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UMISMATIC

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#8

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2005

A Num

ism

atic Adventure

in Northwest Arkansas

Voigt was a trained metal-

smith who even learned to

be a competent engraver

of coinage dies; his work

remains today in the form

of 1793 Chain cents and

other numismatic desid-

erata. Christian Gobrecht,

a watchmaker, and James

B. Longacre, a portrait

engraver, were technical

artists long before they produced endur-

ing numismatic art that we collect today.

And they’re just some examples from the

first U.S. Mint—Leonardo da Vinci spent

time and effort designing a better coinage

press, Isaac Newton was a mintmaster,

and Ben Franklin produced the greatest

advance in anti-counterfeiting devices

that paper money had ever seen.

When I traveled to northwest Arkan-

sas, home of Wal-Mart and Tyson Foods

but seemingly little else, it was part of a

quest to remember those great technical

artists and create a viable memorial to

their work and the technology that made

the coins and paper money we col-

lect today. The Gallery Mint was

the brainchild of Ron Landis and

Joe Rust, a couple of creative and

musical guys who became friends

and toured Renaissance Festivals

to show off the ancient minting

methods that most people (even

numismatists) had never actually

seen demonstrated. Joe was the

mechanick, building presses and

innovating technologies, and Ron’s

skill was in fine arts, creating designs

and engraving steel dies with little

more than magnification and a hand-held graver. Well

over a decade ago, they decided to create a permanent

home for what they did, choosing the bucolic artists’

colony of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, to be the home

to the Gallery Mint.

The fact that most of you who read

this have heard of the Gallery Mint

is indication enough of their success.

Using old techniques, vintage equip-

ment, a lot of hard work and more than

a little ingenuity, they’ve produced

picture-perfect collec-

tor reproductions of

everything from Athe-

nian tetradrachms to

1794 silver dollars (care-

fully noting each to be

a COPY, as not to de-

ceive and to conform to

regulations). The coins

they produce are just

by-products rather than

the goal, just the happy

ending to an effort to

Ron Landis (left)

and Tim Grat of

the Gallery Mint

prepare to hand

strike a blank in the

ancient hammer

and anvil method.

A box full of coining dies and

hubs. The orange epoxy-like

material on many of them is a

protective covering against rust

and damage.

A variety of dies the Gallery

Mint has used in their faithful

reproductions of early U.S. coins.

Tim Grat throws the wheel on a

screw press and strikes a 1787 Fugio

cent reproduction in the process,

while Bob Julian (one of America’s

great numismatic treasures, and the

first person we turn to with questions

about the early Mint) looks on. Board member John Nebel (left) examines a large

screw press, while Tim Grat explains why presses

this size were usually sunk in the ground—the

weights will hit a standing minter in the head if he

is caught unaware for even a moment.

Researcher Bob Julian

carefully examines the

coining mechanism of a

screw press.

Dies! Lots of dies!

A working model of a four-

part collar, much like the one

used to imbue edge lettering on

a MCMVII High Relief $20.