 1932 Washington Quarter Design Competition Obverse and Reverse Foundry Casts. Bronze, 206mm, integral hangers appear on the uninscribed backs. Obv. Broad cartwheel rim bears incuse LIBERTY, date 1932 and 13 stars. Washington bust faces right on a field of bold incuse rays, relief IN GOD/ WE TRUST at right. Rev. Cartwheel rim bears incuse UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, QUARTER DOLLAR with small triangular stops between each word. 13 relief stars surround a defiant eagle on a rocky cliff, E PLURIBUS/ UNUM appears in relief above. Smooth handsome Bronze patina adds to the beauty of these unpublished casts.
The Bicentennial of the birth of George Washington was celebrated in the depths of the Great Depression. The U.S. Treasury announced a competition for a new circulating commemorative Quarter to commemorate the anniversary and several artists took part. Contest rules decreed that the likeness had to be modeled on the famous Washington bust by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon, done from life when the artist visited Washington at Mount Vernon in October 1785. The sculptors were, in effect, to present a likeness of a sculptured bust. An American eagle was to appear on the reverse. No submission was to bear any signature, initials or other identification of the artist. The rejected designs were not publicized and only three others are known today.
The Commission of Fine Arts provided judges for the competition, and their choice was the design of Laura Garden Fraser, wife of Buffalo Nickel designer James Earle Fraser and co-designer with him of the Oregon Trail Half Dollar. Treasury Secretary Andrew P. Mellon vetoed the Commission's choice twice and personally decreed the winner to be the banal design by John Flanagan. It appears that Mellon was motivated by simple sexism, he would not have a woman winner. His successor Ogden Mills refused to reverse this verdict.
Fraser's design is known and in 1999 graced a commemorative Gold Half Eagle ($5.00). Until these foundry casts appeared, only two other contest designs were known. One is a plasticine displayed at Stack's and illustrated in Cornelius Vermeule's Numismatic Art in America. The other was by Bronx, N.Y. sculptor Thomas Cremona, who placed a Washington bust on a field occupied by an tall incuse-letter inscribed LIBERTY. These casts in this sale offer unexpected insights into the 1932 competition. They are a major ''find'' and are certain to draw the interest of Pattern collectors and Washington enthusiasts.
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