Christian Gobrecht

Christian Gobrecht
Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint
In office
December 21, 1840[1] – July 23, 1844
PresidentMartin Van Buren
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
Preceded byWilliam Kneass
Succeeded byJames Barton Longacre
Personal details
Born(1785-12-23)December 23, 1785
Hanover, Pennsylvania, United States
DiedJuly 23, 1844(1844-07-23) (aged 58)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
SpouseMary Hamilton Hewes
OccupationEngraver, inventor

Christian Gobrecht (December 23, 1785 – July 23, 1844) was the third Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1840 until his death in 1844.[2] He was responsible for designing the famous "Seated Liberty" designs, which were in turn the direct inspiration for the design of the Trade Dollar. He designed the Gobrecht Dollar, which was struck in small quantities from 1836 to 1838 and later inspired the Flying Eagle cent. He also designed the obverse sides for the Liberty head (aka Coronet Head) Quarter Eagle, Half Eagle, and Eagle gold coins, as well as the "braided hair" type Half cent and Large cent coins.

  1. ^ "Christian Gobrecht". uspatterns.com. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  2. ^ Forrer, L. (1904). "Gobrecht, Christian". Biographical Dictionary of Medallists. Vol. II. London: Spink & Son Ltd. p. 284.