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DUNSMORE, John Ward  (1856-1945) painter, illustrator.
          Born Riley, Butler County, Ohio 1856.

          In 1914 Frank Stewart (who had just purchased the First Mint Building in Philadelphia) 
          commissioned Dunsmore to paint an imagined scene from the First U.S. Mint of Martha 
          and George Washington inspecting the first coins struck at the Mint. The popular legend, 
          which may be apocryphal, states that the Washingtons furnished household silverware to 
          supply metal for striking the first coins, silver half dismes (Breen 1362).

          Died Dover, New Jersey, 1945.

          R  E  P  L  I  C  A  S    &    R  E  I  S  S  U  E  S

1965 United States Assay Commission Medal (obv Lyndon B.
          Johnson portrait, rev scene first coins struck at U.S.
          Mint from Dunsmore's painting; both sides modeled by
          Frank Gasparro). . . . .  Rochette J-65-6, Julian AC-109
          Auctions:. . . . . .  BMP 2:5096; PCA 64:584, PCA 70:618
          Illustrated: P4 {1969} TAMS Journal (June 1969) p . . 71
          Illustrated: S21 (1967) Rochette (medals of LBJ) p. . 89
1971 Washington Inspecting the First Coinage Medal (obv
          after Houdon's bust of Washington; rev after John
          Dunsmore's 1914 painting; both sides modeled by
          Frank Gasparro). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  List 705

          B I O G R A P I C A L  R E F E R E N C E S

N8   {1924} Stewart, p 20.
D33 {1986} Opitz, p 2
AE2 {1990} Falk, Art Institute of Chicago, p 292.
BF2 {1999} Falk. Who Was Who in American Art, p 1:984.
D3a {2006} Benezit.Dictionary of Artists, p 4:1355.

          N U M I S M A T I C   R E F E R E N C E S

S65 {1965} Rochette J-65-6.
S21 (1967) Rochette (medals of LBJ) p 89.
M25 {1969} United States Mint, List 705, p 281.
O12 {1988} Breen, 1362, p 156.
S51 {1989} Julian and Keusch AC-109, p 76.
"There has been no scholar better qualified to create 'the American Forrer' than Dick Johnson."
-Cornelius C. Vermule III, Curator Emeritus
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Torrington, CT ✹ 860-482-1103
dj@dickjohnsonsdatabank.com
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