May

Standing Liberty Quarter – Jay H. Cline’s Life-long Love

Hermon MacNeil's Standing Liberty Quarter was one of the first US Coins designed by an sculptor.

J. H. Cline’s 45 year admiration of Hermon A. MacNeil’s Liberty Standing sculpture is documented in his carefully crafted volume “Standing Liberty Quarters.” The book tells the story of this Liberty Coin from the standpoint of the sculptor, the author and nearly a century of numismatic following. Mr. Cline offers his boyhood fascination (which seems to have never left him) in the first chapter in delightful narrative. Cline goes on to tell in the additional chapters of 2) the Smithsonian’s prized collection of MacNeil’s coin; 3) Hermon A. MacNeil — a brief bio of the artist with photos not seen elsewhere; 4) Government bureaucracy — the story and MacNeil’s correspondence (over 40 pages of actual letters included) with the Treasury and Mint officials concerning the ‘exposed’ breast and 100’s of other ‘details’; 5) the two models whose images were combined for the sculpture; 6) Errors in minted coins, 7) Connisseur section for serious collectors; 8) Year and Mintmark analysis, 9) Grading Criteria mostly developed by Cline over the years; 10) Value Analysis 1979-2006.

Definitive discussion from a lifetime perspective comes off the pages. We welcome the work of J. H Cline as an author, numismatist, and MacNeil enthusiast.

Here’s a link to J H Cline’s Book at his website: http://www.slqs.com/