PHOTO OF ENGRAVER WILLIAM BARBER FOUND

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V22 2019 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 22, Number 10, March 10, 2019, Article 5

PHOTO OF ENGRAVER WILLIAM BARBER FOUND

John Frost is the President and Journal Editor of the Barber Coin Collectors' Society, and Education Director of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club. He submitted this announcement of a long-awaited discovery. Thank you! -Editor

Long-sought photo of Engraver William Barber discovered!

For years, I've seen several readers of The E-Sylum inquire about the existence of a photo of Chief Engraver William Barber (1807-1879), and all had come up empty. William, the designer of the Trade dollar and double dime (20-cent piece) served as Chief Engraver from 1869 until his death on August 31, 1879. Prior to 2018, the only known image of William Barber was a profile portrait featured on an 1880 medal produced by son (and 6th Chief Engraver) Charles E. Barber, in honor of his father. No other images of William Barber of any kind had ever been seen. How could a photo not exist? His predecessor, James B. Longacre has photos, but not William?

As many readers know, I had the good fortune of meeting two of the great-grandsons of Charles Barber (and great-great-grandsons of William) last year, and I uncovered and published a wealth of new information about both Barbers, including a painting of a young William Barber. However, no photo of William was found by the family, but they promised to keep searching in their homes.

Just a week before the Liberty Seated Collectors Club's big SeatedFest II convention at the Whitman Baltimore Expo, the family found one! A small 4x6-inch frame with photos of William and his wife, Anna Maria Barber! They are positively identified by Edith Barber's hand-written note on the back of the frame. Edith was Charles Barber's daughter.

Like the other images of the Barbers, the family has graciously allowed this new photo to be published. The high-resolution photo has been made available for download and publication on the websites of both the Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) and the Barber Coin Collectors' Society (BCCS). It is available in multiple formats for authors, researchers, and catalogers.

Readers should also be reminded that the many new photos of Charles Barber have also been made available for download at the BCCS website.

LSCC - William Barber photo:
http://www.lsccweb.org/WilliamBarber-photo.shtml

BCCS – Barber photos:
http://www.barbercoins.org/New-Barber-images.shtml

In the meantime, I am pleased to present Chief Engraver William Barber as you have never seen him before:

This is great news. Last week's Seated Fest was a super event. See my Numismatic Diary elsewhere in this issue for some photos. -Editor

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
WILLIAM BARBER PHOTO SOUGHT (https://www.coinbooks.org/
esylum_v09n43a06.html)
QUERY: IMAGES OF ENGRAVER WILLIAM BARBER SOUGHT (https://www.coinbooks.org/
esylum_v14n03a11.html)
WILLIAM AND CHARLES BARBER EXHIBIT AT WHITMAN EXPO (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/
esylum_v21n40a17.html)
SEATED FEST II BALTIMORE 2019 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/
esylum_v22n08a16.html)

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

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