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Anthony C. Paquet - (1814 - 1882)
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. |
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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."
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| Publication Date: 01/11/2007 |
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