The Gobrecht Dollar: America's First Silver Dollar in Thirty Years, and the Drawings Behind It

In 1836 the United States struck its first silver dollar in thirty years. The pencil sketches for it are still at the Smithsonian, and one of them is dated 1836. THIRTY YEARS. The last silver dollars for circulation were dated 1803 and struck into 1804. On 1 May 1806 James Madison ordered that no coin larger than a half dollar be made. The famous 1804 dollars were struck in 1834, as gifts for foreign rulers. Jackson lifted the ban in 1831, and still five years went by. TWO PAINTERS AND AN ENGRAVER. In 1835 the new Director of the Mint, Robert Maskell Patterson, wanted new designs. Thomas Sully drew Liberty, seated. Titian Peale drew an eagle in flight. That August the chief engraver, William Kneass, had a stroke, and in September Christian Gobrecht, who had started out engraving clockwork in Baltimore, became the Mint's second engraver. THE DRAWINGS. Gobrecht drew Liberty again and again, inside a circle the size of a coin. Eleven of his sketches are shown in this film, from the National Numismatic Collection. The Mint kept a live eagle in the 1830s, Peter, and the story goes that he posed for the eagle in flight. Nobody has proved it. 1836. In December, 1,000 dollars: Sully's Liberty on the front, Peale's eagle across 26 stars on the back, and on the base of the rock, C. GOBRECHT F. ("Gobrecht made it"). Patterson had told him to sign it; people called it conceit, and the name was made smaller. After the law of January 1837 set silver at nine parts in ten, 600 more were struck, still dated 1836. 1839. The stars moved to the front, the eagle flew alone, and 300 more were struck, with the name gone. About 1,900 in all. The Mint struck more from the old dies in the 1850s and 1860s for collectors, and telling an original from a restrike is still argued about. WHAT LASTED. In 1840 the dollar kept Sully's Liberty and swapped the flying eagle for a heraldic one. Seated Liberty stayed on the dime, quarter and half dollar until 1891. The flying eagle came back on the small cent in 1856. Gobrecht's Liberty head went onto the gold eagle in 1838 and stayed on American gold into the 1900s. He became chief engraver in December 1840 and died in July 1844. No values. No narration. CHAPTERS 0:00 The drawings 0:58 The Gobrecht Dollar 1:07 Thirty years 1:57 Two painters and an engraver 3:04 The drawings 4:14 1836 5:26 1839 6:11 What lasted SOURCES Wikipedia: Gobrecht dollar; Christian Gobrecht; Flying Eagle cent; Robert M. Patterson. CoinWeek, Gobrecht Dollar, 1836-1839. Smithsonian Open Access records, "Seated Liberty Sketch, Christian Gobrecht, United States, 1836" (NMAH 2002.0007.0098). Numismatic News on the restrike debate. PCGS, the Garrett Collection history. Every figure checked against two sources. IMAGE CREDITS Gobrecht's sketches: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History, public domain. 1836 and 1839 Gobrecht dollars, 1798 and 1865 dollars, 1858 cent: National Numismatic Collection, Smithsonian Institution, public domain. 1804 dollar: Smithsonian Institution, public domain. Thomas Sully, self-portrait: National Gallery of Art, CC0. Titian Ramsay Peale, self-portrait: National Portrait Gallery, CC0. James Madison by Gilbert Stuart, public domain. The Second Philadelphia Mint: Detroit Publishing Company, public domain. Peter the eagle: Wehwalt, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. No dealer or grading-service photography is used on this channel, and no photographs of anyone's private collection. #gobrechtdollar #silverdollar #seatedliberty #coinhistory #coins #numismatics #silverorclad ------------------------------------------------------------------------