“It is by all odds the best design on any American coin." High praise indeed, considering it came from Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the man who is generally regarded as having designed the most beautiful U.S. coin ever made - the American Double Eagle $20 gold coin. Saint-Gaudens was referring to the work of Christian Gobrecht, one of the most prolific of all U.S. coin designers, and specifically to Gobrecht’s flying eagle design for the one-cent piece in 1857.
Gobrecht’s Early Career
Gobrecht was born in Pennsylvania in 1785, the son of a German immigrant father and an American mother. He first apprenticed with a clockmaker, engraving ornamental designs for the components. In 1811, he moved from Baltimore to Philadelphia to join a prominent banknote printer as an engraver. He was also an inventor, designing a device that would transfer three-dimensional designs to two dimensions for printing in pre-photography times.
Gobrecht’s work first caught the eye of Mint Director Robert Patterson, who offered him a position as one of the assistant directors in 1823. Gobrecht declined, but when Chief Engraver Robert Scot died later that year, Gobrecht applied for the post. The job went to William Kneass instead, but Gobrecht was offered assistant engraver, which he also declined. But Gobrecht kept a cordial relationship with the mint and sold several auxiliary pieces to them.
The Gobrecht Silver Dollar and Seated Liberty Coin Design
When Kneass suffered a debilitating stroke in 1835, Gobrecht was hired to complete all of his pattern and die work. While working on Kneass’ designs, Gobrecht designed a silver dollar coin that went into general circulation in 1836. It featured Lady Liberty in a sitting position on its obverse (face), and an eagle in flight on the reverse. Known as the Gobrecht Silver Dollar, the coin was only produced through 1839 and is one of the more valuable rare coins today. It was the first use of the Seated Liberty design that would appear on hundreds of millions of coins in nearly all denomination and that would establish Christian Gobrecht as one of the most prolific coin designers in U.S. history.
His Seated Liberty design remained on nearly all U.S. silver coins made in the second half of the 19th century including the half dime (1837-1873), dime (1837-1891), quarter (1838-1891), half dollar (1839-1891), and silver dollar (1840-1873). He also designed a Liberty Head bust, originally for the $10 gold coin in 1838. It was also used on copper half-cents and cents, and gold $2.50 and $5 coins. All of these coins are highly sought by collectors today and command premium prices.
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