Guess Where Hermon MacNeil Keep his Award Medals?
ByThe previous post of June 30 told of the
RE-APPEARANCE of Hermon MacNeil’s 0wn
“Personal 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter” in 2022
While that re-appearance may have surprised the numismatic community,…
to this researcher of MacNeil’s life the disappearance of that original specimen was no surprise .
In 1907 Jean Stansbury Holden wrote an article on “The Sculptors MacNeil.” I discovered her article a dozen years ago when I started www.hermonatkinsmacneil.com/ .
Postcard of MacNeil studio in College Point. From the webmaster’s collection.
Jean Holden traveled to the College Point home and studio of the MacNeils. She interviewed Hermon and Carol MacNeil as sources for her piece.
Among the many observations, she exposed Hermon’s habit of “squirreling away” his award medals in a studio drawer.
When keeps his medals from: Chicago Exposition – 1893; Paris Exposition – 1900; Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, NY – 1901; Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St Louis – 1904; and numerous others …
IN DRAWERS in his studio, and rubs then off some of the tarnish before showing them TRULY without Pretension or POMP.
SO … what is the likelihood that his “Personal 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter” spent 30+ years — probably in that same drawer with those many other award medals?
She captured his unassuming nature as …
a boyish, slender, medium height, with large eyes that meet you with a twinkle …a serious sculptor when working …without pretense of his accomplishments …
“It is said that one morning when the Alban Hills showed white a-top, he stripped off his student blouse, hurried to the summit of the highest hill, filled his lungs with cold air, rolled a snowball, then returned with renewed enthusiasm to dusty Rome and the study of the past.” P-9409
Unpretentious…
Unassuming …
without pomp or guile …
What you see is what you get …
The genuine article …
A real human being …
All are qualities beyond any
Medal of Award!
SOURCES:
- Holden, Jean Stansbury (October 1907). “The Sculptors MacNeil“. The World’s Work: A History of Our Time XIV: 9403–9419.
