A few months ago I had the privilege of interviewing John M. Mercanti, the 12th Chief Engraver of the United States Mint, at the behest of PCGS. The occasion was the 75th anniversary this year of the San Francisco Mint, and to celebrate, PCGS is offering exclusive Mercanti-signed inserts and two-coin holders for the 2012 Silver Eagle set. As you can imagine, the opportunity to speak with such an important figure at such a time was exciting, and I approached the interview as a chance not only to write the PCGS piece but also to better my understanding of Mint operations from the 1970s onward.
For the hour or so that Mr. Mercanti and I spoke, I found him to be warm, gracious, and full of knowledge, not to mention surprises. He's a true student of medallic art history, yet a key contributor to it himself. I've often read that his predecessor,
Frank Gasparro, was equally magnanimous when it came
to giving of his time and knowledge to the numismatic community. It's no wonder that the two men developed such a fondness for each other; Gasparro, one of the last members of the old guard, serving as Chief Engraver while the Mint gradually stripped away the duties of the position, and
John Mercanti, who was named the first Chief Engraver since Gasparro fifteen years after the position was eliminated.
I asked him about how he felt about that particular honor and he said he was genuinely surprised. Not having experience working in the engraving shop at the Philadelphia Mint, it's hard to appreciate the corporate culture or to know exactly what resuscitating the long-dormant position meant. Clearly, these
were different times. One video that I highly recommend to get to know Mercanti and the impact he had on his colleagues was produced right before his retirement in 2010.Youtube search MERCANTI to find it.
In a column Hubert and I wrote called Numismatic Housekeeping, we mentioned how our conversation with
John Mercanti (and his co-author Michael "Miles" Standish) touched on the subject of postmodern coins. The American Silver Eagle, Mr. Standish argued, is the quintessential postmodern coin. During this conversation, Mercanti and Standish mentioned that the book they had just completed would be the definitive reference work on the series.
Luckily, Whitman was kind enough to send me an advance copy of the book, scheduled to go on sale November 20th. It's a window into an era of American numismatics that will only become more important as the years go by, and I thought I'd write about what I got out of it. CoinWeek should have it up later today.
I'd also like to note that esylum beat me to the punch and has offered two looks at the book. They are worth reading as well.
Check out my review here:
http://www.coinweek.com/featured-ne...-of-coining/
Posted 11/05/2012 6:54 pm
