Christian Gobrecht (December 23, 1785 – July 23, 1844) was the third Chief Engraver of the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...

from 1840 until his death in 1844. He was responsible for designing the famous " Seated Liberty" designs, which were in turn the direct inspiration for the design of the

Trade Dollar Trade dollars are silver coins minted as trade coins by various countries to facilitate trade with China and the Orient. They all approximated in weight and fineness to the Spanish dollar, which had set the standard for a de facto common currency ...

. He designed the Gobrecht Dollar, which was struck in small quantities from 1836 to 1838 and later inspired the

Flying Eagle cent The Flying Eagle cent is a one- cent piece struck by the Mint of the United States as a pattern coin in 1856 and for circulation in 1857 and 1858. The coin was designed by Mint Chief Engraver James B. Longacre, with the eagle in flight based o ...

. He also designed the obverse sides for the Liberty head (aka Coronet Head)

Quarter Eagle The quarter eagle was a gold coin issued by the United States with a value of two hundred and fifty cents, or two dollars and fifty cents. It was given its name in the Coinage Act of 1792, as a derivation from the US ten-dollar eagle coin. Hist ...

Half Eagle The half eagle is a United States coin that was produced for circulation from 1795 to 1929 and in commemorative and bullion coins since 1983. Composed almost entirely of gold, its face value of five dollars is half that of the eagle coin. Prod ...

, and

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

gold coins, as well as the "braided hair" type

Half cent The half cent was the smallest denomination of United States coin ever minted. It was first minted in 1793 and last minted in 1857. It was minted with five different designs. History First authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792 on April 2, 1792, ...

and

Large cent The United States large cent was a coin with a face value of 1/100 of a United States dollar. Its nominal diameter was 1 inch (28.57 mm). The first official mintage of the large cent was in 1793, and its production continued until 1857, whe ...

coins.

Early life and career

Gobrecht was born on December 23, 1785, in

Hanover, Pennsylvania Hanover is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, southwest of York and north-northwest of Baltimore, Maryland and is north of the Mason-Dixon line. The town is situated in a productive agricultural region. The population was 16,429 at the ...

, to Reverend John C. Gobrecht, who came to America from Germany in 1755, and Elizabeth Sands, with ancestry going back to 1642 in

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the British America, first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the pa ...

. After apprenticing in Manheim, Pennsylvania, he engraved ornamental clockworks in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, until he moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1811 to join Murray, Draper, Fairman, and Company, an engraving firm, around 1816. He invented a medal ruling machine in 1810, which he improved upon in 1817. In 1823, Mint Director

Robert Patterson Robert Patterson (January 12, 1792 – August 7, 1881) was an Irish-born United States major general during the American Civil War, chiefly remembered for inflicting an early defeat on Stonewall Jackson, but crucially failing to stop Confede ...

sought to engage Gobrecht as assistant director, but Gobrecht declined the position. Instead, in December, Gobrecht sought the position of chief engraver of the Mint, writing to President

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...

. Instead, the position went to

William Kneass William Kneass ( "niece"; September 25, 1780 – August 27, 1840) was the second Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1824 until his death in 1840. Kneass is credited with designing the "Classic Head" motif, which appeared on numerous ...

.Taxay, p. 109 In addition to his professional activities, Gobrecht was an inventor, inventing improvements to the

camera lucida A ''camera lucida'' is an optical device used as a drawing aid by artists and microscopists. The ''camera lucida'' performs an optical superimposition of the subject being viewed upon the surface upon which the artist is drawing. The artist s ...

, a talking doll, a kind of

melodeon Melodeon may refer to: * Melodeon (accordion), a type of button accordion *Melodeon (organ), a type of 19th-century reed organ *Melodeon (Boston, Massachusetts), a concert hall in 19th-century Boston * Melodeon Records, a U.S. record label in the ...

, and the medal-ruling machine, which reproduces relief on a plain surface.

Chief engraver of the U.S. Mint

There is extant documentation showing that Gobrecht worked for the Mint as early as 1823 immediately upon the death of the first chief engraver Robert Scot. This was only a temporary appointment until a new chief engraver

was hired in January 1824. He also engraved and sold letter and numeral punches to the Mint from this point forward and provided a pattern die to the

in 1826 (of which no examples exist). He became not an assistant but a "Second" engraver in September 1835 after Kneass suffered a debilitating stroke on August 27 of that year. After Kneass' stroke, most all pattern and die work was done by Gobrecht from then on, including the Gobrecht Dollars, which were minted briefly in small quantities from 1836 to 1839. Shortly after Kneass' death in 1840, Gobrecht was appointed Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint on December 21, 1840. During his tenure as Chief Engraver of the Mint, Gobrecht produced perhaps what he is mainly known for, the Seated Liberty dollar, based on sketches by

Thomas Sully Thomas Sully (June 19, 1783November 5, 1872) was a portrait painter in the United States. Born in Great Britain, he lived most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He painted in the style of Thomas Lawrence. His subjects included nationa ...

, and

Titian Peale Titian Ramsay Peale (November 2, 1799 – March 13, 1885) was an American artist, naturalist, and explorer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a scientific illustrator whose paintings and drawings of wildlife are known for their beauty and ...

. That design remained on U.S. coinage as late as 1891 Gobrecht died in July 1844; his place as chief engraver was taken by

James B. Longacre James Barton Longacre (August 11, 1794 – January 1, 1869) was an American portraitist and engraver, and the fourth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1844 until his death. Longacre is best known for designing the Indian Head cent, ...

.Taxay, p. 204 Additionally to engraving for the Mint, he also produced embossing plaque for bookbinding.

Bibliography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gobrecht, Christian 1785 births 1844 deaths American people of German descent United States Mint engravers People from Hanover, Pennsylvania