Assistant Mint Engraver Anthony C. Paquet was born on December 5, 1814 in Hamburg, Germany and emigrated to the United States in October 1848. The cataloger for Sotheby’s and Stack’s said that “he is believed to be the son of one Tuissaint Francois Paquet.” Paquet worked in Philadelphia and New York from 1850 to 1857, before joining the Mint staff on October 20, 1857.

The nature of his earliest work in America is unknown. He remained in the Mint’s service until 1864 and did additional contract work before and after his period of employment. He continued living in Philadelphia until his death in 1882. Paquet is most famous for the 1861 double eagles that are named for him. He also prepared a design modification for the 1859 half dime. While at the Mint, Paquet created several patterns in addition to the 1861 double eagles that he is most famous for, although most of his work was engraving dies for numerous Mint medals. He prepared the dies for the first Congressional Medal of Honor as well as Indian Peace medals for Presidents Johnson and Grant.

In Numismatic Art in America, author Cornelius Vermeule discussed Paquet’s work: “With the exception of several Mint medals, which prove his qualities as a master of incisive verism or of heroic sentiment in the early Victorian classical tradition, Paquet never had a chance to demonstrate his abilities as an official engraver. He soon left the government coining establishment for other, related work.”

Paquet has not always been given appropriate credit for his talent. Donald Taxay wrote about Paquet in The U.S. Mint and Coinage: “Paquet possessed a very modest talent, and his dies, with but one brief exception, were never adopted on the coinage. A peculiar ugliness in portraiture, stiffness in anatomy, and tall, thin lettering distinguish the work of this artist.” Perhaps it was not entirely Paquet’s fault that his work was a disappointment to some. Vermeule, whose work was published in 1971, seems to answer Taxay’s complaint: “Paquet has been criticized for having been a mediocre engraver, but study of his coins and patterns reveals he never really had an opportunity to unleash his talents on the coinage because Longacre, the Chief Engraver, did all the work himself. Patterns have suggested Paquet’s potential. Four medals can be singled out from among the limited number of existing examples that amply confirm his skill.”

The catalogers of the Dallas Bank Collection took a positive stance regarding Paquet: “There can be little doubt, that the decision to pass the task of redesigning the double eagles to Paquet was related to his impressive medallic effort.”