Models of Liberty on Our US
Coin Design types
What is the source of our earliest
US coinage?
A 1793 Wreath Cent Liberty facing right, a GMM copy
John Wright is said to have prepared some of the
dies for the 1793 and 1794 cents before
succumbing to the Yellow Fever epidemic.
The source is believed to be the
French engraver Augustin Dupré
A contemporary restrike of the Libertas Americana
Medal originally struck by the Paris Mint in 1782
shows Liberty facing left.
Robert Scot’s Flowing Hair type
with Liberty again facing right
The obverses of the three silver Coins of 1794 & 1795;
The Flowing Hair half dime, half dollar and dollar.
were engraved by our first Chief Engraver Robert Scot
probably based on the Libertas American medal.
The reverses of the 1795 half dime, half dollar and
dollar showing Robert Scot’s small eagle design
In 1795, our first official Chief Engraver, Robert Scot
fashioned a new obverse design for the silver dollar
patterned after Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of Lady Anne
Bingham of Philadelphia. This became known as the
Draped Bust type.
At left, the 1795 Flowing Hair dollar;
at right, the new Draped Bust version
Both 1795 silver dollar reverses displayed a small scrawny
eagle, but close scrutiny points to some notable
differences. The coin at left is from the Flowing Hair
obverse. The coin at right, from the Draped Bust obverse.
The Draped Bust, small eagle
The 1795 the Draped Bust small eagle
silver dollar.
The woman on the Draped Bust silver
dollar was said to be Anne Bingham,
nee Willing, a Philadelphia beauty.
Origin of the Draped Bust design
Gilbert Stuart Anne Bingham
Self portrait Portrait by Stuart
One sees very little resemblance between Stuart’s portrait
of Lady Anne Bingham and Scot’s engraving on the dollar.
The 1799 Draped Bust/ Heraldic Eagle dollar.
This coin type was struck from 1798 to 1803
and re-struck in 1834 with the 1804 date.
The next US design types were called the Classic Head on
our copper coinage and Capped Bust on our silver coins.
Both were engraved by Asst. Chief Engraver John Reich.
An 1814 Classic Head large cent
No one actually knows the source for Reich’s designs.
Many years afterward, rumors were spread that Reich
had used his “fat mistress” to pose as Miss Liberty
but these have long been labeled as bogus.
The Capped Bust silver type
An 1811/10 Capped Bust Lettered edge half dollar
The origin of the model for this type is unknown.
In 1835 Mint Director William Maskell Patterson decided to
resume dollar coinage and sought a design type similar to
the Britannia figure on English coinage.
Thomas Sully Titian Peale
He brought in renowned painters Thomas Sully
and Titian Peale to prepare sketches for the
proposed dollar coin.
Patterson asked Chief Engraver William Kneass,
Sully and Peale to prepare sketches.
Sketches for the new 1836 dollar coin
obverse by Kneass, (left), Peale, (center) and
Sully, (right).
Sully obverse and Peale eagle sketches
for the 1836 Gobrecht dollar
Other principle figures in the
resumption of our dollar coinage
William Kneass, William M. Patterson, Christian Gobrecht
After Kneass suffered a stroke in 1835 Mint Director Patterson
asked noted engraver Christian Gobrecht to take over his duties.
Despite extensive research, it is not known
whether any actual live model was used for
the 1836 Liberty Seated “Gobrecht” dollar.
An 1836 Gobrecht dollar graded AU-58 by NGC
Gobrecht died in 1844 and James
Barton Longacre replaced him.
James Barton Longacre, self portrait (1845)
Chief Engraver of the US Mint from 1844-1869
Longacre’s 25 year tenure permitted him to create
more new coinage designs than any engraver
before or since.
His first creations were the Liberty $1.00
and $20.00 coins in 1849.
Shown above right is an 1849 gold dollar
In 1854 Longacre revised the dollar and introduced
the $3.00 gold piece.
Longacre Sketch and the $3.00 gold piece
Origin of the Indian Head cent
Who was the model for this popular coin?
The Indian Head cent first struck in 1859
For years it was thought
that Longacre’s 12 year old
daughter Sarah was shown
in an native American
headdress but as she was
born in 1828, she would
have been a grown woman
of 31, presumably married.
No one is certain who the
actual model was, if any.
Could it have been Longacre’s wife Eliza?
Three more sketches by Longacre
Longacre also designed the 3¢ silver in 1851, the
Flying Eagle 1¢ the 2¢ piece in 1864, the 3¢ nickel
in 1865, and the Shield nickel in 1866.
But Longacre’s most popular design was the
Indian Head cent first struck
in a copper-nickel alloy in 1859.
Still a nice Red/ Brown to Red Indian Head
Cent is a lovely coin to behold.
An 1875 Indian Head cent
It is unknown who the model, was, if any, who sat for
William Barber, the Chief Engraver that followed
Longacre after the latter’s death in 1869, but the new
coin first struck in 1873 was patterned after the
Britannia design seen on English coinage.
Example of Britannia coin and 1875-S Trade dollar
designed by William Barber
An 1875-S Trade dollar graded MS-61 by PCGS.
We do know who posed as Liberty
for George Morgan’s dollar coin
In 1877 Miss Anna Williams, a Philadelphia school
teacher posed in secret for the Morgan dollar.
Anna Williams paid a high price.
George Morgan was Assistant Engraver to
William Barber in 1877 when he was asked to
prepare patterns for a half dollar coin. He
persuaded an attractive young school teacher
and former art student named Anna Williams to
pose for Miss Liberty. In those times the scions
and ladies of the upper class considered female
models as rather undignified. A school teacher
caught in such an uncompromising situation
could meet with disastrous consequences.
An attempt at Secrecy
The sittings would take place in private at
the home of renowned Philadelphia
painter Thomas Eakens whose paintings
can be seen today in the Philadelphia
Museum of Art. If anyone later inquired as
to the source of the portrait they would be
told that it was borrowed from a classical
Greek painting housed in the Museum.
Miss Williams sat for Morgan at five
different sessions.
The coin went into circulation yet nothing
happened, at least not right away, but in
1879 a Philadelphia newspaper reporter
recognized Miss Williams as the school
teacher on the coin and wrote an article
calling her “the Silver dollar girl”. Poor
Miss Williams! As a teacher of primary
school age children she was summarily
ordered to appear before the school board
and was later dismissed for her actions;
her life virtually ruined in a sea of gossip
and humiliation.
Another side to the story
Actually, after the Philadelphia
reporter’s story broke, Anna Williams’s
supposed notoriety brought her much
fame and idolatry from the public although
she eschewed the fortune that could have
come from it all. While she may have lost
her teaching job shortly thereafter the
story broke, she had little difficulty getting
teaching positions later on. She never
married although she lived a long life.
Miss Williams’ portrait becomes more
recognizable when placed alongside Morgan’s
$4.00 Coiled hair gold pattern coin.
Anna Williams 1879 $4.00 gold Stella
(enlarged)
The resplendent Morgan Dollar
An 1891 Morgan dollar
graded MS-63 by NGC
When William Barber died in 1879, the designer of
the Morgan Dollar, George Morgan was passed
over in favor of his son Charles Barber
1900 Barber Half dollar
Some numismatic scholars strongly believe that
Barber merely copied George Morgan’s dollar
design reversing the direction.
Morgan and Barber Liberty’s compared
Obverses of the 1892 Morgan $1.00 facing left
and Barber half dollar facing right
The resemblance to Miss Williams may be
more apparent on the Liberty nickel
Anna Williams and 1892 Barber “V” nickel
Both facing left
Who was the model who appeared on the 1907
Saint-Gaudens $20.00 & $10.00 gold coins?
Saint-Gaudens’ 1897 1907 $20.00 High Relief
Victory holding Feather Roman numerals
Double Eagle
The source for the $20.00 gold piece dates back to Saint-
Gaudens’ sculpture of the Sherman Monument (1897)
The General Sherman monument on horseback
led by “Victory” can be seen in New York
at the corner of Central Park south
(59th Street) and 5th Avenue
Augustus Saint-Gaudens worked with many models
but one of his favorites was Miss Hettie Anderson
Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Hettie Anderson
Miss Anderson who was born in South Carolina in 1874.,
She arrived in NYC as a young model in 1894. Her
posing for “Victory” in 1897 was later used on the coin.
Later in 1907, the coin was redone in low relief
with Arabic numerals and is far more common
than the high relief Roman numeral subtype.
A Bust of Hettie Anderson which Saint-Gaudens had
created earlier eventually was used
for the $10.00 gold Indian Eagle coin.
Bust of Hettie 1907 $10 Indian Gold
The Mystery behind Hermon
MacNeil’s Quarter
There may have been two models who
posed for Hermon MacNeil's
1916 Standing Liberty Quarter
Rumor suggests not
one but two women may
have posed as Miss Liberty
for Hermon MacNeil’s
Standing Liberty quarter
first struck in 1916.
The first was thought to
be Doris Doscher, a music
hall actress who went by
the stage name Doris Doree.
According to J.H. Cline,
dealer and author of
Standing Liberty Quarters,
Miss Doscher was a long
time family friend and
tennis partner of the
engraver.
Tennis also played a
part in the other woman
who modeled for Miss
Liberty on the Standing
Liberty quarter. She was
Mrs. Irene MacDowell, the
wife of another tennis
partner of MacNeil and
also a Broadway actress.
She claims to have posed
for a number of days as
Miss Liberty but her
husband disapproved and
so, this was kept secret
from the public until 1972
shortly before Mrs.
MacDowell’s death.
There were two sub-types of the Standing
Liberty Quarter issued in 1917
The same impropriety associated with modeling
was directed towards any suggestion of nudity
on our coinage. Notice the redressing of
Miss Liberty on the Type II at right.
Who was the model for the
Walking Liberty Half Dollar?
A 1916-D Walking Liberty Half Dollar,
first year of issue.
. The model for these two
coins was the young wife of
the poet Wallace Stevens
who was said to be quite
beautiful. The couple were
renting an apartment in New
York City whose landlord
just happened to be Adolph
Weinman, the sculptor and
disciple of Saint-Gaudens.
He needed a model to sit for
his rendition of the new dime
and half dollar competition
of 1916 and Elsie posed for
him to help defray the cost
of the rent.
The Peace dollar was the last US coin intended for
circulation that portrayed the
allegorical figure of Liberty.
A 1927-D Peace $1.00
graded MS-62 by Anacs
The model for the Peace $1.00 was the young wife
of designer Anthony de Francisci.
Theresa de Francisci
Another portrait of Theresa de Francisci
alongside the obverse of 1928 Peace dollar
There is still more research to be done on the models who
portrayed Liberty on some of our early US coinage.
We owe a debt to the artists, models and
engravers who had a hand in creating many
of our coins that today are regarded among
the most beautiful in the world.
-The End-