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Thursday 26 April 2012
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| Christian Gobrecht was born on December 23, 1785 in Hanover, Pennsylvania. His father, Reverend John C. Gobrecht, had moved from Germany to America in 1755. His mother, Elizabeth Sands, on the other hand, had family that traced back to the Plymouth Colony in 1642. Gobrecht was an apprentice in Manheim, Pennsylvania. From there, he moved to Baltimore, Mayland where he engraved ornamental clocks. When his second apprenticeship was up, he moved back to Pennsylvania, where he joined Murray, Draper, Fairman, and Company, a bank note engraving firm located in Philadelphia, PA. He joined this firm sometime around the year 1816. In 1823, Christian Gobrecht sought after the position of Chief Engraver of the United States Mint after turning down the opportunity to work as Robert Patterson's assistant, who was then the Mint Director. The job of Chief Engraver instead went to William Kneass, even though Gobrecht had sent then President James Monroe a letter asking for the position. Gobrecht then became William Kneass's assistant. In 1824, Gobrecht prepared a few dies for the Franklin Institute medal, which was produced the same year. His name was put under Franklin's bust, appearing as GOBRECHT F. In the year 1835, William Kneass had a stroke making it nearly impossible for him to work for the rest of life. Though Kneass was still considered the Chief Engraver of the United States Mint, Gobrecht did all pattern work and dies, retaining his title of Assistant Engraver. In 1836 the Gobrecht Silver Dollar was released. This coin featured Lady Liberty sitting down on the obverse, and a soaring eagle on the reverse. Both engravings on this coin were used on American coins some years later. The engraving of Lady Liberty sitting with a shield was reused on the Seated Liberty half dollar, quarter, dime, and also the half dime, which was taken out of production in 1873. This coin series ran from 1837 up until 1891, when the Barber series of coinage took over. The soaring eagle on the reverse was used by James Barton Longacre on the Flying Eagle cent, which was the first small cent minted by the United States Mint. It was minted for only a few years; 1956, 1957, and 1958. Gobrecht was made the Chief Engraver of the United States Mint on December 21, 1840, only 2 days before his 55th birthday. During this time Gobrecht continued his work on the Seated Liberty coinage, along with the engraving of the Liberty Head, which was also known as the Braided Hair and Coronet. This design appeared on several coins, with the $10 1938 gold coin being first. The design was then placed on the one cent and half cent coins, along with the gold $2.5 and $5 coins. Gobrecht held his position as Chief Engraver of the United States Mint until his death, which was on July 23, 1844. Gobrecht was the Chief Engraver for only 3 years and 8 months. He served longer as the Assistant Engraver than as the actual Chief Engraver. |
Royal Canadian Mint Issues Glow-in-the-Dark Coins
The Royal Canadian Mint has planned to issue four 25-cent coins that glow-in-the-dark. The coin shown above is the first in a 4-coin Prehistoric Creature glow-in-the-dark (photo-luminescent) series! Not only that, I think this might be the first glow-in-the-dark coin minted by any official mint. I am aware of glowing novelty coins and challenge coins but do not recall any glowing coins showing up as legal tender.
So they say with just 30-60 seconds of sunlight, if you take your new dinosaur coin into a dark area you will end up with:
The dinosaur is a Pachyrhinosaurus Lakustai. As I understand it, these dinos roamed in what is now Canada. The dinosaur is on the reverse of the coin while Queen Elizabeth resides on the front of the coin (sorry, no glowing skeleton of the queen). I am a bit skeptical about how well the coin will actually glow but I'm also excited to see what it will look like.
The new quarter won't be for sale until the 25th of May and only 25,000 were minted. At a price of $29.95 these are likely to go quick, especially considering the amount of news coverage being given to these coins.
Spec-wise this is your standard 35mm cupronickel coin weight 12.61 grams. Julius T. Csotonyi is the designer for the Pacyrhinosaurus Lakustai reverse and Susanna Blunt is the artist credited with the obverse design.
So who is planning to snag one of these coins? On the 25th of May they will be available on the mint's website here: dinosaur coin.
Coin of the Month March 2012: Burma 1 Pe 1950
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| Burma (now known as Myanmar) is located in southern Asia. It also happens to be the home of some of the most uniquely decorative coins in the world. They have become the centerpiece of many crafts ranging from buttons to necklaces. Their peculiar shape and intricate designs make them a staple for coin collectors. One particular coin has gained a great fondness of many collectors, the ‘1 pe.’ Although it was the lowest currency amount in Burma it still features a very sophisticated design. Measuring approximately 19 mm in diameter, this coin is not round, but it does have a circular shape called a scalloped design. The edges are wavy with 12 outer points 12 inner points. The edges are slightly raised from the rest of the coin. On the reverse of the coin, characters reading ‘1 pe’ are created with raised lettering. The date is below. A very detailed vine design accents the lettering. The design is also raised. The vines outline the edge of the coin, circle around the bottom, and fade away towards the top. On the obverse of the coin sits a powerful lion with its head high. The mouth of the lion is open slightly, it’s ears are pointed, and its tail is erect. The front legs are straight and the back legs are bent. The lion itself is a very extravagant design that represents wealth and power. The rest of the obverse side is plain. There is no background which makes the lion the entire focus of this side of the coin. This coin is no longer in circulation, but is used throughout India and Thailand as offerings to temples, statues, and other religious items. It is collected by many and used by crafters in a variety of ways. Unlike many ‘collectable’ coins, 1 pe are actually avidly available and the value of the coin has not risen immensely. They are affordable and often times a high prize among beginning coin collectors. |
Coin of the Month February 2012: Great Britain One Florin 1932
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| George V 1932 One Florin Florins from Great Britain were first struck in 1849 as silver coins weighing 11.3 gms and and a 28mm diameter. These coins were among the first kind of coins which had the portrait of the monarch wearing a crown. Later on, these florins were redesigned as and when the monarch changed. The George V florin had the portrait of George V facing towards the left. George V coins were issued between the years 1910 and 1936. Florins were minted in all these years except in 1910 and 1934. The weight and diameter of these coins remained unchanged but their metal composition kept changing again and again. The metal composition was divided into silver and copper or silver, copper and nickel or silver, copper, nickel and zinc. In this article we would discuss more about the 1932 George V florin. The metal composition of the 1932 florins is silver and the edge of these coins is reeded. Until 1926 the inscriptions on the obverse of these florins were GEORGIVS V D G BRITT OMN REX F D IND IMP* and on the reverse were ONE FLORIN and the date, while from 1927 the obverse inscriptions were changed to GEORGIVS V DEI GRA BRITT OMN REX* and the reverse ones were FID DEF IND IMP*, date and ONE FLORIN. Obverse of the 1932 coin shows the bare head of George V facing towards the left and the reverse of this coin has four crowned shields arranged in cross, and with accepters in angles. The 1932 coins had a very low mintage of 717,041 as compared to the other years. The highest minted coin was 16,397,279 in the year 1929. In 1936, these coins showed a dramatic change as with the end of George V’s reign, the word “florin” no longer appeared on British coins. This article and photos were submitted to us by coinbragger qsera who runs rareindiancoins.com and also sells coins on eBay as the_great_jodhpur. Check out the_great_jodhpur's eBay store As of presstime the exact coin in the photos is available for sale: here *Based on varying abbreviations of Latin words, they mean "George V, By the Grace of God, King of all the British Territories, Defender of the Faith, and Emperor of India". |
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