George Morgan’s Masterpieces – Portraits of Lincoln

[BillJones]

George Morgan is best remembered for the Morgan silver dollar, which is probably the most popular numismatic series among collectors who spend significant amounts of money on their collections. (For budget minded collectors, the State Quarter series and the Lincoln cents are still probably numbers 1 and 2.) Some collectors disparage the Morgan Dollar design as rather boring and pedestrian. A goodly number of these critics don’t have a lot respect for Morgan Dollars in any case.

 

BUT here are two of George Morgan’s creations that are first rate in anyone’s opinon. Both of them present portraits of Abraham Lincoln. The first is a Lincoln medal that Morgan executed in 1886. It is not known what led the mint to commission this piece. At any rate numismatic author extraordinaire, R.W. Julian, described this piece as among the most beautiful of all 19th century medals.

 

 

The second George Morgan – Lincoln masterpiece is the obverse of the Illinois commemorative half dollar. This piece depicts Lincoln as he looked when he was a lawyer and aspiring politician during his pre-presidential days. The reverse, which is the Illinois state seal, was executed by John Sinnock (my correction from before).

 

[TomB]

The Lincoln medal appears to have incredible depth and I've always liked the Lincoln commem. Oddly, the Lincoln commem might also be one of the more attractive early commem in heavily circulated grades.

[bsshog40]

Both of these are very nice Bill. The medal is awesome in itself.

[prudden]

I love that medal. I've seen it before somewhere(maybe not this one). How much would that cost?

[BillJones]

I recently bought the medal in a mail bid auction from a dealer I trust totally for less than $300. The mintage for the 19th century Mahogany finish pieces was 224. The mint still offers this piece in the modern “yellow bronze format for $22 (?). The modern medal is no were near as nice as this although the relief is similar.

[prudden]

Nice.Thanks for the info.

[TJ'S Coins]

The Lincoln medal appears to have incredible depth and I've always liked the Lincoln commem. Oddly, the Lincoln commem might also be one of the more attractive early commem in heavily circulated grades.

 

The Illinois/Lincoln commemorative was issued in 1918. The onset of the Great Depression in 1929 saw several of the commemoratives enter circulation with the Lincoln/Illinois one being among that number. I also think this is one of the better in the early silver commemorative series.

[RWB]

Some minor comments:

 

One of the long-term assignments given to George Morgan by Director Linderman in 1877 was to redesign some of the earlier presidential medals to correct technical flaws and improve the appearance of the product. Morgan brought with him to the US Mint in 1876 considerable new knowledge on medal finishing. Some of Morgan’s presidential designs were used and others (Grant) were not, or were used differently than originally intended.

 

The Illinois half was design entirely by Morgan and was his first coin design after becoming engraver in March 1917, following Charles Barber’s death. Morgan’s assistant, John Sinnock, cut the Illinois hubs using the Janvier lathe and Morgan did minor touchup on the hubs and master dies. Sinnock worked from 8-8-1917 to 7-31-1919, and 8-3-1925 until his death in May 1947. Sinnock had been trained on use of the Janvier and that shows in the quality and detail of the Illinois coin versus others.

 

PS: Compare Morgan’s Lincoln portrait with Brenner’s portrait of Lincoln’s coat on the cent.

 

[BillJones]

PS: Compare Morgan’s Lincoln portrait with Brenner’s portrait of Lincoln’s coat on the cent.

 

I'm in cold, snowy Maine with limited access to my usual materials. (It's a short story as to why I am not in sunny Florida with 80 degree temps. My nephew is getting married.) BUT here's the best I can do for Lincoln pictures:

 

Brenner plaque

 

 

Morgan's Lincoln

 

 

Lincoln cent:

 

 

Sorry about getting the designer of the reverse of the Illinois commemorative half wrong. My mind was not working very well yesterday.

[dean1345]

Bill I really like your Brenner's plaque. What is it's size?

[BillJones]

I'm in Maine and don't have the plaque in front of me. It's something like 8 inches wide and 13 inches high measured from the edge of the marble base.