Designer's Of Commemorative Coins

John Howard Benson along with Arthur Carey designed and modeled the 1936 Rhode Island/Providence Tercentenary Half Dollar. They were both from Newport, Rhode Island.



John Stevens Shop


The work on the design was done in the old John Stevens Shop in Newport, Rhode Island which has been in continuous existence as a stone-cutting shop since 1705, and in the present building on Thames Street since the Revolution. It was in this shop that Benson, who was an instructor in lettering at the Rhode Island Schools of Design, puttered around as a youth and learned letter carving before studying in New York and abroad. It was this same shop which he purchased outright in 1927, carried on the old traditions, established by the Stevens family, of craftsmanship and beauty in stone cutting.

Carey, who also comes of a family long associated with Newport - his grandfather presented the Carey School to the city - was a designer, silversmith and lecturer.

Thanks jbuck.