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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,824 |
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Valued Member
United States
451 Posts |
An Engraver is a person who creates a design by making grooves in metal. For coins to be struck, an engraver creates a portrait and then using a reducing machine dies are created for minting coins. It is not a simple process and takes considerable amount of time. Back then, it took a few months to a few years to create a portrait for a coin. Benedetto Pistrucci is well known as an artist/ engraver/ medalist and was famous for his work. He is very well known for his work St George slaying the dragon which is featured on gold sovereigns. He designed it during the 1800's and it is still used in coins that are struck by the mint and is even present in bullion coins that are minted by local Indian jewellers.  Pistrucci had a temper that did not allow anyone to criticize his work and that even included king goerge IV of England. He worked as a chief medalist and engraver at The Royal Mint in London. He had engraved portraits for the coinage of King George IV, the year that he became the king. The portrait was accurate, perhaps too accurate which made the king increasingly irritated. This is the coin issued right after George IV became the king. You will notice that his face is fat and doesn't look very fit. The king had no choice but to let them use the portrait to issue coins even though he did not like it.  In 1822, 2 years after the king ascending the throne, ordered Pistrucci to scrap the current portrait and create one for his liking. George IV considered himself a man of great taste in matters concerning the arts and did not take well Pistrucci's refusal to co-operate and create a portrait to his liking. The king suggested that he create a portrait created by Francis Chantrey in which he was potrayed as fit. When Pistrucci refused, the king had to bypass the chief engraver Pistrucci and asked William Wyon a junior to Pistrucci to create a portrait from Chantrey's work. Here is a coin issued with William Wyon's design where the fat 220 pound king turned fit and better to look at.  P.S : I was inspired to recreate an article that I had read a few months ago. I couldn't find it online so I had no choice but to recreate it by redoing research so I could share it with the forum. So this is not completely my idea Edited by brokencompass
07/27/2011 10:50 am
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Pillar of the Community
Czech Republic
803 Posts |
Great story! I can see why George felt Pistrucci's design was not one of the most flattering ones.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
570 Posts |
At least Pistrucci stood his ground. I'm sure many people that were in his position would have changed the design. After all, George IV was king and could have just said "off with his head."
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Fascinating story! That sure takes some cajones to defy the king!
I wonder if Pistucci followed old Roman convention of portraying public servants in realistic, if unflattering light?
Edited by DVCollector
07/27/2011 12:02 am
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Valued Member
 United States
451 Posts |
@DVCollector : You may be right! Pistrucci was Italian and that's the only reason it is said he couldn't become the head of the English mint and had to be a medalist/ engraver.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
There's something else I considered. Compare Pistrucci's coin to commissioned paintings; King George IV always covers his neck, right up to his chin. Obviously, he did not like showing his neck and double-chin. It's pretty easy to understand why those two personalities clashed. |
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Moderator
 Australia
16810 Posts |
One minor correction I would make. While the term "British Empire" is loosely used to describe British colonization efforts around the world, and the coinage portraits of English kings deliberately resembled the style the Roman emperors used on their coinage, George IV never claimed the title "emperor". Britain had just come out of a long, drawn-out war against the forces of French emperor Bonaparte and the kings of Britain were in no hurry to claim that pretentious title for themselves. It wasn't until 1876 that Queen Victoria, somewhat reluctantly, accepted the title "empress", and only with respect to the Indian dominions.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
Great story and well done Benedetto to standing up to pretentiousness, even if it was the king.
Perhaps the expression should be changed to "Vanity thy name is ... George"?
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Valued Member
United States
451 Posts |
Thanks SAP for pointing it out. I corrected the post. Here's an extract from wikipedia( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor#Britain) about it. There was no set title for the king of England before 1066 and monarchs chose to style themselves as they pleased. Imperial titles were used inconsistently beginning with Athelstan in 930 and ended with the Norman conquest of England. Empress Matilda (1102--1167) is the only British monarch commonly referred to as "emperor" or "empress", but acquired her title through her marriage to Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, and had little legitimacy as Queen of England. In 1801, George III rejected the title of Emperor when offered. The only period when British monarchs held the title of Emperor in a dynastic succession started when the title Empress of India was created for Queen Victoria. The government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, conferred the additional title upon her by an Act of Parliament, reputedly to assuage the monarch's irritation at being, as a mere Queen, notionally inferior to her own daughter (Princess Victoria was the wife of the reigning German Emperor); the Indian Imperial designation was also formally justified as the expression of Britain succeeding as paramount ruler of the subcontinent the former Mughal 'Padishah of Hind', using indirect rule through hundreds of princely states formally under protection, not colonies, but accepting the British Sovereign as their suzerain. That title was relinquished by the last Kaisar-i-Hind George VI when India was granted independence on 15 August 1947. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1610 Posts |
Is the 1826 penny with the "fitter" king supposed to be a passion penny, as they call it.
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,824 |
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Posted 07/26/2011 11:55 pm
