OCTOBER 27
1981•Elizabeth Jones Becomes First Woman Chief Sculptor-Engraver
2011•American Eagle 25th Anniversary Set
Elizabeth Jones Becomes the First Woman Chief Sculptor-Engraver of the United States Mint
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On October 27, 1981, Elizabeth Jones was sworn in at the Philadelphia Mint as Chief Sculptor-Engraver of the United States Mint. Chosen by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the Senate, Jones became only the eleventh person to hold the historic office—and the first woman ever appointed to the position.
Her arrival came at a turning point in modern American coinage. The traditional U.S. commemorative coin program had been dormant for decades. Within months, Jones would design the 1982 George Washington half dollar, the coin that revived modern United States commemorative coinage.
During the rest of the decade she would design some of the era’s best-known commemorative coins and oversee the Mint’s engraving staff through the launch of the American Eagle bullion program.
A Historic Ceremony in Philadelphia
The swearing-in took place at the United States Mint in Philadelphia.
Mint Director Donna Pope administered the oath.
The ceremony brought together several important figures in American monetary and numismatic history, including Treasurer of the United States Bay Buchanan, former Mint Director Eva Adams, Philadelphia Mint Superintendent Anthony Murray, and Smithsonian numismatic curators Vladimir and Elvira Clain-Stefanelli.
Family, friends, Mint officials, and members of the numismatic community also attended.
President Ronald Reagan submitted Elizabeth Jones’ nomination to the Senate on July 24, 1981.
She was nominated to succeed Frank Gasparro, the longtime Chief Sculptor-Engraver whose work included the reverse of the Kennedy half dollar and both sides of the Eisenhower and Susan B. Anthony dollars.
The Senate confirmed Jones on September 28.
Her formal swearing-in followed on October 27.
The Eleventh Person to Hold the Office
The office Jones entered stretched back to the opening years of the federal Mint.
The first Chief Engraver, Robert Scot, was appointed in 1793.
Over the next two centuries, the Mint’s chief engravers shaped some of the most familiar images in American numismatics.
Among Jones’ predecessors were William Kneass, Christian Gobrecht, James B. Longacre, Charles E. Barber, John R. Sinnock, Gilroy Roberts, and Frank Gasparro.
Jones became the eleventh holder of that tradition.
More remarkable was what had never happened before.
No woman had served as Chief Sculptor-Engraver of the United States Mint.
Women had contributed to American medallic and coin design before 1981, and several had created important designs, but the Mint’s highest artistic post had remained exclusively male.
Jones broke that barrier.
The Mint’s October 27 press release described the position as responsible for providing designs for new coin and medal issues and overseeing technical aspects of minting involving dies and design.
The job therefore combined art with industrial production.
A successful design had to be visually compelling, suitable for low-relief metalwork, manufacturable in large quantities, and compatible with the mechanical requirements of modern coinage.
Coin design is unusually demanding because the final artwork must survive translation into dies and then repeated striking under enormous pressure.
Fine lines can disappear.
Relief that looks beautiful in a large model may be too high for practical production.
Lettering must remain legible after wear.
The Chief Sculptor-Engraver had to understand not only sculpture but how sculpture behaved inside a high-speed manufacturing system.
Twenty Years in Rome
Jones arrived with an unusual artistic background.
A native of Montclair, New Jersey, she had spent roughly twenty years living, studying, and working in Rome.
Italy offered direct exposure to a deep tradition of sculpture, medals, coins, architecture, and classical art.
Her career developed within a European medallic culture that treated the medal as an independent form of sculpture rather than merely a commemorative souvenir.
Jones had established herself as a medalist before joining the Mint.
Medals allow artists to work with portraiture, symbolism, lettering, and shallow relief—the same vocabulary required for coinage.
The Mint described her style as “free and fresh.”
That background made her a logical candidate for an institution preparing to reenter commemorative coinage after a long absence.
Classic U.S. commemorative coins had flourished from the 1890s through the first half of the twentieth century.
Many programs, however, became controversial because of excessive issues, complicated distribution arrangements, and speculative marketing.
By the 1950s, Congress had effectively brought the old commemorative era to an end.
For nearly three decades, no new traditional U.S. commemorative coin appeared.
On December 23, 1981—less than two months after Jones’ swearing-in—legislation authorized a silver half dollar commemorating the 250th anniversary of George Washington’s birth.
The 1982 George Washington half dollar became the first United States commemorative coin issued since the 1950s.
Elizabeth Jones designed it.
Her first months as Chief Sculptor-Engraver therefore coincided almost perfectly with the birth of the modern commemorative era.
The obverse features George Washington on horseback.
The reverse depicts Mount Vernon.
The coin was struck in 90 percent silver, reviving a precious-metal composition that had disappeared from circulating half dollars years earlier.
Collectors responded enthusiastically.
The program demonstrated that modern commemorative coins could raise funds for public purposes while attracting a large numismatic audience.
A New Era Begins
The success of the Washington half dollar opened the door to additional commemorative programs.
Congress soon authorized coins for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Then came the Statue of Liberty centennial, the 1988 Seoul Olympic participation coins, and other programs.
Jones’ tenure therefore overlapped one of the most important structural changes in late-twentieth-century U.S. numismatics.
Jones designed the 1983 Olympic silver dollar.
The obverse depicts a traditional Greek discus thrower, connecting the modern Olympic Games to their ancient origins.
The coin was part of the Los Angeles Olympic commemorative program.
Its design showed Jones’ comfort with classical imagery—an artistic language strengthened by her years in Rome.
One of Jones’ most recognizable designs appeared on the 1986 Statue of Liberty $5 gold commemorative.
The obverse presents a close view of Liberty’s face and crown.
The reverse shows an eagle in flight.
The coin commemorated the centennial of the Statue of Liberty and helped raise funds for restoration work associated with Liberty and Ellis Island.
The subject was especially suited to a sculptor who had spent much of her adult life abroad before returning to the United States.
Liberty’s face fills much of the gold coin, giving the design an immediacy different from distant architectural representations.
The issue became one of the defining commemorative coins of the 1980s.
The 1988 Olympic Gold Five-Dollar Coin
Jones also designed the obverse of the 1988 Olympic $5 gold coin.
The design features Nike, the classical goddess of victory.
Once again, classical imagery entered a modern American commemorative coin.
The work reflected Jones’ ability to draw from ancient artistic traditions while producing a design intended for contemporary minting technology.
The United States Mint credits Jones with receiving international Coin of the Year recognition for her commemorative designs during the 1980s.
Her work helped establish the artistic identity of the revived commemorative program.
That was important because the Mint was not merely restarting an old product category.
It was redefining what modern American commemorative coinage would look like.
Jones’ work at the Mint extended beyond legal-tender coins.
The engraving staff creates presidential medals, Treasury medals, Congressional medals, and other official pieces.
Her medallic background was directly applicable.
Among the projects associated with her tenure was the official presidential medal for Ronald Reagan.
Such work continued the Mint’s long role as a national producer of sculptural portraits and official honors.
Another enormous change arrived in 1986.
The United States launched American Eagle gold and silver bullion coins.
The program would eventually become one of the world’s most important government bullion-coin series.
Jones did not design the famous historical obverses, but she led the engraving department during the program’s introduction.
The American Gold Eagle revived Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ celebrated Liberty from the early twentieth-century double eagle.
The American Silver Eagle revived Adolph A. Weinman’s Walking Liberty from the half dollar of 1916–1947.
John Mercanti designed the original Silver Eagle reverse.
The program demonstrated another trend of the era: combining classic American coin art with modern bullion products.
West Point Becomes a Mint
Jones’ tenure also encompassed the elevation of the West Point facility to full branch-mint status in 1988.
West Point had long produced coins and stored bullion, but official mint status expanded its institutional identity.
It became especially important for precious-metal and collector coinage.
Today the W mint mark is inseparable from American Eagles and many modern numismatic issues.
Jones remained Chief Sculptor-Engraver through 1990.
Her period in office covered a decade of transition: the return of commemoratives, growth of collector-oriented products, introduction of American Eagles, and expanding use of multiple Mint facilities for specialized coinage.
She left a department substantially different from the one she had entered in 1981.
Jones did not stop designing medals and coins after leaving federal service.
She continued working as a sculptor and medalist.
In 2001, she returned to U.S. commemorative coinage as the designer of both sides of the Capitol Visitor Center $5 gold coin.
The project demonstrated that her relationship with American coin design extended well beyond her official Mint tenure.
The 2001 gold coin’s obverse features a Corinthian column capital, while the reverse depicts the U.S. Capitol as it appeared around 1800.
It is a very different design from her portrait-centered Statue of Liberty gold piece.
The coin shows the range of her medallic vocabulary—from classical human figures to architecture and symbolic detail.
Jones was not the first woman to create artwork for American coinage.
Artists such as Laura Gardin Fraser had already made major contributions.
Fraser designed commemorative coins and medals and famously created the Washington portrait eventually adopted for the American Women Quarters Program.
What made Jones’ 1981 appointment unprecedented was institutional authority: she became the first woman to lead the Mint’s sculpting and engraving function.
The Significance Goes Beyond a “First”
Historical milestones can sometimes reduce people to the barrier they broke.
Jones’ importance is broader.
She entered the position with an established medallic career, produced significant coin designs, and helped guide the engraving department during a decade of major programmatic change.
Her appointment mattered because she was the first woman.
Her tenure mattered because of what happened after she arrived.
Jones’ career sits at an interesting junction.
Her training was rooted in traditional sculpture and medallic art.
Yet she worked during a period when Mint technology, marketing, and collector programs were becoming increasingly modern.
Her commemoratives drew on classical forms while being sold through contemporary national programs.
She bridged the older sculptor-engraver tradition and the emerging modern Mint.
October 27, 1981 marks a genuine institutional milestone in United States Mint history.
At the Philadelphia Mint, Director Donna Pope swore Elizabeth Jones in as Chief Sculptor-Engraver.
She was the eleventh person to hold the office and the first woman.
Within months, she would design the George Washington silver half dollar that revived U.S. commemorative coinage after a long hiatus.
Over the decade that followed, her designs would include Olympic and Statue of Liberty commemoratives while the engraving department she led navigated the launch of American Eagle bullion coins and a rapidly changing collector market.
The October 27 ceremony was therefore more than a personnel change. It placed a new artist at the head of the Mint just as modern American numismatics was entering a new era.
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