The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 26, June 28, 2004, Article 11

'SC, OTHER SIGNATURE ABBREVIATIONS REVEALED

  Last week Art Tobias questioned what the "Sc" in
  "W.L.Ormsby Sc. N Y" stands for.  Boy, did he ever come
  to the right place for an answer.

  Arthur Shippee writes: "Sc N.Y. suggests to me Schenectady"
  That's a plausible explanation, but there's another more
  likely answer.  Ken Barr was among the first to discover it
  with a clever Internet search.  He writes:  "Let me be one
  of presumably many to report that ...

  Sc. or Sculp.  Sculpsit, He engraved it.

  Source: Source

  "sc." by itself was too broad a Google search term, so I
  "cheated" by searching for "sc. fecit", figgering that the two terms
  were related ..."

  Wendell Wolka writes: "Some terms referring to the engraver
  or etcher, the craftsman who created the printed image:

  "f., fec., fect., fecit., fac., faciebat: made by or did.
  Aquatinta fecit: engraved in aquatint by.
  Lith., litho., lithog: lithographed by.
  Sc., sculp., sculpsit., sculpt: carved or engraved.
  Exc., exct., excudit: struck out or made. "

  Early bank note engravers used both "Sc" or "fct".
  So "W.L. Ormsby Sc. NY" would be the equivalent of saying
  "Engraved by W.L. Ormsby New York".

  print_terms.html"

  Dave Bowers writes: "Sc = Sculpsit, in this case, "engraved it."
  Ormsby made transfer rolls (as used in the siderographic
  process for bank notes) with RAISED designs on them, which
  were then transferred by Colt to the firearms."

  Alan V. Weinberg, Gene Hessler and Joe Boling also submitted
  "Sculpsit" as the answer.

  Dick Johnson writes: "Art Tobias should have asked any
  medalist (or medal collector!) worth his salt the meaning of
  "Sc."  This abbreviation is among seven such abbreviations
  found on, ironically, both paper engravings and medallic
  engraving. "Sc" means "sculpsit" Latin for he (or she) sculpted
  it or made it.

  Medalists are familiar with this and the other six abbreviations.
  The most common is "Fecit" or simply "F" after a name, very
  similar to Sc, it means he (or she) did it (or made it, or created
  it).

  Others are "Del" or "Des" meaning delineated it (as a rough
  sketch) and designed it (a sketch with most all details). Both
  of these are further abbreviated as "D" and obviously you do
  not know which abbreviation was intended, but "designed it"
  covers it.

  More obscure are "Inv" Latin for invenit, the person who
  invented or created it, and "Inc" Latin for incisit, the executor
  of the design.

  Most rare is "Mod" the person who models the relief, Latin
  modellavit.  Obviously you won't find this on flat engraving,
  as for paper money (unless it was copied from a relief), but it
  has appeared on medals.

  Most numismatists mispronounce "fecit." It is notable for
  appearing on certain U.S. coins.  Gobrecht signed his1836
  Seated Liberty silver dollar with both "F" and "Fec" after his
  name on the base of the obverse device or below.  Unknowing
  collectors say something like 'fek-it" or "fac-it."  The
  correct pronunciation is "FEE-sit."

  Among medallic sculptors, they chide each other by referring
  to fecit as  "faked it."  As "Hey Bill I see you signed your
  model Jones Faked It!"  Perhaps you could chide a fellow
  sculptor, but NOT a superior artist. I can't imagine anyone
  saying that to August St-Gaudens or Adolph Weinman.

  That should answer Art Tobias question about "W.L. Ormsby
  Sc N Y" and explain what "Sc" stands for.  But, tell me, what
  does that strange "N Y" stand for?"

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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