NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 9, 2023

"The recent Wall Street Journal article concerning the stymied efforts of the U.S. Semiquicentennial Commission to prepare coinage designs for the approaching 2026 celebrations, along with Wayne Pearson's past contributions, paint a dire and sorry picture for any real progress.

"In July 2015, The Numismatist published my article on American Revolution Bicentennial Medals, commonly known as ARBA medals. While my article focused strictly on the medal program and not coinage, the preparation and timing needed for their completion was critical. As an example, the ARBA Commission had been established ten years prior, on July 4, 1966, by then-president Lyndon Johnson. The real eye opener for me, however, was contained in the ARBA's five-volume final report published in 1977. Titled "The Bicentennial of the United States. A Final Report to the People," the report detailed the difficulties, false-starts, and bureaucracy involved with the medal program between the commission, treasury department, and the mint. Things didn't really get moving until 1971, thanks to then-president Nixon, who was a staunch supporter.

"I revisited my findings (and feelings) in a June 2017 editorial, also published in The Numismatist, and hoped a coinage program would be soon forthcoming. Sad to say, we have since squandered valuable time, and even with modern minting technology on our side, I wonder what, if anything, can be accomplished within the three years we have left.

"We can surely do better than the three circulating coin offering of 1976, along with the $2 bill. Aside from commemorative issues, and a possible revamp of circulating coinage reverses, there are opportunities in paper currency designs, as Wayne mentioned. The ARBA could have offered more in 1976 but declined. This led to private mints, most notably the Franklin Mint, in taking the lead with additional bicentennial-themed medals, most which ultimately ended up in the melting pot after the 1979-80 surge in spot silver.

"Perhaps the biggest problem facing the 2026 celebrations is the official name: Semiquicentennial is a mouthful, and does not roll off the tongue so easily. Hopefully we'll get around the mammoth spelling issue (makes a great spelling-bee entry!) and in the end the commission will find it's footing.

Standing_Liberty_Quarter_Type1_1917S_Obverse

Shortly after the coin went into circulation questions arose as to the identity of MacNeil's model soon identified as Miss Doris Doscher. Described as an accomplished twenty-two-year-old standing 5' 4 1/2 tall, she was credited with having lectured, written scenarios, trained as a Red Cross nurse and even acted in an educational film titled, The Sculptor and His Art. Karl Bitter had used her ideal measurements 36 x 25 x 39 when modeling his Pulitzer Memorial Fountain for the front of the Plaza Hotel. At the time of his death two years earlier he had created only a small figure and as had occurred once before the sad task of finishing the statue fell to Isidore Konti.

All of her information was factual except for her age, thirty-four and marital status. Record indicate Julia Doris Reiman was born in January 1882 and because she had married Albert Doscher in 1902, she was not a single lady. Additional film work included appearances in two silent features one titled Birth of a Race intended as a response to film maker D. W. Griffith's blatantly racist yet highly successful Birth of a Nation. In the film's opening moments Doris played her one and only scene as Eve in the Garden of Eden. A ten-minute portion of the movie can be seen in a YouTube video, its grainy footage raising the obvious question had the producers stumbled upon a technique called type casting? The film was neither a commercial nor a critical success and quickly faded from public consciousness.

The story of MacNeil's models gets even more interesting - there were two, the second being Irene MacDowell. Doscher died in 1970 with deserved acknowledgment of her place in numismatic history. When MacDowell passed away in 1973, it was learned she also claimed to have filled that role.

According to the 1900 census she was born in 1881, the adopted daughter of William W. Weitling a senior partner in the American Hard Rubber Company, successor to the firm founded by Poppenhusen. He also served alongside MacNeil on the Institute's Board of Control. Early in life Irene got into acting and married another thespian George I. MacDowell. Both left the stage and since his father-in-law owned large tracts of farmland in upstate New York, George took over running the family's fruit tree enterprise. Following the move the couple passed summers in College Point, and it was probably in 1916 that MacNeil asked Irene to model.

According to a story published three months before her death she had spent ten days on the job, but also that she had been the model for the figure of Victory in Albany's Soldiers and Sailors Memorial. In the obituaries of both women their acting careers were noted and that their husbands had been MacNeil's tennis partners, a sport at which Hermon excelled. Between 1915 and 1917 his name appeared in newspaper articles reporting success in various tournaments, but not that of Messr's Doscher or MacDowell.

One model or two from its earliest days MacNeil's Quarter attracted very favorable attention and was soon numbered among the most beautiful coins ever minted. He also had the unique experience enjoyed by few artists, knowing his creation would be available to millions, appreciated as a work of art by many, but regarded as pocket change by most.

"Just a note on the Ed Frossard Numisma reprints; this was in Remy Bourne's Sale #11 catalog, just previous to lot #341 (a green leatherette copy from Money Tree, as mine is) in describing the Numisma Periodicals.

"Here we learn that the Green volume which I have is actually from the second printing, second group, which the Money Tree did; the first group being the Brown hardbound and the first editions would have been the spiral comb bound versions (not hard bound) that Remy Bourne put out. Below is from his Auction Catalog description."

In 1983 I reprinted 100 copies of this classical periodical from my set. They were plastic spiral bound with tan card covers and sent to Cal Wilson to sell, which he did at $128.

Considerably after Wilson left the numismatic literature business, he sent the unsold copies to Money Tree, with my permission to Money Tree to sell. Money Tree had two shipments of the left over unsold copies and apparently bound them both in brown cloth and the second group in green leatherette that is offered below and were originally sold for $100.