| 2002
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Subjects
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Page
Index
Links
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Link:
Treasures From The Past
Link:
[ Augustin Dupré Medal Sought! ]
Link:
The Two Decades Before Gallery Mint Museum
Link:
[ Variations On A Theme ]
Link:
1996 Gallery Mint TAMS Article Found
Link:
1915 Panama-Pacific Inspiration
Link:
Another Miracle From Joe's Workshop
Link:
Dragon Blood In Con$ept Family Tree
Link:
[ Another Nickel Carver's Silver Signature Round ]
Link:
Skulls And Steam Engines
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Enlargement scans available on WWW and ScrapBook CD-ROM.
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| 10/27
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Click for
Enlargement on CD-ROM
1995 Landis Carving #111
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Treasures From The Past
David Schenkman just shared one of his personal treasures with us as shown
above. To my eye this Banjo player is quite clearly a self-portrait by Ron
Landis. Y'all have no idea how long I have been looking for even a scan of
a Landis self-portrait carving. WOW! Thanks for your generosity Dave.
Perhaps others will follow your example as this really is a wonderful
addition to our ScrapBook project.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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Augustin Dupré Medal Sought!
All right... all right... so I probably couldn't afford a Libertas
Americana medal even if I managed to find one. A guy can dream
can't he? Maybe we can talk Ron into making up a few for us! Last
year at this precise time, right down to the very day, I was looking
for a Frank Gasparro medal and I found it... "them" actually.
Link:Frank Gasparro Medal Sought!
Of course, this COOL medal is a couple hundred years older than the
Gasparro creations so it could be a "bit" more difficult. ;-)
The American concept of Liberty hearkened back
to classical imagery of an allegorical figure of the Greeks and Romans.
This Libertas was invariably represented as holding a workman's cap,
the pileus, which symbolized freedom from slavery. But American freedom
was more than this; it meant "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,"
and was often epitomized by a portrayal as a child of nature, such as
the a beautiful, unkempt young woman first envisioned on the medal of
the Frenchman Augustin Dupré.
Link:Selections
from "Drachmas, Doubloons, and Dollars: The History of Money" -
Adapted from the exhibition materials by Sebastian Heath, Robert Hoge,
and Jennifer Mazurkie - (C)2002 The American Numismatic Society.
For those of you who may be interested in more of the history of the
Libertas Americana medal, here is some super material I captured from
The Harry W. Bass, Jr. Collection - Part I, 9 May 1999 catalogue,
Link:Lot 2084. (This COOL research is NOT mine
but was done by the firm who sold the Bass collection. I can't put my
finger on which firm that was at this moment as the mainpage for the
online catalogue is no longer posted.)
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
Clifford Bolling just pointed me to
Link:Jewels of the Bass
Collection by Cathy L. Clark, assistant editor of THE
NUMISMATIST, which says (in part):
Upon his death in 1998, the collection was willed
to the Harry Bass Jr. Research Foundation, a nonprofit charitable trust,
which retained a care collection representative of its founder's numismatic
interests and activities. (The remainder was sold in a series of four public
sales conducted by Auctions by Bowers and Merena of Wolfeboro, New
Hampshire, that generated funding for the Foundation's various charitable
programs.)
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| 10/26
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The Two Decades Before Gallery Mint Museum
Ron Landis recently attended the 30th year reunion of his 1972 high school
graduation class. (See:
LinkAbraham Lincoln High School 30th Reunion.)
So his fans all want to know what happened to Ron after his graduation
and Dave Schenkman tells us:
Ron Landis' path to his present occupation and
avocation was rather circuitous. As a musician he performed extensively
with a bluegrass band during the 1970s. Unfortunately, one can starve
playing this kind of music, so Landis gravitated towards a line of work
which involved building furniture and restoring antiques. During that
period he also built musical instruments. This led him to take a course
in jewelry, so he could learn a method of hand designing mother of pearl
inlays to decorate the instruments.
During the late 1970s Landis attended Gem City College in Quincy, Illinois,
where he studied watch making, diamond setting, and hand engraving.
Following this he apprenticed under master engraver George Bickley of
Denver, Colorado. In 1980 Landis opened a small shop in Denver, offering
all types of hand engraving; monograms, inscriptions, and ornamental
designs on such items as guns, jewelry, musical instruments, silver
flatware, belt buckles, etc. He also did contract work for many of the
jewelry shops in Denver.
Two years later Landis forsake his business to travel around the country
demonstrating the art of engraving and "coin" making at art shows and
renaissance festivals. He developed and marketed a series of souvenir
medals which were struck on an antique screw press, utilizing hand engraved
dies. Over the next several years his small demonstration grew into a
comprehensive, working exhibition of early coin making procedures. Landis
devised and engineered many of the machines utilized in the exhibit.
The exhibit came of necessity, as Landis described it in an interview
published in the May 1995 issue of COINage Magazine,
"it just started out as a way to sell
souvenir medals of the Renaissance festivals. I had been given an antique
screw press and I started demonstrating engraving and striking medals.
People started asking questions about coin making, and, well, I didn't
know, so I went to the library. Come to find out, I was using the same
style of press actually used in the 16th
century."
In 1990 Landis and his partner, machinist Joe Rust, designed and built
the "Royal Mint" at the Texas Renaissance Festival, near Houston. During
the fall of 1991 and 1992 they gave demonstrations of engraving, hammered
coining, and sixteenth century style milled coining - from raw material
to the final product - at this water wheel powered "mint." Featured in
the exhibit was a forty ton drop hammer press which was operated by the
public as a hands-on demonstration. Another demonstration was of
roller-milled coinage, during which give-away tokens were produced for
the spectators.
Typical of the medals produced by Landis for the Renaissance Festival is
a copper piece depicting Columbus's ship, the Santa Maria, crossing the
Atlantic Ocean. The date, 1992, appears in Roman numerals (MCMXCII).
Queen Isabella's family crest and the shield of Spain appear on the
reverse, along with the inscription TEXAS RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL CELEBRATING
THE DISCOVERY 1492-1992. An interesting feature of the medal is the
lettered edge which reads STRUCK ON THE KING'S COIN
HAMMER." - The Gallery Mint and the
Genius of Ron Landis" - by David E. Schenkman - TAMS Journal, Vol.36
No.2, April 1996.
Not only did I find the tracing of Ron's professional development
particularly interesting but I am pleased to see information about the
King's Coin Hammer included in Dave's article. Hope you enjoy it
as much as I do! We visited the King's Coin Hammer previously in
LinkPay Attention To The Edges Of Ron's Medals.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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Variations On A Theme
Bill (Jameson) Zach is always full of surprises. He carved the SUPER
1913 nickel carving (above left) of the FatMan, AKA Verne, and he really
captured my countenance... even my wife could tell it was me.
Then the Muse struck Bill while he was carving Civil War soldiers and
he just had to enlist me in the Confederate Army. The first I knew that
the Press Gang was in the vicinity was when Bill sent me the in-process
scan (above center.) My only comment, that can be printed in a public
forum, is that the final carving (above right) looks entirely too happy
to be a true reflection of how I would have felt being drafted into any
army.
None-the-less I am naturally quite pleased with this wonderful pair of
Bill Zach carvings. Portrait carvings are definitely Bill's niche in the
nickel carving art form.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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| 10/25
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1996 Gallery Mint TAMS Article Found
I just won twelve back issues of the TAMS Journal for years 1995 and 1996
on eBay. Among them I found a copy of TAMS Journal, Vol.36 No.2, April 1996
with a wonderful nine page article entitled "The Gallery Mint and the
Genius of Ron Landis" - by David E. Schenkman. Mr. Schenkman and
the other great folks at TAMS have given me permission to excerpt portions
of this article for your information and enjoyment. There are a number of
Ron's earlier creations covered. I am very pleased to find so much
information from the beginning of GMM's history.
Speaking of Ron's earlier creations... it was in this superb article
that I found Ron's 1995 Eagle carved nickel, #114, which allowed me to
correct/expand my previous
LinkDragon Blood In Con$ept Family Tree
ScrapBook subject below on this webpage.
I have captured all the article pages with my scanner but this creates HUGE
graphics files so they will be available ONLY on the CD-ROM version of the
GMM ScrapBook...
LinksCover pages
44,
45,
46,
47,
48,
49,
50,
51 or
52.
This isn't helpful to 99% of the ScrapBook's readers because I have only
had demand for a very limited number of CD-ROMs and I expect this trend to
continue for the foreseeable future. So... I will extract interesting portions
of David's superb article to build a few SBsubjects as time permits.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
Postscript: I am using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as my Browser.
When I click on the full page graphic file links for the CD-ROM, that I just
provided above, my Browser "helps" me by reducing the size of the display to
fit on my screen. This makes the text unreadable and voids the whole purpose
of storing such HUGE graphics files in the first place. BUT... if I point to
the reduced size display with my mouse an odd little button pops up on the
lower right of the display and I can click on that button to see the graphics
file in its original full size. Hope this works the same for you!
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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| 10/24
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( These images NOT shown to scale. )
Minerva - by Ron Landis
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1915 Panama-Pacific Inspiration
I have always admired Ron Landis' Minerva medal and token creations
and have visited them in a number of previous ScrapBook subjects;
LinkANA Convention, Exhibitor And Seminar Medals,
Link1999 ANA Chicago Medals,
LinkToo Massive For The Technology and
LinkGMM ANA Exhibition Medal Set Completed!
Naturally I am also definitely impressed with the two $50 Panama-Pacific
gold slugs which were Ron's inspiration when he created his Minerva dies.
When I saw this commemorative set being offered for sale I just wanted
to share it with all y'all. Obviously I'll never own these gold pieces
since they are priced in the general range of my house's value but I get
to enjoy Ron's Minerva creations for considerably less than that amount.
For those of you who might be interested in learning more about the
1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition I suggest you visit the
Museum of the City of San Francisco's
LinkSan
Francisco -- Fairs-Expositions
which provides six links to various 1915 Panama-Pacific related websites.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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| 10/23
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Another Miracle From Joe's Workshop
Ron just sent me a photograph of his Denver Mint coining press in it's
current stage of refurbishment. We watched Joe start with
LinkA Pantograph For The Guys? and
end up with the
LinkReducing Machine On The
Road To Restoration so we are NOT surprised to see this wonderful
coining press come out of his workshop. I don't have any "before" pictures
of this press but I saw it right after TheGuys purchased it and you
wouldn't believe what it looked like before Joe worked his magic. This
press will be a fantastic addition to the future GMM museum building.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
I can't provide much info on the Denver press. They've since destroyed
the old files from that period, but a few researchers have mentioned this
information is still stored somewhere. Possibly the national archive. I
have a feeling it was used around the forties and fifties to make quarters
and/or half dollars. I have a book on Ferracute, but it doesn't go into
enough detail to find anything.
One thing I can say for certain about the press is that it's a direct
descendant of the original steam powered coin presses first installed at the
U.S. Mint in 1836. Except for the base, every mechanical element is exactly
the same as the one shown on the ScrapBook home page.
( In the header on the upper right with Joe Rust standing beside it. )
The feed fingers, the feed
mechanism, the knuckle action, and other components are set up exactly like
1836 press, with one big improvement in the feed mechanism which is not
seen. It's a two-way dog that makes it so it only pushes the die up on the
back stroke. Without this dog, the bottom die goes into ejection mode just
before loading the coining chamber, which causes lots of "train wrecks", or
"snakes" (errors, errors, errors) in the automatic feed system.
Ron Landis...Thursday, October 24, 2002 11:59AM
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| 10/23
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A Ron Landis photograph.
Click for
Enlargement on CD-ROM
1994 Landis Carving #72
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Dragon Blood In Con$ept Family Tree
When I saw a nickel carving of a Rampant Dragon in Ron's personal collection
I asked him if he might consider selling it to me. He replied that it was
not for sale because it held special significance for him. It was the
precursor to his design for his Concept Dollars! Being a big fan of
both Ron's carvings and his Con$epts I was naturally quite disappointed
but I definitely understood his position... I wouldn't have sold it
either!
I've never forgotten my encounter with Ron's Dragon so, when the
opportunity arose, I asked Ron for a scan of it to share with all
of you Landis fans. It arrived just in time for my 62nd birthday
and I couldn't have asked for a nicer present. There is no cake
left but I am pleased to share this carving with all you ScrapBook
readers. Check out the COOL progression of Ron's Con$ept reverse die
designs provided for you below.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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Click for
Dragon,
Eagle,
1995,
1997,
1998,
2000 or
Design
enlargements on CD-ROM
( These images NOT shown to scale. )
Top:
1994 Dragon
1995 Eagle
1995 Con$ept
1997 HoboToken
Bottom:
1998 Con$ept
2000 Con$ept
Small$ Design Submittal
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Postscript: Mike Wallace wrote me to say that the caption on
the above photograph was really messed up. I thought perhaps my
response to him might be of interest to other ScrapBook readers:
The problem with captions wrapping on the screen is a common one.
Every user has two main things that effect the screen layout... one is
the resolution they are set at and the other is the font size they use
as default. In Microsoft Internet Explorer, if you use {View}{TextSize}
and pick among {Largest}{Larger}{Medium}{Smaller}{Smallest} you will
see how it changes things. I am running at 1024x768 and {Smaller}. I
fiddled with my settings and I am guessing you must be running at
800x600 and {Larger} or {Largest} to get the precise text alignments
you told me about. Try the {Smaller} text size unless you are vision
impaired and I think you will like it. In the meantime I'll try your
suggested change and see how it looks. I used Mike's suggestion and
it improves things tremendously. As usual... I appreciate input from
ANY ScrapBook reader on ANY subject.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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Another Nickel Carver's Silver Signature Round
This summer (pre-SunRoom) I posted the
Link:Nickel Carver's Silver Signature Rounds
showing Alfano, Adams and Kraft signature rounds. Several additional rounds
have arrived since then but Bill sent a scan along with his so you get
to see it before the others. I know Bill had difficulties carving this
wonderful creation because the silver was soft. He even purchased additional
rounds in order to complete this project for me... THANKS Bill!
While I am on the subject of Bill Zach I want to share my most recent
nickel carving acquisition from the bench of this great Kentucky carver.
Bill is one of my favorite carvers and one look at Louie `Le Chapeau',
here on the right, should make it clear why this is true.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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| 10/23
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Ron Landis photographs.
Click for
Skull or
Steam Engine
enlargement on CD-ROM
2002 Landis Carving #201
2002 Landis Carving #200
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Skulls And Steam Engines
Here are the images of my latest hobo carvings.
They belong to Carollee Allen, a member of OHNS. She as given us
permission to show the nickels on your website, and you can mention
she is the proud owner of both pieces.
Ron Landis...Monday, October 21, 2002 9:37AM
I've known for a long time that Carollee "CeeBo" Allen has a wonderful
collection of nickel carvings. These two new Landis carvings certainly
make a significant addition to her midden heap. There are other long
time Ron Landis fans out there... Gail Baker comes to mind as I write
this ...who have Ron Landis originals and we all would appreciate it
if they would share their treasures with the rest of us.
Hint Hint!!!
Thank you for your generosity and congratulations on your acquisitions
CeeBo.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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