A History of the Design
The following historical sketch is from "The Morgan and Peace Silver Dollars," by Ted Schwarz, The Numismatist, November 1975:
"The least likely contestant, at least in his mind, was Anthony de Francisci. He was originally from Italy, raised in Palermo and a student of the Palermo Institute of Fine Art. While in Rome for study he had begun reading American history books, and supposedly stories about the life of Abraham Lincoln inspired him to make the journey to the United States.
"In the U. S. de Francisci studied at Cooper Union and later at the National Academy of Design. Among his instructors were
James Earle Fraser, creator of the
Buffalo nickel, and
Adolph Weinman. Interestingly, both of these men had been pupils of Saint-Gaudens, a sculptor whose work had a great influence on de Francisci.
"De Francisci had recently married when the design contest was held. His wife, the former Teresa Cafarelli, was born in a remote village 50 miles from Naples, and had been three years old when brought to the United States by her family. Teresa's brother, an art student who knew de Francisci, had introduced his sister to him. The couple found that they had mutual interests, a fact which brought them increasingly close together. Teresa was 21 when the couple were married, and her new husband entered the design contest.
'''My husband didn't think he had a chance in the competition going up against all those famous sculptors. But they were paying $100 for the designs, and I guess he figured we could use the money-so he went ahead and did it.'
"In order to insure quality submissions the government authorized that $100 be given each of the men who submitted a design. A prize of $1,000 would be given to the person whose design was accepted for the coin.
"De Francisci had a light-hearted attitude towards the con-test. He bet his friends one dollar each that his creation would not prove acceptable. When he actually did win, he had to use the 50 early strike silver dollars the government gave him to payoff his bets.
"The newlywed artist decided to use his ideal of woman-hood as the model for Liberty. Teresa was asked to pose for the coin. His Liberty head was to be quite different from the almost matronly head of the Morgan coin. De Francisci wanted his design to reflect youth and vitality, he wanted a Liberty that was young, alive and strong.
"Teresa normally wore her hair up but her husband made it more casual by opening a window so a breeze could give it a slightly wind-blown appearance. 'You will see that the Liberty is not a photograph of Mrs. de Francisci,' the artist mentioned in an interview with a reporter for the Duluth Minneapolis Tribune the year following the coin's introduction. 'It is a composite face and in that way typifies something of America. I did not try to execute an 'American type' or a picture of any woman. I wanted the Liberty to express something of the spirit of the country-the intellectual speed and vigor and virility America has, as well as its youth. I had nothing of the magazine cover idea.'
"There is a rather touching but totally unfounded story related to the posing of Teresa de Francisci. Supposedly the posing repeated an incident which occurred when she and her family were on the boat to America. As the boat neared the Statue of Liberty, thethree year old Teresa was said to have struck a pose in imitation of that landmark. Although Mrs. de Francisci later developed a strong love for America and its concept of Liberty, she does not remember ever striking such a pose as a child, and she feels it would have been completely out of character for her.
"The coin's creation was a rush affair. It was November of 1921 when the artists were asked to compete, and they were given a three-week deadline for the submission of their sketches. The approved sketches had to be made into models in just four days more.
"There were two designs originally prepared for the
Peace dollar. The artist created one obverse but two reverses. One reverse showed an eagle breaking a sword on which it was standing, while the second sketch had the eagle standing under an olive branch and holding a broken sword. In a touch of illogic the jury favored the first design and approved the second.
"On December 19, 1921, President Warren Harding approved the models for the new coin. Teresa wrote her parents of the incident,... All the designs submitted were carefully gone over by President Harding himself, who took a great interest in the work. Last Saturday he was about to approve Anthony's design, when he noticed an extra dimple in the chin of Liberty, 'It is not exactly a dimple,' he explained to the president, 'but only an artistic touch, which-seems to indicate the presence of one.'
" 'The president, however, maintained that he preferred a dimpleless Liberty, because the dimpled variety did not exactly express peace, so Anthony resubmitted the designi.minus the dimple. The new coin is symbolic of peace, liberty and the disarmament conference. On One side of the coin is the well-known profile of Liberty, together with the numerals 1921 and 'E Pluribus Unum' in the usual position. On the reverse side is an eagle, with folded wings, perched upon the top of a mountain, with the rising sun in the distance. Above the eagle's head are the olive branches of peace, while a broken sword, symbolic of the end of the war, is clutched in its talons. Just beneath the eagle is the word 'Peace', while crowning the top of the coin are the words 'United States of America'.'
"It has been said by some critics that the
Peace dollar is quite similar to earlier coins by other artists. The head of Liberty is akin to the design for the Indian Head $10 gold piece designed by Saint-Caudens, The eagle is like that of the Bela Pratt $5 gold piece introduced in 1908.
"Whether the similarities are by design or chance is hard to say, The sculptors were all influenced by similar concepts and teachers. After all, Saint-Gaudens' pupils! Weinman and Fraser, were among de Francisci's teachers and they were all impressed by the ancient .Creek and Roman sculpture they had studied. But whatever the influence, the final execution was uniquely that of de Francisci. Perhaps he learned from others and followed a classic approach, but the end result succeeds on its own merits.
"A few people were extremely critical of the broken sword symbolism, feeling that it represented defeat. The artist tried to. explain that it was used in' conjunction with the olive branch so that the symbolism of peace, not defeat, would bc obvious. However the government was fearful of widespread criticism, so the design was altered. The sword was removed and an olive branch was placed in the eagle's talons ...
"A Syracuse paper [commented roughly] on the coin. A reporter wrote: 'The old dollar had a solemn and serious look. The new one seems sissified by comparison. One has dignity, the other has prettiness, and if one wanted to be critical it might be added that while the old dollar had sentiment the new one has sentimentality.
"The two leading differences are in the eagle, and the Goddess of Liberty. The old eagle was a scrapper. He looked as' if he were on the alert to start something any time, and between whiles, to scream to his heart's content. The 1922 version of the American bird of freedom looks anything but free. He looks out of luck. He has wings' furled and is sitting, gazing into vacancy with the cheerless and pepless attitude of a wet barnyard fowl waiting for the weather to clear. There are some who say that he even wears pants, but that is an illusion, The real eagle does have thick foliage on his legs. all the way to his claws, which, when in a standing position gives something of a trousered effect.'
"The coin was introduced in December of 1921. President Harding invited the artist and his wife to the Philadelphia Mint in honor of the new issue.
"The couple's initial euphoria was shattered by a letter de Francisci was sent by George Morgan, who had risen to the post of chief engraver for the Mint. The letter, written on January 3, 1922, stated that the early coins had been difficult to strike since an unusual amount of pressure was necessary to obtain proper relief. Morgan had seen fit to act on his own to alleviate this problem. 'In changing the date to 1922 I took the opportunity of making a slight change in the curvature of the ground .. I anticipate at least 20. tons less pressure will be required to bring up the design. This could double the life of the die. I send you an early strike of the 1922.'
"DeFranoisci was enraged: The beauty of the design was, in part, created by the unusually high relief. To arbitrarily reduce that relief was unthinkable.
Terese de Francisci died exactly 26 years later, on October 20, 1990, at the age of 92.[1]
Posted 02/18/2011 10:19 pm
