ON MEDALS ISSUED AFTER THE ARTIST'S DATE OF DEATH

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V17 2014 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 17, Number 50, December 7, 2014, Article 15

In his remarks last week about U.S. Mint engraver Engelhardus von Hebel, Dick Johnson wrote:

In 1949 he engraved only the seal on the reverse of the Harry Truman Presidential Medal (List 132), while John R. Sinnock did the obverse, Gilroy Roberts did the rest of the reverse.

Sinnock died in 1947, so it is unlikely he did much with the Truman presidential medal. Roberts did most of the work.

I asked Dick for clarification, and here's his response. -Editor

Roger Burdette raises an interesting question about Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock. He states Sinnock died in 1947. True. He is credited with the obverse portrait of Truman on a medal issued in 1949. Also true.

Sinnock's ghost was not creating medals in the engraving room of the Philadelphia Mint after the good engraver had passed on. The answer was so simple I was baffled until I realized the 1949 Truman Medal was for his Second Term.

The Mint used his portrait from Truman's First Term Medal which Sinnock did both sides in 1945. The Mint took a shortcut by using the existing Sinnock portrait, creating a new reverse, by Gilroy Roberts and Engelhardus von Habel, mentioned in last week's E-Sylum.

So while Sinnock wasn't around to work on the medal, he still gets partial credit. Now, back to Dick Johnson's discussion. -Editor

But there ARE instances of medals issued a year or two after an artist's death. Most prominent examples are two of Laura Gardin Fraser's work. her two Hall of Fame Series medals.

She died in 1966. Her Mary Lyon Medal was issued in 1967. Her Gilbert Stuart Medal was issued in 1968. Her models were only half done at the time of her death. The models were retrieved from her studio and assigned to sculptor Karl Gruppe to complete them. To his credit he retained her original design concept and modeled them in her sculptural style.

There are other instances -- too many to mention -- where dies have been engraved, or models completed, but were not issued until a later date. For many reasons, from lack of funds to change of a medal program.

The artist's date of death is vitally important, which Roger undoubtedly had in mind in his comment. I have attempted to learn the date of death of every artist in my artists databank. Those listed after the artist's date of death are in a category I call "Replicas & Reissues."

Medals in which a portrait, device, or other pictorial element is repeated -- copied, if you wish -- on a later medal falls in this category. Medallic artists frequently look to previous medal designs for inspiration. If the replication is too close it is indeed a replica. If the medal is exact for both sides, it is a reissue.

Houdon's bust of Washington is perhaps the most copied portrait in American medals. I have record of 60 medals with his famous relief portrait depicted.

But for Laura Gardin Frasers' two Hall of Fame Medals I list among her work while she was alive. I also give credit to Karl Gruppe for finishing her models.