kneeling woman's knees and by the attitude

of the torso, neck and headand yet she has suggested neither

horizon nor background. Weinman's nude is immobile, posed.

Frishmuth's nude is in motion, recalling the artist's own words on

a lesson well-learned from Rodin: "Movement is the transition from

one attitude to another. It is a bit of what was and a bit of what

is to be."9

The words "powerful" and "archaic" come to mind in describ-

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ing the work of our next artist, Genevieve Karr Hamlin. Born in

1896, the daughter of the head of the Columbia School of Architec-

ture was educated at Vassar and went on to study with Abastenia

St. Leger Eberle and Henry Dropsy. Hamlin's portrait reliefs have

the same down-to-earth sincerity as Eberle's unsentimental

sculpture, the boldness of medalist Dropsy at his independent best,

and a strong architectural qualitypossibly a reflection of her

father's work.

Reviewer Whitney Allen, writing in International Studio in 1926,

compared Miss Hamlin's plaquette of painter Horatio Walker to an-

cient Egyptian carvings.10 Her medals for the Antique and

Decorative Arts League and for the American Art Dealers Associa-

tion, both done in 1930, each of nude male figures, are thick, bold

one could almost say "masculine"and reminiscent of archaic

Greek sculpture. The symmetrically-balanced figures and the

geometric forms are in tune with the trend of the day away from

naturalism and toward abstraction.

The American Woman Medalist

217

Margaret Grigor's most accomplished work is also in a style that

emphasizes design rather than the more traditional and painterly

scenic composition. Born in Scotland in 1912, Grigor was brought

to California by her American parents when she was a child. She

earned her B.A. at Mount Holyoke Colege in 1934 and only then

did she seriously begin the study of art at the Pennsylvania Academy

with Walker Hancock.

Margaret Grigor executed a number of medals for Mount Holyoke

College. Among them is the Board of Trustees medal on which she

depicted the towers of the Williston Memorial Library which grace

the campus. The treatment of the architecture is realistic but sadly

not successful. We are puzzled by the structure's "wings" which

are in fact the main roof of the building. Instead of giving an ap-

pearance of solidity and timelessness, the towers appear to be on

the verge of soaring from the face of the medal.

Grigor's 1937 Garvan medal for the Chemical Society of America

is perhaps her best and it is certainly her most original (fig. 10). Hex-

agonal, it shows the sculptor's masterful use of the spatial surfaces

on both the obverse and reverse. The chunky torch of knowledge

on the reverse fits perfectly into the center of the six-sided medal

and is in correct proportion to the lettering and the banner on which

the recipient's name is boldly emblazoned. On the obverse, Grigor

has set a cauldron snugly into the bottom niche. It fumes with the

smoke of chemical experiments from which rise a caduceus at

center, the steaming towers of industry at left, and the spires of

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modern city buildings at right. The design is neither crowded nor

"floating free" like Grigor's library towers. A simple and powerful

218 Elaine J. Leotti

statement has been made by an artist with a true grasp of her

medium.

When Margaret Grigor's design was selected for the reverse of

the National Sculpture Society's Seventy-Fifth Anniversary medal

in 1968, it was both a fitting tribute to a prolific medalist and an

apt selection for the organization. Miss Grigor's design shows the

hand of an experienced sculptor passing the tools of the profession

to the hand of an aspiring youth. Behind them a rough block of stone

waits to be carved. The legend around reads: TO FURTHER THE

SCULPTURAL HERITAGE. The design is simple, the message direct.

It is quite a contrast to Thomas LoMedico's busy obverse design

which features a full frontal head of Pegasus surmounted by a

wreath-bearing Muse of Art and flanked by both an eagle and an owl.

Eleanor Platt was active at the same time as Margaret Grigor, yet

her medallic sculpture is entirely different. Born in Woodbridge,

NJ in 1910, she studied at the Art Students League winning study

awards and grants, among them a Guggenheim Fellowship, when

she was in her mid-thirties. By the 1950s, Eleanor Platt had hit her

stride and was turning out plaques and medals for the New York

State Bar Association, Harvard University Law School, and Hebrew

University in Jerusalem. She did portraits exclusively, mostly of men

in the legal profession.

The bronze medallion of Henry B. duPont is typical of Platt's

naturalistic style of portraiture. It has a special appeal as the subject

is dressed in a windbreaker, his hair mussed by the breezes which

sweep across the deck of his yacht, unseen but clearly suggested.

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We are able to admire the rugged face in comfort without feeling

like voyeurs, for even though the artist has portrayed Mr. duPont

nearly full-face, she has avoided allowing us eye contact with the

subject. His importance is emphasized by the fact that the bust nearly

fills the medallic field, looming large in relation to the legend around

and above it.

The time has come to step into the realm of living artists. There

are many fine American women working todayof the nearly 60

listed in the recent Directory of Artists published by the American

Medallic Sculpture Association, one third are women. Since it is im-

possible to cover them all, I have selected only two: Adelaide

Toombs Sundin and Karen Worth. Sundin grew up in Boston and

began drawing as a child. Her art training was taken at the

Massachusetts College of Art and at M.I.T. Mrs. Sundin's primary

medium is a marble look-alike called Parian porcelain which she

herself makes up in daily batches. Her favorite subject, one with

which she has a strong rapport, is the young child.

The American Woman Medalist

219

When we look at a medallion by Mrs. Sundin we feel the strong

pull of the past, back to Frances Grimes, Janet Scudder, and other

artists who worked in the Beaux-Arts tradition. A bronze of a father

holding his young son on his lap has the charm of Scudder's por-

trait of little Alice (fig. 11). The little boy is not yet squirming even

though his father holds him with a tender firmness. The child

reaches out a hand for his pet dog which completes the design by

stopping the eye at the medal's edge and bringing the viewer's gaze

back into the circle. Details of clothing and hair are suggested rather

than distinctly delineated. In all it is a warm and intimate family

scene.

Quite a different direction has been taken by our last medalist,

Karen Margulis Worth. Born in Philadelphia, Worth was exhibiting

work at the National Sculpture Society while still in her teens. World

War II interrupted her studies with Paul Manship; then she married,

raised a family, and did not return to sculpture until 1959. Since

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that year she has designed hundreds of medals including the Socie-

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Elaine J. Leotti

220

12

The American Woman Medalist 221

ty of Medalists sixty-seventh issue and a series for the Judaic Heritage

Society. In 1977 she joined Laura G. Fraser and Gertrude Lathrop

as the third woman in history to be honored with the Saltus medal.

Karen Worth's 1982-1983 Brookgreen Gardens membership

medal shows what a forceful and accomplished artist she is (fig. 12).

On the obverse, Pygmalion flings out his arms in astonished ecstasy

as he sees the statue he has carved come wriggling to life as Galatea.

Worth has kept the lettering to a quiet incuse background, and her

border is a simple beaded one. The figures are amazingly muscled,

and if not realistic, they are full of life and movement. In the art

deco style, they are somewhat reminiscent of Paul Manship's

medallic work, although Manship's is perhaps more stylized. Worth's

work is more akin to that of Donald DeLue and Abram Belskie, all

of which can be described as potent. This medal also exhibits a

strong diagonal pull and a feeling of depth created by Pygmalion's

left arm which seems to plunge into space at the medal's center.

On the reverse the motion is hypnotically circular as Orpheus lulls

the wild beasts and birds with his lyre.

Less than one hundred years separates Janet Scudder and Karen

Worth. In this short span of time, the American woman medalist

has made her mark, contributing work ranging from sensitive por-

traits of small children to nearly monolithic abstracts. Her delicate

hands have played an important part in shaping the course of

American medallic art.

1 Charlotte S. Rubenstein, American Woman Artists (New York, 1982), p. 102.

2 Adeline Adams, The Spirit of American Sculpture (New York, 1929), p. 106.

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3 Anna Hyatt Huntington, brochure for the Society of Medalists Twenty-seventh

issue (1943).

4 Gertrude K. Lathrop, brochure for the Society of Medalists Eighteenth issue

(1938).

5 Beatrice Proske, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture (Brookgreen Gardens, SC, 1968),

p. 409.

222 Elaine J. Leotti

6 Janet deCoux, personal correspondence with the author, 1987.

7 Cornelius Vermeule, Numismatic Art in America (Cambridge, MA, 1971), pp.

163-64.

8 Charles N. Aronson, Sculptured Hyacinths (New York, 1973), p. 84.

9 Ruth Talcott, "Harriet Whitney Frishmuth," National Sculpture Review, 29, 2

(Summer 1980), p. 23.

10 Whitney Allen, "Our Contemporary Medallic Art," International Studio 83

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(February 1926), p.63.

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The Society of Medalists

Joseph Veach Noble

Coinage of the Americas Conference

at The American Numismatic Society, New York

The American Numismatic Society, 1988

224 Joseph Veach Noble

The year of the founding of The Society of Medalists, 1930, was

an inauspicious time to begin such an art organization. The great

economic depression of the fall of 1929 had deepened, and had

spread worldwide. In America, millions were unemployed. But, to

place 1930 in a proper perspective, one needs to recall some other

events of that year. An astronomer had discovered the planet Pluto;

Boston had banned all of the writings of Communist Leon Trotsky;

meanwhile in London, Noel Coward wrote Private Lives; the mo-

tion picture All Quiet on the Western Front won the Academy

Award; and France started building the Maginot Line, the seeds of

future events were already sown.

Nevertheless, George DuPont Platt proceeded to found The Socie-

ty of Medalists. He was an optimist, an idealist and a wealthy private

collector of medals. At the time of the founding of the Society in

1930, Pratt was 60 years of age and a dedicated benefactor of the

arts and very much interested in ecological preservation. He was

a member of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of

Art and the American Museum of Natural History in New York Ci-

ty, and for six years he had served as New York State Conservation

Commissioner and was also President of the American Forestry

Association. He was a member of various arts organizations and the

Century Association. Unquestionably the idea for the founding of

the Society of Medalists came from his experience two decades

earlier as a member of the Circle of Friends of the Medallion, which

had been organized in New York City in 1909.

The Circle of Friends of the Medallion was created by two men

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deeply involved in the arts. The first was Robert Hewitt, Jr., a real

estate man by profession and an avid numismatist. His special in-

terest was in the medals of Abraham Lincoln, and his extensive col-

lection of over 1,200 pieces he eventually donated to the Smithso-

nian Institution in Washington. In 1908 he published a book, The

Lincoln Centennial Medal, and bound in it was a portrait medal

of Lincoln. The following year he issued a second Lincoln book with

a different Lincoln medal bound in it. Undoubtedly, the success of

these publications led him to join with Charles deKay to found the

Circle of Friends. Noted author and critic, deKay had been the

literary and art editor of the New York Times for 18 years and the

author of various art books including one on the french sculptor,

Barye. Like Platt, he too was a member of the Century Association.

Hewitt was a quiet and studious man who understood what was

needed to organize the project. Indeed, he had persuaded the

Deitsch Brothers, a New York City leather goods manufacturing

company which owned a reducing pantograph which had been

The Society of Medalists 225

made in Paris by Janvier, to use the name "Medallic Art Company"

for medal production. In fact, the Medallic Art Company struck the

two Lincoln medals for him. DeKay was an affable and socially well-

connected leader in the cultural world and was well known among

artists, writers and patrons. He served as the secretary of the Circle

of Friends of the Medallion, and wrote the text for the short essays

about the subjects of the medals and their sculptors published in

the books which also held the medals.

They publicized the medal series as follows:

Circle of Friends of the Medallion is a band of artists and

lovers of the arts, of both sexes, who hope to encourage

in the public a taste for small sculptures and especially

for bas-relief. Designs are chosen by the Art Committee.

Medals and other sculptures issued by the Circle go to

members only, without charge beyond the annual dues.

They are not offered publicly for sale. They are of bronze,

unless a costlier metal is called for at an additional cost.

The plan was to issue two medals a year bound in books with

an appropriate essay. They illustrated a wide variety of themes such

as motherhood or the ocean; portrait medals included Lafayette,

Charles Dickens and Joan of Arc; and they commemorated special

events such as the tercentenary of the City of New York. Outstan-

ding sculptors participated including John Flanagan, Victor Bren-

ner and Paul Manship. The series ran from 1909 to 1915, with 12

medals issued; the first two and the last one were struck by the

Medallic Art Company in New York City and the others by Joseph

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K.Davison's Sons, Philadelphia.

For the first medal in the series by John Flanagan, Hewitt and

deKay chose a subject which was sure to be popular in 1909. That

was the year of the great Hudson-Fulton celebration which com-

memorated the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage to

America in his ship the Half-Moon in 1609, and the centennial of

Robert Fulton's invention of the steamboat, later named the Cler-

mont, which had inaugurated a new form of water transportation

by steaming up the Hudson River from New York City to Albany

in 1807. Naturally, the medal carried the portraits of Hudson and

Fulton on the obverse and the two ships on the reverse.

From the subscriber lists, it is estimated that approximately 500

medals were struck of each of the 12 issues. It had been hoped that

the venture would be profitable for the two organizers; however,

the advent of World War I and the static number of members were

apparently the cause of the demise of the Circle of Friends of the

Medallion. (See below, Table I.)1

226 Joseph Veach Noble

Platt launched the Society of Medalists in 1930, 15 years after its

precursor, the Circle of Friends, ceased production. Although he

patterned it closely on the pioneer organization, the new society

differed in one very important respect. From its inception, it was

created as a not-for-profit membership organization. The low cost

of the dues at that time, $8.00 a year, attests to that. In the certificate

of incorporation, executed on March 16, 1934, the purposes of the

organization were set forth:

(a) To develop in the American people a knowledge and

apreciation of medallic art;

(b) To recognize and record, through the medium of

medallic art notable events, personalities and cultural

movements of the past and present;

(c) To encourage the development of creative art.

These principles are still followed today and undoubtedly are the

reason why the Society of Medalists is America's oldest non-profit

art medal organization. For the past 58 years, the Society has issued

to its members twice each year an original work of medallic

sculpture created by an outstanding artist. Membership is limited

to 2,500 and each member receives at no cost beyond the payment

of annual dues the two new medals struck each year, together with

display stands and a descriptive brochure concerning the subject

of the medal and the sculptor. Membership in the Society of

Medalists is open to sculptors, collectors, and museums. The

membership fee today is $ 100.00 per year which includes shipping

to any part of the world.

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As a non-profit organization, the Society was set up to be ad-

ministrered by a Board of Directors. Platt wisely brought on to the

board others interested in medallic sculpture, both collectors and

sculptors. In 1935, just five years after the Society's beginning, its

founder, George DuPont Platt, died; however, he had organized the

Society in such an efficient manner that it continued with uninter-

rupted progress.

From the origin of the Society, all of its medals have been struck

by the Medallic Art Company. The choice of production facilities

was made by Platt who was quite familiar with their work for the

Circle of Friends of the Medallion. In the intervening years, the Weil

brothers, Henri and Felix, who had previously bought the Medallic

Art Company from their employers, the Deitsch brothers, in 1910,

had sold the company to their associate, Clyde C. Trees in 1927.

The interest of Clyde Trees and his dedicated staff was essential to

the success of the Society. Over the years, the Medallic Art Com-

pany became the corporate sponsor of the Society. Upon the death

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The Society of Medalists

227

228 Joseph Veach Noble

of Trees in 1961, the Medallic Art Company was taken over by three

of his associates, William Louth as president, Julius Lauth as vice

president, and Mrs. Frances Trees, his widow, as vice president and

treasurer. When they chose to retire during the years 1974-1979,

the company was sold to an associate and its current president,

Donald A. Schwartz. In 1972, for manufacturing reasons, the

Medallic Art Company and the Society of Medalists moved from New

York City to Danbury, CT.

The close collaboration between the Society of Medalists and the

Medallic Art Company has been productive for both. For the Socie-

ty, it centralized responsibilities and facilities for high quality pro-

duction, and the Medallic Art Company has had the opportunity of

producing the finest of art medals without the usual constraints of

commercial production.

Medals do not exist in a vacuum, they reflect the interests and

concerns of the public at large as perceived by the sculptor. Medals,

like all art forms, echo the hopes and fears and the aspirations of

the civilization in which they are created.

The first medal issued by the fledgling Society of Medalists in 1930

was by Laura Gardin Fraser, and it was on a popular subject (fig.

1). The sculptor wrote in the accompanying brochure, "I felt that

a sporting subject would be a departure from what one has been

accustomed to seeing in medallic art. Therefore, I chose the hunter

with his dog because it presented the opportunity of telling a story

embodying a human and animal element. The ruffed grouse forms

the reverse." It is interesting to note that although the medal

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depicted a popular sport, it did not reflect the economic catastrophe

of the depression of 1929 which was overwhelming the country.

However, two years later in 1932, the fifth medal, by Lee Lawrie,

an austere and disciplined work, bore the inscription, WHAT-

SOEVER A MAN SOWETH THAT SHALL HE ALSO REAP. The artist

commented, "The medal is intended to cause reflection upon this

age-old saying, and those who pause to look at the medal may each

read into it meanings of his own."

The preceding medal in 1931, by Frederick MacMonnies,

presented the portrait of Charles Lindbergh, the American pilot who

had been the first to fly the Atlantic Ocean (fig. 2). At a time when

America desperately needed a hero image, Lindbergh, a modest

boyish flyer, aroused the spirit of the nation. The reverse of the

medal depicted the Lone Eagle, as Lindbergh was called, eluding the

allegorical figures of Storm and Death.

In retrospect, we see the second medal by Paul Manship only as

a well-designed and disciplined medal in which lettering and a por-

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The Society of Medalists

229

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230

Joseph Veach Noble

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The Society of Medalists

231

232 Joseph Veach Noble

trait of the Greek god of wine, Dionysus, are combined in an effec-

tive manner (fig. 3). When it was issued in 1930, however, it arous-

ed controversy. Some years before, the eighteenth amendment to

the Constitution had been enacted which prohibited the sale or con-

sumption of alcoholic beverages. Many people, and artists in par-

ticular, found prohibition to be intolerable and Paul Manship wrote,

"The medal is not conventional. It is subtly humorous, and is sym-

bolic of a present-day attitude toward certain restraints of the times.

Thus it is commemorative of an era." Happily, a few years later,

the eighteenth amendment was repealed.

It is interesting to note that Paul Manship also had produced a

medal for the Circle of Friends of the Medallion as did John Flanagan.

His medal for the Society of Medalists in 1932, number 6, encom-

passed a neoclassical portrait of the goddess Aphrodite and on the

reverse the torch race (see above, p. 131, fig. 11).

A particularly effective and powerful medal was created by Carl

Paul Jennewein in 1933, issue 7, in which the themes of glory and

fame were presented (fig. 4). Glory was depicted as a winged child,

symbolizing the purity of motive in achievement. This was con-

trasted on the reverse with the representation of a cicada symboliz-

ing the fame which comes from public notice achieved by the noisy

and shrill self-assertion of the obstreperous but insignificant creature,

the cicada.

There are several themes which have been repeated again and

again in the medal series; "Peace" is one of them. With the war

clouds gathering over Europe in 1936, Albert Stewart created issue

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14. He wrote, "In arriving at the subject matter for a contemporary

medal, I was guided by the belief that man's voice of protest against

war is growing from an inaudible whisper to a resounding concor-

dance which may bring 'between all men peace and good

fellowship'." The following year, 1937, Chester Beach in issue 16

made a stronger statement. The obverse bore the inscription, IN

PEACE SONS BURY THEIR FATHERS, and on the reverse, IN WAR

THE FATHERS BURY THEIR SONS (fig. 5).

The themes chosen by the sculptors clearly reflect the time of their

creation. In 1939, with World War II already beginning to engulf

Europe, there was a movement toward isolationism in America, and

this is reflected in issue 19 by Edward McCartan, which contrasts

the peace of the new world to the pestilence of war in the old world

(fig. 6). However, World War II was inevitable.

Despite the shortage of materials and manpower during the war,

the Society continued to produce two medals each year.2 Inex-

plicably, the Society did not issue a medal with a wartime subject

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The Society of Medalists

233

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234

Joseph Veach Noble

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The Society of Medalists

235

236 Joseph Veacb Noble

during the entire period of the war in Europe. In 1945, issue 31 by

Rene P. Chambellan was based on a photograph of the flag-raising

on Iwo Jima in the war in the Pacific. The following issue in the

fall of 1945 at the close of the war was by Berthold Nebel and

depicted the burst of an atomic bomb.

The same motif was repeated in allegorical form in 1971 by Elbert

Weinberg in issue 84 which equates the creation of the atomic bomb

with the opening of Pandora's box. Peace medals have included issue

33 in 1946 by Joseph Kiselewski at the end of World War II. Cecil

Howard's medal, issue 42 in 1950, and issue 48 in 1953 by Peter

Dalton, both related to the Korean War. Mico Kaufman's medal,

issue 87 in 1973, contrasted a carefree youth with a battlefield scene

at the time of the Vietnam War. In 1986, issue 114 was the medal

One Planet by Alex Shagin (fig. 7). It presents a view of the planet

Earth as seen from space, and complements it with a symbolic scene

of children dancing around the globe. Shagin has a unique perspec-

tive on this subject because formerly he was a medalist working in

the Leningrad Mint, and now he is an American citizen continuing

to create medals.

Over the past 58 years, the Society of Medalists has issued 116

medals. The sculptors have worked in a wide variety of styles and

techniques and the medals have often deviated from the conven-

tional circular disc. Patinas and surface texture also have varied

widely. One hundred of the medals have been created by men and

sixteen by women. (See below, Table 2.)

Each sculptor has his or her individual style and personal thoughts

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concerning the creation of a medal. Robert Aitken, who created issue

15 in 1937, expressed his philosophy in a very cogent manner:

In making a medal or medallion the main problem is to

add, if possible, to its metallic alloy the one ingredient

which makes bronze imperishableBeautyBeauty in

thought and execution. For Beauty inspires LoveLove

creates Beauty. The next step is to use the metal disc as

a conveyor, so to speak, in which a beautiful arrangement

of lines, forms and spaces can be compressed.

With the above in mind this Medallion began to enfold

a symbolic group of two figures, interwoven into a com-

position, which appears to penetrate the bronze so that

one side is the completion of the other.

Mr. Aitken's style was highly realistic, whereas that of Anthony

deFrancisci, who created issue 12 in 1935, is very much in the art

deco school. The medal by Robert Cook in 1978, issue 97, is semi-

abstract. It is his personal interpretation of dance and music. Some

The Society of Medalists 237

medals are highly detailed, such as that of Marcel Jovine, issue 100

of 1980; whereas others, such as the 1976 medal by Harvey Weiss,

issue 93, has large and simplified forms. Some sculptors use no let-

tering on their medals as Gifford Proctor's issue 47 in 1953; whereas

one sculptor, Edward Grove, on issue 88 in 1973, created his com-

position solely with a variety of lettering styles.

The height of the relief of the medals varies greatly. In 1954 Ivan

Mestrovic executed issue 50 in very low outline relief; issue 18 by

Gertrude Lathrop in 1938 is in medium relief and Donald DeLue

used extraordinarily high relief on his issue 111 in 1985. Most medals

are solid discs of metal, such as the portrait medal, issue 52, by Georg

Lober in 1955; whereas, Richard Miller, in creating issue 112 in

1985, pierced his medal with two perforations. Issue 113 of 1986

by Marika Somogyi is not only perforated but also breaks away from

the conventional round form of the standard medal (fig. 8). With

issue 115, created in 1987 by Robert A. Weinman, the Society of

Medalists broke free of other conventions and issued a free-standing

piece which can be considered either a medal or a small sculpture

(fig- 9).

The Society invites all sculptors of the world to participate in the

open and continuing competition for the creation of its medals. The

following are the guidelines:

The Society of Medalists strives to produce the finest

series of medals in the world, therefore, the sculptors par-

ticipating may be citizens of any country in the world.

A sculptor who has created a medal for the Society of

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Medalists will be eligible to compete for the commission

to create another medal in the series after ten years.

The Society of Medalists issues two medals each year,

one in the spring and the other in the fall. Accordingly,

the competition for new issues is ongoing, and sculptors

may submit original sketches in any form for both obverse

and reverse designs at any time. The subject matter is the

choice of the sculptor. At the time that sketches are sub-

mitted, it would be helpful if photographs of other work

by the sculptor and a resume also be submitted.

Sketches will be reviewed by the Society of Medalists

and the sculptors will be notified whether their designs

are selected or rejected. If rejected, the submitted material

will be returned. Once the designs are accepted, the

sculptor must prepare 12 inch plaster models suitable for

production of the accepted design. The sculptor must

both design and execute the models for the medal.

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238

Joseph Veach Noble

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The Society of Medalists

239

240 Joseph Veach Noble

Medals usually are struck in bronze 2 IIS inches in

diameter.

The honorarium for the completed, delivered, and ap-

proved plaster models, including all design rights thereto,

is currently $3,500. Upon payment, the models and

designs become the property of the Society of Medalists

and are copyrighted as such.

From the foregoing, one will note that the Society of Medalists

encourages the sculptor to choose the subject unfettered by restric-

tions. It permits unlimited experimentation in technique of sculpture

and of production and finishes. Sculptors are encouraged to explore

the medium of the medal to the utmost. This is the goal of the Society

of Medalists.

1 D. Wayne Johnson, "Premature Circle of Precocious Friends," Coins (Nov.

1976), pp. 62-69. Mr. Johnson, an authority on medals who was formerly associated

with the Medallic Art Company, has very kindly placed at my disposal his personal

notes and records which have been of great value in the preparation of this paper.

Two tables are appended, detailing the medallic issues of the Circle of Friends of

the Medallion and of the Society of Medalists.

2 Bronze was in short supply, therefore, issues number 28 and 29 originally were

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struck in a smaller size in nonessential silver.

Is)

a.

ge

Table 1

CIRCLE OF FRIENDS OF THE MEDALLION, 1909-1915

Size"

3 x 1 9/16

5 1/4x3

5 3/4

5 3/4

5 3/4

5 3/4

5 3/4

3x5

5 3/4

5 3/4

5 3/4

5 3/4

Half Moon-Claremont

Tercentenary of New York

Reverse

Family

Cupid

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Youth and chalice

Spirit of Liberty

Tiny Tim

Persian reformer

The Ocean

Victory

Peace for 19 years

New Netherlands founded

Figure of France

Obverse

Wanderer returns

Charles Dickens

Anglo-American peace

Hudson-Fulton

Saint Brendan

Motherhood

Lafayette

Abdul Baha

Whirlpool

John Fremont

Joan of Arc

Ker Sculptor

51 John Mowbray-Clarke

51 Victor D. Brenner

575 John S. Conway

59 Sigurd Neandross

59 Rene Theophile de Quelin

514 John Mowbray-Clarke

515 Allan G. Newman

59 John Flanagan

51 Isidore Konti

51 Jules E. Roine

575 Louis Potter

514 Paul Manship

Issue

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The Society of Medalists

247

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