Those who are regular readers of my posts here on CCF, are likely aware of my fondness for understanding the backstory of the design elements on each of the US commemorative coins. With this in mind, I spent some time awhile back exploring the potential roots of Augustus Lukeman's Daniel Boone portrait on the 1934-38 Daniel Boone Birth Bicentennial half dollars.
1934-38 Daniel Boone Birth Bicentennial Half Dollar
The coin's designs began with the Daniel Boone Bicentennial Commission. The Commission was created on January 30, 1934 when Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffon signed into law a Resolution of the Kentucky General Assembly; the Commission was organized "to arrange the suitable and proper celebration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the birth of Daniel Boone." The Commission was to include 15 Governor-appointed citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky; members of the Commission included Kentucky historians.
The Resolution authorized the Commission to raise funds for bicentennial celebrations. It decided, early on, that one fund raising tool it would like to implement would be the sale of a commemorative half dollar. Initial Commission thinking was to request 100,000 coins, but, by the time it was introduced in Congress, the mintage request had grown to 600,000 (!) coins; such a mintage figure was ultimately included in the Act that authorized the coin program.
The Commission soon settled on a design that featured a portrait of Daniel Boone and a depiction of Fort Boonseborough. It contracted with noted artist/sculptor Augustus Lukeman - the man who took over the carving of the Stone Mountain Memorial from Gutzon Borglum - and provided him with its thoughts along with references for a portrait of Boone.
What references were provided?
One of the first things I learned was that no photographs exist of Daniel Boone nor do any verified, real-life sketches/paintings of him during his pioneer days in Kentucky - photography didn't exist yet!. So, the illustrations of Daniel Boone that depict him at this time of his life are artist's concepts of how Boone may have appeared, based on descriptions of him and/or available images of his contemporaries. No one could insist a particular artist created image was a definitive Kentucky-era image of Boone.
Some used a painting of Boone made by Charles Harding in 1820 as a starting point for their image(s). At the time of his sitting for the portrait, Boone was 85 years old, living in Missouri and nearing the end of his days. It is, however, the only confirmed portrait that Boone sat for during his lifetime.
Daniel Boone Portrait by Charles Harding, 1820
(Image Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Public Domain.)Acknowledged US commemorative coin authority, Anthony Swiatek, has cited a black-and-white illustration of "Captain Daniel Boone" in the book
The History of Kentucky, by Judge Lewis Collins, as the reference source used by Lukeman. From what I've found/read, Lukeman had more than one image reference at his disposal while he worked on his design and models, IMO, the illustration in the Collins book is likely just one of several references he used.
Daniel Boone Illustration, The History of Kentucky,
(Image Credit: History of Kentucky.Collins, Lewis. 1892. Public Domain.)The book illustration appears to have de-aged Boone to fit its narrative better. (Today, de-aging is done in some movies with aging stars via specialized software technology - octogenarian Harrison Ford in the recent
Indiana Jones - Dial of Destiny movie is an example. Once again, what's old is new!) That said, I don't find the Collins volume illustration to be a great match to the coin's portrait (even when imagining it in profile).
Almost from the start, Lukeman and the Commission appear to have had differing views on the coin's designs.
The Commission is on record as expressing its satisfaction with the bust of Boone by Albin Polasek (1926) found at the Hall of Fame (HoF) for Great Americans Gallery at New York University (now the campus of Bronx Community College). Lukeman, a New York City-based artist, was definitely aware of the HoF bust of Daniel Boone. He is known to have complained about the lack of acceptable access to view details of the bust in profile, but, to me, it indicates that Lukeman visited the HoF and likely created one or more sketches of the bust to use later as a potential resource.
Daniel Boone Bust at Hall of Fame for Great Americans by Albin Polasek
(Image Credit: Wally Gobetz, flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED.)Lukeman furnished plaster models of the designs he had worked up to the Bicentennial Commission in early July 1934 - the Commission was immediately unhappy. Colonel William Boone Douglass, President of the Boone Family Association - a group consulting with the Commission - considered them "historically impossible" and contacted the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) expressing such and recommending that Lukeman be replaced. The CFA did not agree that Lukeman should be removed from the project.
At its meeting on July 17, 1934, the Commission stated "the hair is too long, the nose too prominent, and the chin too effiminate [sic]. The model does not look like any Boone heads cited to the sculptor." Its views were communicated to Lukeman. The strong, specific reaction is somewhat surprising considering no actual photographs/paintings of Boone from his "Kentucky days" exist.
(Side Note: I remember being surprised by the appearance of Boone's portrait when I began my collecting and study of the US commemorative coins - in my mind, Boone's face was more "rugged" - likely the result of watching too many Hollywood movies and seeing how frontiersmen were presented!)With that, the battle between the Commission and Lukeman was on! Lukeman replied to the Commission on July 21, 1934, expressed his frustration regarding the reaction to what he had prepared and stated that he would not make any changes to his models until they had been reviewed by the Commission of Fine Arts and it had offered its comments/critiques. The models were ultimately reviewed by the Commission, and it suggested minor changes but did not object to Boone's portrait. Lukeman agreed to make the suggested revisions and provide updated models.
At its meeting on August 15, 1934, the Commission - unanimously - voted to approve the updated models of Lukeman. It still wasn't necessarily "happy" with the models, so much as it realized it needed to move forward so that the coin could be struck and sales could begin as the coins were expected to be a solid revenue source for the Commission. The initial batch of 10,000 1934-dated Boone half dollars was struck by the Philadelphia Mint in October 1934.
To my eyes, the facial features of Daniel Boone on the plaster statue of the pioneer prepared by Enid Yandell in 1893 that was exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago (now cast in bronze and erected on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University) appears to be a closer match for the coin's portrait. I've not seen, however, Yandell's statue ever formally credited as a reference source though I have seen passing references to it.
Daniel Boone Statue by Enid Yandell, 1893
(Image Credit: Eastern Kentucky University Archive. Digital Collections. Fair Use - Educational Purposes.)I can't offer a definitive "this is the one" declaration on the reference source used by Lukeman, I'm more inclined to believe he used multiple references, including a privately-commissioned Boone statue that he had previously sculpted, and developed a composite portrait of the pioneer for the coin.
For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more Daniel Boone Bicentennial half dollar stories, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 10/06/2023 10:07 am
