CHRISTIAN GOBRECHT HEADSTONE “FOUND”

In working through the Clain-Stefanelli papers in the Smithsonian Archives during November 2016, I noticed several files marked “Gobrecht” or something similar. Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli, the curator of the National Numismatic Collection, serendipitously attracted donations from several descendants of Gobrecht and this material currently resides in the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

In the early 1960s Kent Packard of Paoli, PA, a grandson, donated a group of medals from the Gobrecht estate, along with odd items such as Gobrecht’s spectacles and his father’s wedding ring. Similarly, a group of Gobrecht sketches came in through Alfred Gobrecht Darrach, a great-grandson. Elvira Clain-Stefanelli (Vladimir’s wife) documented these sketches in the 1991 ANA Centennial Anthology.

Clain-Stefanelli’s contact with the Gobrecht family may have led him to do additional investigation into Gobrecht’s past. In any event, one of the Clain- Stefanelli working files contains a photographic print of Gobrecht’s headstone. There is no additional context or information on the origin of the print. Perhaps a relative passed it on as a matter of historical interest.

In any case, this now “finds” the headstone that eluded Bill Bugert. Although the headstone was most likely destroyed in the 1950s, we now have an image. The headstone reads:

CHRISTIAN GOBRECHT / BORN /
NOVEMBER 25, 1784 / DIED JULY 23, 1844
MARY GOBRECHT / BORN OCTOBER 13, 1793 /
DIED JANUARY 24, 1866
“HEIRS TOGETHER / OF THE GRACE OF LIFE

For more information on the Liberty Seated Collectors Club, see:
www.lsccweb.org

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web