James Barton Longacre - Ambrotype by Isaac Rehn, 1855b

The Chief Engraver of the United States Mint is the highest staff member at 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 ...

. The Chief Engraver is the person in charge of coin design and

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

dies Dies may refer to: * Dies (deity), the Roman counterpart of the Greek goddess Hemera, the personification of day, daughter of Nox (Night) and Erebus (Darkness). * Albert Christoph Dies (1755–1822), German painter, composer, and biographer * Jos ...

at all four United States Mints:

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. Since ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

and

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

. The position was created by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

with the

Coinage Act of 1792 The Coinage Act of 1792 (also known as the Mint Act; officially: ''An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States''), passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, created the United States dollar as the countr ...

, and placed within the Department of Treasury that produces circulating

coinage Coinage may refer to: * Coins, standardized as currency * Neologism, coinage of a new word * '' COINage'', numismatics magazine * Tin coinage, a tax on refined tin * Protologism ''Protologism'' is a term coined in 2003 by the American literary ...

for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. In 1990 after the resignation of Elizabeth Jones, the post of Chief Engraver was left vacant, and in 1996, with Public Law 104-208, was abolished by Congress. On February 3, 2009, Mint Director Edmund C. Moy, appointed John Mercanti to the position of Chief Engraver, with duties and prerogatives determined by the Mint’s Office of Public Affairs. The appointment was not a restoration of the original congressionally approved office, but a temporary promotion, renewable annually for one officeholder for no more than five years. Following Mercanti's retirement in 2010, the post remained vacant until February 2019, when Joseph Menna was appointed to the position.

List of Chief Engravers

* Robert Scot (1793 until his death in 1823) *

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 ...

(1824 until his death in 1840) *

Christian Gobrecht Christian Gobrecht (December 23, 1785 – July 23, 1844) was the third Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1840 until his death in 1844. He was responsible for designing the famous " Seated Liberty" designs, which were in turn the di ...

(1840 until his death in 1844) *

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, ...

(1844 until his death in 1869) * William Barber (1869 until his death in 1879) * Charles E. Barber (1880 until his death in 1917) * George T. Morgan (1917 until his death in 1925) *

John R. Sinnock John Ray Sinnock (July 8, 1888 – May 14, 1947) was the eighth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1925 to 1947. History Sinnock was the designer of the Roosevelt dime and Franklin half dollar, among other U.S. coins. His initials c ...

(1925 until his death in 1947) *

Gilroy Roberts Gilroy Roberts (March 11, 1905, Philadelphia – January 26, 1992 Havertown, Pennsylvania) was an American sculptor. He served as the ninth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the ...

(1948 to 1964) *

Frank Gasparro Frank Gasparro (August 26, 1909 – September 29, 2001) was the tenth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint, holding this position from February 23, 1965, to January 16, 1981. Before that, he was Assistant Engraver. He designed both sides of th ...

(1965 to 1981) * Elizabeth Jones (1981 to 1991) * Vacant (1991 to 2006) *

John Mercanti John M. Mercanti (born April 27, 1943) is an American sculptor and engraver. He was the twelfth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint until his retirement in late 2010. Biography Mercanti was born in Philadelphia. There, he attended the Pen ...

(2006 to 2010) * Vacant (2010 to 2019) *

Joseph Menna Joseph Francis Menna (born March 1970) is an American sculptor and engraver who has worked in both digital and traditional sculpture media. He has been the Chief Engraver of the United States Mint since February, 2019. Biography Menna trained form ...

(Feb 2019 to present)

References

* {{US-gov-stub