Noted U.S. Mint Engraver and Portraitist James B. Longacre, Who Invented So Many Coin Portraits, Agrees to Provide a Copy of National Portraits to a Publisher in 1846

James Barton Longacre was a portraitist and U.S. Mint engraver, best known for designing the Indian Head cent, which entered commerce in 1859, and for the designs of the Shield nickel, Flying Eagle cent and other coins of the mid-19th century.

Autograph Letter Signed, Philadelphia, August 14, 1846, to the publishers Carey & Hart. “I can supply you with the vol. (4.) of National Ports which you request. Please send at half-past 12 o’cl. to my office No. 27 Minor St., up stairs – & say whether it is wanted bound or in numbers.”

This is a rare autograph and the first we have had from Longacre.

By 1819 Longacre had made a name for himself by providing illustrations for popular biographical books. He portrayed the leading men of his day; support from some of them, such as South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun, led to his appointment as chief engraver of the U.S. Mint in 1844. In 1856 he designed the Flying Eagle cent. When that design proved difficult to strike he was responsible for the replacement, the Indian Head cent, issued beginning in 1859. Other coins designed by Longacre include the silver and nickel three-cent pieces, the Shield nickel, the pattern Washington nickel, and the two-cent piece.