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= = = Appointment = = =
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Gobrecht 's death in July 1844 left the United States Bureau of the Mint ( generally , " Mint " ) without a chief engraver . Among those who hoped for appointment were Philadelphia banknote engraver Charles Welsh , and Allen Leonard , who had modeled the Mint 's medal for former president John Quincy Adams . Through t... |
Longacre was commissioned by President Tyler on September 16 , 1844 ; his was a recess appointment as the post of chief engraver required Senate confirmation , and that body was not then sitting . Tyler transmitted Longacre 's nomination to the Senate on December 17 , 1844 , which confirmed Longacre without recorded o... |
According to coin dealer and author Q. David Bowers , upon appointment as chief engraver , Longacre " found that he had entered a hornet 's nest of intrigue , politics , and infighting , dominated by Franklin Peale , chief coiner since 1839 " . Peale sent Mint personnel to work on his private residence , and in additi... |
= = = Patterson / Peale years ( 1844 – 1853 ) = = =
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In Longacre 's first years as chief engraver , no original designs were required for coins . Gobrecht had redesigned every denomination of U.S. coinage between 1835 and 1842 , and his successor had time to learn arts necessary for coin production that he had not needed as a maker of print engravings . These arts inclu... |
A number of blunders can be seen among the early coins produced at the Mint under Longacre , though it is uncertain to whom these errors should be attributed . These include the 1844 half dollar struck at the New Orleans Mint ( 1844 @-@ O ) with a doubled date , and the 1846 half dollar with the 6 overlying an identic... |
Despite the charged atmosphere at the Philadelphia Mint , Longacre avoided conflict with Patterson and Peale until March 1849 , when Congress authorized a gold dollar and double eagle or twenty @-@ dollar gold piece , both new coins . By then , Patterson had come to desire Longacre 's departure as he was deemed a thre... |
In early 1849 , according to a letter written by Longacre the following year , the chief engraver was approached by a member of the Mint staff , warning him that another officer ( plainly Peale ) sought to have the engraving work done outside of the Mint , making Longacre redundant . The outside engraver in question w... |
The plan of operation selected for me was to have an electrotype mould made from my model , in copper , to serve as a pattern for a cast in iron . The operations of the galvanic battery for this purpose were conducted in the apartments of the chief coiner . The galvanic process failed , my model was destroyed in the o... |
When Longacre completed the double eagle dies , they were rejected by Peale , who stated that the design was engraved too deeply to fully impress the coin , and the pieces would not stack properly . Taxay , however , noted that the one surviving 1849 double eagle displays no such problems , and by appearance would be ... |
Patterson wrote again to request Longacre 's ouster on April 1 , 1850 , alleging that President Zachary Taylor had decided that Longacre be dismissed . Despite these attempts , Longacre remained in his position . Also in 1850 , Longacre 's wife Elizabeth ( generally Eliza ) died . The Mint officials clashed again in 1... |
In July 1851 , Patterson retired and President Fillmore replaced him with Thomas Eckert . Peale 's medal business suffered a setback when Adam Eckfeldt , who was still performing the duties of chief coiner , died in 1852 . In 1854 , Mint Director James Ross Snowden fired Peale after the extent to which he had used Min... |
= = = = Early coins = = = =
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= = = Prolific designer ( 1853 – 1863 ) = = =
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Faced with a rise in silver prices , Congress decreased the silver content of the half dime , dime , quarter and half dollar in 1853 . Longacre was asked to alter Gobrecht 's designs so new coins could be distinguished from old . He proposed placing rays around the heraldic eagle on the reverses of the quarter and hal... |
In 1853 , Congress authorized a three @-@ dollar piece . In a note found among his papers , Longacre wrote that his task was to make the coin as easy as possible to distinguish from the quarter eagle , which at $ 2 @.@ 50 was close in value . Longacre produced a design for an Native American princess , which he made d... |
In the mid @-@ 1850s , Longacre was engaged by the Navy Department to design a medal to be presented to Captain Duncan Ingraham . Longacre produced the imagery used for the reverse ; the obverse was by Assistant Engraver Cross . Although Bowers describes Longacre as having been " strictly ethical in the duties of his ... |
After a rise in commodity prices , the Mint to sought to replace the large copper cent with a smaller version . Beginning in 1850 , a number of pattern coins were struck in attempts to find a replacement coin . Designs and formats varied ; at first , Mint authorities considered an annular , or holed , cent . In 1854 a... |
The flying eagle design was adopted for a large issue of experimental patterns given to government officials and others in 1856 ; that coin was then used for the regular issue from 1857 . The reverse featured Longacre 's cereal wreath , which led to difficulties in coining ; the head and tail of the eagle on the obver... |
By numismatic legend , Longacre 's Indian Head cent design was based on the features of his daughter Sarah ; the tale runs that she was at the mint one day when she tried on the headdress of one of a number of Native Americans who were visiting and her father sketched her . However , Sarah Longacre was 30 years old an... |
= = = = Mid @-@ tenure designs = = = =
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= = = Civil War issues and later career = = =
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The Civil War brought economic disturbances which resulted in the removal of some coins , including the base @-@ metal cent , from circulation . Paper currency ( valued as low as three cents ) , postage stamps , and private tokens , filled the gap . Many of the tokens were cent @-@ sized , but thinner and made of bron... |
Nickel had been removed from the cent over the objection of Pennsylvania industrialist Joseph Wharton , who had large interests in the metal ; his congressman , Thaddeus Stevens , had fought against the act . In 1864 , Wharton published a pamphlet arguing for a coinage in which all coins less than ten cents would be m... |
Wharton and others seeking to promote the use of nickel remained powerful in Congress , and in 1866 secured authorization for a five @-@ cent coin of copper nickel . Longacre prepared a number of designs ; Pollock selected Longacre 's design of a shield ( similar to the two @-@ cent piece ) and a starry circle for the... |
In 1865 Congress required the use of " In God We Trust " on all coins large enough to bear the inscription ; in 1866 , Longacre added the motto to all silver coins larger than the dime and all gold coins larger than the three @-@ dollar piece . He also in 1867 made modifications to the design of the copper @-@ nickel ... |
Some of the coinage which had vanished from circulation during the Civil War and had been exported to South America continued to be used in Chilean trade as nationals found their local coinage valued poorly with the American pieces . In 1866 , the Chilean government instructed its representative in Washington to appro... |
In 1867 , Longacre proposed the use of aluminum in coins ; this was rejected as the supply and price of the metal fluctuated considerably , and it then had a high intrinsic value . In 1868 , Wharton 's interests proposed making the dime into a copper @-@ nickel piece and to modify the cent , three @-@ cent piece , and... |
= = = = Later designs = = = =
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= = Death and assessment = =
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James Longacre died suddenly at his home in Philadelphia on January 1 , 1869 . A memorial meeting was held at the Philadelphia Mint on January 5 , attended by the facility 's employees . The Director of the Mint , Henry Linderman , delivered a speech in praise of Longacre prior to the formal eulogy , which was given b... |
Longacre was recognized in an exhibit of 100 notable American engravers sponsored by the New York Public Library in 1928 . In 1970 , art historian Cornelius Vermeule , in his volume on U.S. coins , viewed Longacre and his works less favorably , " uniform in their dullness , lack of inspiration , and even quaintness , ... |
In his 1991 article , McKenzie notes Vermeule 's concerns , but considers Longacre 's work important for its use of American symbols , including the representations of Native Americans . He believes Longacre 's use of such symbols influenced later coin designers , such as George T. Morgan , Victor D. Brenner , and Aug... |
According to Bowers , " Today , Longacre is widely admired by numismatists . " Lange notes that Longacre 's " artistic vision graced 60 years of American coins " . Snow writes ,
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In view of the admiration that Saint @-@ Gaudens , Vermeule , and others had for Longacre 's " recycled " design borrowed from Gobrecht , and the enthusiasm collectors have for Flying Eagle cents today , perhaps it is all for the best that some other motif was not created in the 1850s at the Mint when experiments to e... |
= = U.S. coins designed by Longacre = =
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Flying Eagle cent ( 1856 – 1858 )
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Indian Head cent ( 1859 – 1909 )
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Two @-@ cent piece ( 1864 – 1873 )
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Three @-@ cent piece in silver ( 1851 – 1873 ) and nickel ( 1865 – 1889 )
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Shield nickel ( 1866 – 1883 )
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Liberty Seated half dime reverse ( 1860 – 1873 )
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Liberty Seated dime reverse ( 1860 – 1891 ) , reused with slight modification as reverse of Barber dime ( 1892 – 1916 )
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Liberty Head gold dollar ( 1849 – 1889 )
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Three @-@ dollar piece ( 1854 – 1889 )
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Liberty Head double eagle ( 1849 @-@ 1907 )
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= = = Books = = =
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Bowers , Q. David ( 2001 ) . The Harry W. Bass , Jr . Museum Sylloge . Dallas , Tex . : Harry W. Bass , Jr . Foundation . ISBN 0 @-@ 943161 @-@ 88 @-@ 6 .
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Bowers , Q. David ( 2006 ) . A Guide Book of Shield and Liberty Head Nickels . Atlanta , Ga . : Whitman Publishing . ISBN 0 @-@ 7948 @-@ 1921 @-@ 4 .
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Breen , Walter ( 1988 ) . Walter Breen 's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins . New York : Doubleday . ISBN 978 @-@ 0 @-@ 385 @-@ 14207 @-@ 6 .
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Coin World Almanac ( 3rd ed . ) . Sidney , Ohio : Amos Press . 1977 . ASIN B004AB7C9M .
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Evans , George G. ( 1885 ) . Illustrated History of the United States Mint ( revised ed . ) . Philadelphia : George G. Evans . Retrieved January 14 , 2013 .
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Garrett , Jeff ; Guth , Ron ( 2008 ) . Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins , 1795 – 1933 ( second ed . ) . Atlanta , Ga . : Whitman Publishing . ISBN 978 @-@ 0 @-@ 7948 @-@ 2254 @-@ 5 .
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Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America VI . Washington , D.C. : United States Government Printing Office . 1887 .
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Lange , David W. ( 2006 ) . History of the United States Mint and its Coinage . Atlanta , Ga . : Whitman Publishing . ISBN 0 @-@ 7948 @-@ 1972 @-@ 9 .
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Pessolano @-@ Filos , Francis ( 1983 ) . Margaret M. Walsh , ed . The Assay Medals and the Assay Commissions , 1841 – 1977 . New York : Eros Publishing Company . ISBN 978 @-@ 0 @-@ 911571 @-@ 01 @-@ 1 .
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Snow , Richard ( 2009 ) . A Guide Book of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents . Atlanta . Ga . : Whitman Publishing . ISBN 978 @-@ 0 @-@ 7948 @-@ 2831 @-@ 8 .
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Taxay , Don ( 1983 ) . The U.S. Mint and Coinage ( reprint of 1966 ed . ) . New York : Sanford J. Durst Numismatic Publications . ISBN 0 @-@ 915262 @-@ 68 @-@ 1 .
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Vermeule , Cornelius ( 1971 ) . Numismatic Art in America . Cambridge , Mass . : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press . ISBN 978 @-@ 0 @-@ 674 @-@ 62840 @-@ 3 .
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= = = Other sources = = =
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" American Journal of Numismatics " 3 ( 9 ) . New York : American Numismatic and Archaeological Society . January 1869 .
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" Chile asks Longacre for dies in 1866 " . Iola , Wisc . : Krause Publications . Retrieved March 4 , 2014 .
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DeLorey , Tom ( October 1985 ) . " Longacre : Unsung engraver of the U.S. Mint " . The Numismatist ( Colorado Springs , Co . : American Numismatic Association ) : 1970 – 1978 .
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Kay , Rick ( April 2005 ) . " The remarkable coinage of James B. Longacre " . The Numismatist ( Colorado Springs , Co . : American Numismatic Association ) : 36 – 37 , 40 – 41 .
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McKenzie , Lee F. ( December 1991 ) . " Longacre 's influence on numismatic art " . The Numismatist ( Colorado Springs , Co . : American Numismatic Association ) : 1922 – 1924 , 1979 – 1980 .
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Smith , Pete ( 2012 ) . " American numismatic biographies " ( PDF ) . The Numismatic Bibliomania Society . Retrieved October 15 , 2014 .
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= Philip Smith ( criminal ) =
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Philip John Smith ( born 10 July 1965 in Gloucester , England ) is a British spree killer serving a life sentence for the murders of three women in Birmingham . A former fairground worker employed at the Rainbow public house in the Digbeth area of the city , Smith killed his victims over a four @-@ day period in Novem... |
Smith 's first victim was Jodie Hyde , a recovering butane gas addict whom he met at the Rainbow before killing her hours later . He is thought to have strangled her before setting her body on fire near a recreation ground . Three days later , he met mother @-@ of @-@ three Rosemary Corcoran at the same public house a... |
Smith was apprehended after he contacted West Midlands Police saying that he wished to make a statement about Corcoran 's disappearance . At the time , however , her body had not been positively identified , and inquiries quickly established that some aspects of his account were false . The murder inquiry , named Oper... |
Detectives also investigated the death of a woman who had been a colleague of Smith at the Rainbow . Patricia Lynott , a divorced mother of two from Ireland who had moved to Birmingham , had been found dead in her flat in October 2000 . Police had not treated the death as suspicious , but after they discovered her con... |
= = Background = =
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Philip John Smith was born in 1965 at the City Maternity Hospital in Gloucester and grew up in the city . The son of sawmill labourer Henry John Smith and his wife Rose Smith ( née Luckins ) , he was the oldest of five siblings . The family lived in Midland Road , where they were neighbours of serial killers Fred and ... |
Smith moved from Gloucester to Tewkesbury and then Ross @-@ on @-@ Wye , where he lived with a female partner . They had a son in 1990 and two more children in 1992 , but Smith left the family and moved to Cardiff when the relationship became difficult . He then spent a year in Ireland lodging with a travelling family... |
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