PREV ARTICLE
NEXT ARTICLE
FULL ISSUE
PREV FULL ISSUE
V11 2008 INDEX
E-SYLUM ARCHIVE
1915 PAN-PAC EXPO LEGACY: THE WORLD'S SMALLEST ENGRAVINGS
A press release announced a new web site promoting "The
World's Smallest Engravings", a novelty promoted first at the 1915
Panama-Pacific Exposition. Over the years I've seen ads for examples of
small engravings like this. Have any of our readers studied the history of
these? -Editor
It took master engraver Godfrey Lundberg three
years (1913-1915) to painstakingly inscribe the twelve lines, 65 words and
254 letters of the Lord's Prayer on the head of a smaller than usual gold
pin. To this day, this rare antique hand engraving accomplishment has yet
to be surpassed. Carefully preserved and locked away for decades this rarity has been passed down within the Lundberg Family from generation to generation. A new website has recently been launched to tell the remarkable story of these rare antique collectible engravings. Visit http://www.antique-engravings.com/
The extraordinary miniature engravings collection actually includes two separate items; the Lord's Prayer cut into the head of a gold pin and a two-letter monogram of the abbreviation of the United States "U.S." engraved into the point of a fine gold sewing needle.
After their debut at the San Francisco World's
Fair in 1915, the rare engravings went on a national tour accompanied by
two of Godfrey's brothers, Carl and Mauritz Lundberg. Over the course of
two years and 43 states the traveling exhibit visited clothing stores,
expositions, town halls and newspaper offices where curious observers paid
25 cents to view the engravings through mounted microscopes for
magnification. The engravings were reported to have been "verified by
engravers from coast to coast." As testimony to the unusual nature of the "smallest piece of engraving in the world" the leading authority on the odd and bizarre, Ripley's Believe It or Not, featured the pin in its popular publications.
According to a February 21, 1915 article in the "Spokesman-Review" Newspaper Lundberg spent three years engraving the Lord's Prayer on the head of a smaller than ordinary pin. The hand engraving artwork was so tedious that he had to forgo coffee and alcohol and undergo a training regime worthy of a professional athlete to tone his body and muscles. Lundberg found that the only time he could work was in the early hours of the morning in his shop at 394 Sprague Avenue in Spokane, WA. The least jar from traffic on the pavement outside could ruin his work. As it was he could not make more than two or three strokes during a night's work.
His dedication and skill to create this rare miniature engraving was was ultimately rewarded with a gold medal at the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.
To read the complete press release, see: Over Eighty Years in a Bank Vault - The World's Smallest Engravings Are Once Again Revealed to the Public (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/11/prweb1571204.htm)
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.
To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com
To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum
All Rights Reserved.
NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
