Victor David Brenner Abraham Lincoln Portrait Relief Plaque, 1907

lot/victor david brenner abraham lincoln portrait relief plaque 1907 AhAgL8A 633313344 / For sale

lot/victor david brenner abraham lincoln portrait relief plaque 1907 AhAgL8A 633313344

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lot/victor david brenner abraham lincoln portrait relief plaque 1907 AhAgL8A 633313344

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Victor David Brenner Abraham Lincoln Portrait Relief Plaque, 1907

Victor David Brenner (Lithuanian-born American, 1871-1924). "Abraham Lincoln" bronze plaque, 1907. Signed at lower right and titled at lower center. A rectangular bronze relief plaque showing Abraham Lincoln half-length in right-facing profile. Victor David Brenner's 1907 portrait, slightly adapted, became the face of the United States one-cent coin. Few American images have been reproduced more often. Brenner modeled the hair and chin beard in lively, broken curls and gave the face a craggy, weathered gravity. The frock coat and loosely knotted tie sink into very low relief and almost melt into the softly brushed field, a technique Brenner learned from the French plaquette school in Paris. A raised ledge across the bottom reads "ABRAHAM LINCOLN" above "1809 1865", set between small stars. The artist's monogram sits above the date at lower right, and a copyright line in Brenner's name runs up the right edge. Lincoln cent collectors know three letters better than any mint mark: "VDB", stamped on the reverse of the scarce 1909 VDB and rare 1909-S VDB cents and on the obverse of every cent struck since 1918. The man behind those initials was Victor David Brenner, born Avigdor David Brenner in Siauliai, Lithuania, in 1871. He came to the United States in 1890 with the engraver's trade he had learned from his father. In New York he worked as a gem and seal engraver, studied at Cooper Union, and later trained in Paris under the medalist Oscar Roty and at the Academie Julian. Back home he joined the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society in 1894 and later taught die-cutting there. He mastered the Janvier reducing lathe and helped found the New York Numismatic Club in 1908. The 1907 Lincoln plaque and medal secured his legacy. They appeared as the centennial of Lincoln's birth approached and national nostalgia for the martyred president was strong, and casts circulated in large numbers. Brenner discussed the portrait with Theodore Roosevelt, and in January 1909 the Treasury announced in The Numismatist that the President had approved placing Lincoln's head on a popular coin. The one-cent piece was chosen, retiring the Indian Head design used since 1859. Brenner's adapted profile was paired with a reverse of two wheat ears. The new cent was released on August 2, 1909. Crowds lined up at the Treasury and the Philadelphia Mint, and enterprising children resold the coins for several times face value. It was the first circulating, non-commemorative United States coin to show a former president. The prominent "VDB" on the reverse drew complaints and was removed within weeks, then returned discreetly on the obverse in 1918. Brenner's Lincoln remains the longest-running design in United States Mint history, and a 1909 VDB cent travels on the Curiosity rover's camera calibration target on Mars. Brenner died in 1924. Avigdor David Brenner was the son of a gem engraver from Siauliai, Lithuania, which was then part of the Russian Empire. He arrived in the United States in 1890 with his father's trade and little else. He settled in the New York area and took night classes at Cooper Union. Later he studied in Paris under the medalist Oscar Roty and at the Academie Julian, and his work won awards at the Paris Exposition of 1900. Back in New York, Brenner became one of the country's leading medalists. He based his 1907 Lincoln plaque partly on a Mathew Brady photograph and partly on an unpublished portrait lent to him by Charles Eliot Norton. The plaque caught the attention of Theodore Roosevelt, who approved adapting it for the one-cent coin issued in 1909 for Lincoln's centennial. Brenner had wanted his full name on the coin, as French designers signed theirs. The Mint cut it to the initials "VDB" on the reverse. After public objection the initials were removed within weeks, and they returned in 1918 on the obverse, where they remain. The Lincoln portrait has been on the cent longer than any other design in United States Mint history. Brenner died in 1924 and is buried at Mount Judah Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens. A 1909 VDB cent is mounted on a camera calibration target aboard the Curiosity rover on Mars. Item # 205555

Estimate:£378.37

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