Frank Gasparro holding the Flowing Hair Liberty Plaster Photograph, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 1977
date: label: date made
content: ca 1977
name: label: depicted (sitter)
content: Gasparro, Frank
label: original artist
content: Gasparro, Frank
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: The collection: The Art of Frank Gasparro offers a rare opportunity to follow the process of a twentieth century commercial artist as he developed coin designs from rough sketches to fine plaster models, to the coins that jingle in our pockets daily. Frank Gasparro was the tenth United States Mint Chief Engraver; perhaps most recognized for his design of the Lincoln Memorial on the reverse side of the cent that replaced the previous design, two ears of wheat. Douglas Martin of The New York Times quoted Christina Hansen (Gasparro’s daughter) in Gasparro’s obituary, “Frank Gasparro, 92, of Mint; Art Is on 100 Billion Pennies," October 3, 2001, “…he originally aspired to make sculptures like those of Rodin and Michelangelo, but came to take pride in his billions of lowly pennies. He was known to show cashiers the reverse side of a penny and announce that he had designed it.”
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: Subject
content: Art - Currency
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
label: See more items in
content: Coins, Currency and Medals
label: See more items in
content: Art of Gasparro
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Christina Gasparro Hansen
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2009.0005.024
label: catalog number
content: 2009.0005.024
label: accession number
content: 2009.0005
objectType: label: Object Name
content: photograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 18.2 cm x 12.8 cm; 7 3/16 in x 5 1/16 in