A small but ubiquitous piece of American history will be on display this weekend at the Old Church Gallery near Shell Knob.
Tom and Nancy Rochovansky, owners of the Gallery, are hosting a special display of the original plaster casts of the 1932 design of George Washington, used for a commemorative gold coin and son to be used on a new set of quarters.
The Women Quarters Program of the U.S. Mint will feature coins that on the reverse side will celebrate notable American women who have made contributions to U.S. The program will run from 2022 through 2025 and feature such women as Maya Angelou, Dr. Sally Ride, Eleanor Roosevelt and Maria Tallchief. And, as with previous quarters, the obverse (front) of the coins will feature a likeness of George Washington. This portrait was designed by the noted sculptor Laura Gardin Fraser, who was the wife of sculptor James Earle Fraser, best known for his Buffalo/Indian Head Nickel and the famous End of the Trail Sculpture.”
This Washington design was submitted to the U.S. Mint by Laura Gardin Fraser for the re-design of the U.S. quarter, which was to mark Washington’s 200th birthday in 1932. The new quarter design ultimately went to John Flanagan, and it is his Washington portrait that we have used ever since.
However, Fraser has now received her turn as the quarter’s sculptor.
In 1999, the Mint produced a $5 gold coin to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Washington’s death. They decided to use Fraser’s 1932 submission for this coin, but they did not have any of her original sketches.
“This eventually led the Mint to my family in Connecticut,” Nancy Rochovansky said. “My parents, John and Betty, had worked for the Frasers for many years and had inherited much of their studio contents. Among these contents were the original plaster casts of this 1932 quarter design. After much negotiation, the Mint leased the plasters (obverse and reverse) from John and Betty and ultimately minted and released the $5 gold piece.”
In keeping with the Women theme of the new quarters, the Mint decided to also use Frasers’ Washington design for the Women Quarters Program.
“After all these years, it is nice to see Washington from a new perspective,” Rochovansky said. “Where Flanagan’s portrait faced left, Fraser’s faces to the right and is a little bolder looking. And at this point we should point out that conspiracy theory going around that Washington looking away from the ‘In God We Trust’ inscription as some kind of modern anti-American propaganda is patently false because we know the design is from 1932. “When we moved from Connecticut, we brought the Fraser collection with us. Some of it is in our Old Church Gallery. In honor of the new Women Quarters Program, we have decided to display the original plaster models of the quarter at the Gallery over Labor Day weekend. We would like to share (at no cost) this little piece of American history and art with our friends and neighbors around the Shell Knob and Barry County area.”
People can these artifacts at the gallery, located at 22251 Farm Road 1240 in Shell Knob. The Gallery may also be reached at 417-858-2510.
