One Man, A Wealth of Designs, One Type Set

WE ALL have our favorite coin designs, be they classic or modern, artistic and flamboyant or staid and formal. Some people like the modern portrait on our nickels or of our Sacagawea dollars. Others favor now classic designs like the Mercury dime, Standing Liberty quarters, and Walking Liberty halves. However we like to collect though, it’s a fair bet that most of us do not collect by designer or Mint engraver. And yet there is one single designer for United States coins who had an amazing output in his day, and whose coins many of us do collect today, in some way. We’re talking about Mr. James Barton Longacre, the fourth Chief Engraver of the Mint. Let’s have a look at just what he produced and consider what a Longacre type set might end up looking like.