Benjamin Franklin’s Contributions to American Coinage
The Founding Fathers of American Coinage
Although the creation of a new circulating medium for the United States of America was a prime concern of many individuals, the contributions of three men, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington, were of signal importance in setting the monetary as well as the visual aspects of the new issues. The strong classical education of all three, as well as their deep grounding in contemporary liberal, humanistic thought, did much to shape the resulting coinage.
Benjamin Franklin’s Contributions to American Coinage
Benjamin Franklin’s contributions to American numismatic imagery are as manifold as his achievements in other spheres of the arts and sciences. As a printer in Philadelphia, he produced banknotes for several colonies, adapting images from popular emblem books. As an active proponent of colonial autonomy and interdependence, he devised symbolic representations of the unity of the separate entities, first as a segmented snake and then as a chain. He was a member of the original committee to design the Great Seal of the United States. As American ambassador to France, he had responsibility for the design of the first medals authorized by Congress and on his own initiative undertook the issue of the Libertas Americana medal, which served as the model for the earliest issues of cents.
 Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806) (attributed to). Le Docteur Franklin couronné par la Liberté, 1778. Aquatint. |
 Gift of Edward Naumburg, Class of 1924 Augustin de Saint-Aubin (1736–1807), after Charles-Nicolas Cochin II (1715–1790). Benjamin Franklin, 1777. Stipple engraving. |
 Anne Rosalie Filleul (1752–1794) (attributed to). Benjamin Franklin, 1780. Engraved by H. T. Bligny. Paris: Bligny. Franklin’s portrait is supported by the Stoic philosopher Diogenes; the pileus (cap) rests on a spear rather than a vindicta (staff). |
 Gift of Thomas Eddy Jr., Class of 1926, and Donald S. Eddy, Class of 1937. Rare Book Division, George Simpson Eddy Collection of Benjamin Franklin. |
 Gift of Thomas Eddy Jr., Class of 1926, and Donald S. Eddy, Class of 1937. Rare Book Division, George Simpson Eddy Collection of Benjamin Franklin. Gift of Thomas Eddy Jr., Class of 1926, and Donald S. Eddy, Class of 1937. |
 The Constitutional Courant. Printed by Andrew Marvel [William Goddard]. Woodbridge, N.J., September 21, 1765. Though issued in the form of a newspaper, this single number of the Courant was in fact a political manifesto in opposition to the Stamp Act. The image of the snake, segmented with the initials of the colonies, is derived from a 1754 cartoon credited to Benjamin Franklin. |
 Bequest of Charles A. Cass, Class of 1902 Henry Phillips (1838–1895). Historical Sketches of the Paper Currency of the American Colonies. Second Series. Roxbury, Mass.: W. E. Woodward, 1865. The sketches and mottoes for these notes, which would also be used on coinage of the Confederation period, were first drawn by Benjamin Franklin in 1775 on the back of a draft of trade resolutions. The banknotes were printed by Hall and Sellers, the Philadelphia printing firm founded by Franklin, using cuts of the motifs engraved by Elisha Gallaudet (ca. 1730–1779). The image of the sundial with the sun proclaiming “I flee” and the admonition “Mind your Business” is more related to business precepts than government, and the reverse chain of interconnected colonies builds on traditions of Native American imagery of the “Covenant Chain.” Author’s copy presented to Isaac Green, April 17, 1890, with banknotes inserted into interleaved sheets. Continental Congress: paper one-third dollar (3), one-sixth dollar (3), two-thirds dollar, one-half dollar, all February 17, 1776. |
 Joachim Camerarius (1534–1598). Symbolorvm et emblematvm. Nuremberg: J. Hofmann and H. Camoxii, 1590. Emblem books were very popular sources of symbolic imagery based on plants and animals. |
 Gift of Dickson Q. Brown, Class of 1895. Thomas Rowlandson (1756/7–1827). The Infant Hercules, 1784. London: William Humphrey. The mythological scene of the infant Hercules strangling the two snakes was employed by Benjamin Franklin in this period to symbolize the American victory over two British armies on his Libertas Americana medal. |
 Augustin Dupré (1748–1833). Benj. Franklin, natus Boston. Bronze medal, 1786. One year after Franklin had returned to America, this medal was struck in France, apparently at the initiative of the engraver Dupré, who had been commissioned by Franklin to produce the Libertas Americana medal and medals authorized by Congress for war heroes. The year 1786 marked Franklin’s eightieth birthday. |
Case Group 2A
 Gift of Arthur C. Holden, Class of 1912 |
 Gift of Arthur C. Holden, Class of 1912 |
 Gift of Arthur C. Holden, Class of 1912 |
