Re-repost: RCC Half Cent and Saint Gaudens (long w/ 36 pic links)

This post was originally made a shortly after Thanksgiving and some
may have missed it....thus the repost.

INTRODUCTION

I had planned a day trip, a drive from southern Connecticut to the
Green Mountains of Vermont, for Sunday October 17th. When I discussed
my plans with a client and friend he gave me two tourist maps....one
for Vermont and one for New Hampshire.

The night before I left I was studying both maps planning my route for
the next day's trip when I noticed one of the featured attractions on
the New Hampshire map was the Saint Gaudens National Historic Site. It
was close enough to where I would have to leave Interstate 91 to cut
over to the Green Mountains that I figured it might be worth a quick
look. I spent a half hour there on the 17th and decided it would be a
great place to take the RCC half cent so I could finally send it on to
the next host after keeping the thing for far too long....about a year
and a half (shame on me).

So the following Saturday, October 23rd, I ventured north again
planning to spend a couple of hours at the Site before cutting over to
New Hampshire's White Mountains and Mt. Washington.

THE RCC HALF CENT VISITS SAINT GAUDENS

To get to the Saint Gaudens National Historic Site most will travel
north on Interstate 91 along the Vermont side of the Connecticut River
which forms the border between Vermont and New Hampshire. You will
exit at Windor, Vermont and cross the Connecticut River to Cornish,
New Hampshire via the Windsor covered bridge:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg001.jpg

At 450 feet this is the longest two-span covered bridge in the world.
The sign above the entrance to the bridge reads "Walk Your Horses Or
Pay Two Dollar Fine".

After exiting the bridge you will turn left onto New Hampshire Route
12A and drive about 2-1/2 miles to the entrance road to the Saint
Gaudens Site. A long and winding uphill drive will take you to the
main parking area which has space for perhaps 30 cars. Just
prior to reaching the main parking area there is a field to handle
overflow parking and another sign indicates a handicap parking area
further up the drive.

After exiting your car you will stop at a ticket booth at the edge of
the parking lot where a friendly Park Service employee will take your
$5 admission fee, offer you brochures, a pass for the scheduled guided
tours and explain the main features of the site. The admission fee is
only for persons over 16 and the receipt is good for 7 days so
I got two stops for the price of one.

Walking across the drive towards the house you will first encounter
the sign announcing your arrival at the site. The RCC half cent
decided to stop here for it's first pictu

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg002.jpg

After snapping this picture I quickly headed for the visitor's center
and it's restrooms to answer nature's call (actually she was
screaming). The visitor's center is manned by more friendly Park
Service employees and contains a gift shop....which I skipped.

Leaving the visitor's center I headed back for the main house:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg003.jpg

The house was originally built in 1800 as an Inn and known locally as
Huggin's Folly. After first renting the house for a time, Saint
Gaudens purchased it as a summer home in 1885 and renamed it Aspet in
honor of his father's birthplace in France. The large thornless honey
locust in front of the house was planted by Saint Gaudens in 1886 and
is now 110 feet tall.

To the left of the picture of the house (in the background) you can
see a portion of the Little Studio:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg004.jpg

This studio was converted from a barn and was where Saint Gaudens
worked. His assistants worked in a much larger studio that was
destroyed by fire, rebuilt and destroyed by fire once again in 1944.
In order to view the inside of this building you must take one
of the guided tours. One of these tours was scheduled to start only
minutes after I left. I wish I had stuck around a little longer as I
later learned it contains more of his works, including a half size
version of his Diana sculpture. The tour also gets you
into the house which still contains it's original furnishings.

At the rear of the house is the formal garden:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg005.jpg

From the garden you can view Mt. Ascutney across the Connecticut River
in Vermont:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg006.jpg

To the left of the garden (when facing the rear of the house) is a
small statue of Hermes:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg007.jpg

While the nudity caused the half cent to blush, it still asked to be
photographed with Hermes:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg008.jpg

A bit flushed, the half cent then decided to rest on this bench at the
rear of the garden. The bench is embellished with twin plaster busts
quite similar to the Liberty that adorns the Saint Gaudens cent (more
on that later):

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg009.jpg

To the right of the garden, next to the Little Studio, is the Pan
Fountain. While the half cent agreed to pose for a pic, it was a bit
nervous at being so close to the water when it saw the coins that had
been tossed into the fountain by other visitors:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg010.jpg

Next we headed towards the galleries and stopped for the half cent to
pose at the foot of the copy of the Farragut monument. The original,
Saint Gaudens' first major public commission, is in New York City.
However, the base shown in this picture is the original sandstone
base. The New York statue now sits on a granite replica installed in
1934 after the original began to deteriorate. This pic was taken with
a 16mm full-frame fisheye lens (resulting in the curved steps). The
lens has a 180 degree field of view and incredible depth of field...I
was only a couple of feet from the lower step when I took the pic. I
have to be cautious when using this lens as a slight tilt downward
will result in my feet entering the pictu

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg011.jpg

To the left of the Farragut monument enclosure is the Picture Gallery.
This gallery houses works by various artists. I took a quick look
inside and saw small modern sculptures that didn't interest me much so
I moved on (time was precious). However, I did stop long
enough to take a pic of the half cent with this bronze plaque for
Henry W. Maxwell next to the entrance to the Picture Gallery:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg012.jpg

Between the Pciture Gallery and my ultimate destination, the New
Glallery, is an atrium. The walkways at the sides of the atrium
feature various busts and bas relief pieces. In the center of the
atrium is a reflecting pool complete with spitting guilded frog.
At the far end of the atrium is a guilded bronze version of Saint
Gaudens' Amor Caritas. Here is a pic taken with the full-frame fisheye
lens:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg013.jpg

The half cent thought this would be a good place for another pic so I
placed him in the crook of the tree branch visible in the wide shot.
This was also taken with the full-frame fisheye lens:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg014.jpg

Here is a closer view of the same pic. I cropped into the center of
the slide and scanned at a higher resolution:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg015.jpg

Next we entered the New Gallery. Here is an interior shot also taken
with the fisheye lens:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg016.jpg

At the left of this pic is a plaster copy of the moument Saint Gaudens
did honoring Robert Louis Stevenson. I couldn't get a heads-on pic of
this piece due to the display case in the middle of the floor. At the
far end of the room is a copy of The Puritan, Saint Gaudens also did
another piece titled The Pilgrim which was a variation of this
sculpture. The next pic shows the half cent at the foot of The
Puritan:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg024.jpg

Just to my left when I took the wide shot of the gallery is a bust of
William Tecumseh Sherman. Saint Gaudens also did a large piece
featuring Sherman on horseback behind a winged Victory that resides at
the 59th Street entrance to Central Park in New York. Here is the half
cent with the bust:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg026.jpg

Directly behind me in the wide shot was a small model of Saint
Gaudens' second version of Diana. The original was intended to be a
weathervane atop Madison Square Garden. The next pic shows the half
cent with the model:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg025.jpg

THE PLASTERS

The items in the New Gallery of most interest to coin colectors are
contained in display cases visible on the right side of the wide
shot....the original plasters for the coins designed by Saint Gaudens.
But first a word about the pictures of these plasters. These pictures
wre taken in available light and hand held with relatively slow film.
As such I was shooting at slow shutter speeds with the lens apertures
wide open resulting in very little depth of field...especially in
those shots taken with my 50mm f/1.4 lens. As a result in
some of the shots the half cent will be out of focus.

Here is the half cent with the plaster for the $20 Gold piece obverse:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg017.jpg

Here is the half cent with the plaster for the $20 Gold piece reverse:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg018.jpg

Here is the half cent with the plaster for the $10 Gold piece obverse:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg019.jpg

Here is the half cent with the plaster for the $10 Gold piece reverse:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg020.jpg

Apparently, St. Gaudens considered using the $10 reverse on the $20
gold piece as well (the half cent was AWOL for this picture):

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg021.jpg

Not all collectors are aware that Saint Gaudens also designed a one
cent piece. We can probably blame Abe Lincoln for the fact that these
were never produced. Here is the half cent with the plaster for the
one cent obverse (nice Liberty):

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg022.jpg

And here is the one cent reverse with the half cent AWOL once again:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg023.jpg

Also exhibited are actual examples of the $10 and $20 gold pieces as
well as the Buffalo nickel, the Mercury dime and the Walking Liberty
half dollar. The reason these coins are exhibited is that the coins'
designers, James Earle Fraser and Adolph Weinman both
worked as assistants to Saint Gaudens.

FINISHING THE TOUR OF THE NEW GALLERY

A side door in the New Gallery leads you outside to a bust of Abraham
Lincoln. Saint Gaudens also did two large monuments of Lincoln....one
a seated Lincoln and the other a standing Lincoln. Here is a full shot
of the bust on it's pedestal:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg027.jpg

And here's a close-up with the half cent:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg028.jpg

Also out of view, to my left, when I took the wide shot of the gallery
interior was this display case containing sketches and models used in
the design of the Shaw Memorial:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg029.jpg

This memorial was commisiioned by the family of Robert Gould Shaw,
chosen by the Massachusetts Governor to command the first African
American regiment raised in the north during the Civil War. Saint
Gaudens' first sketches for an equestrian statue were rejected by the
Shaw family as a treatment too grand for a colonel. He then decided to
depict Shaw with his men; these soldiers assumed a greater importance
as work on the monument progressed. Shaw was played by Matthew
Broderick in the movie "Glory" co-starring Denzel Washington whose
role earned him an Oscar as best supporting actor. A reproduction cast
from the original plaster mold is at the Saint Gaudens site:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg030.jpg

Here is a closer shot with the half cent:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg031.jpg

Next we have a shot of a copy of the Saint Gaudens' sculpture for the
grave of the wife of historian Henry Adams:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg032.jpg

and a closer shot with the half cent:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg033.jpg

Finally we move on to the "Temple":

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg034.jpg

This marble monument was modeled after a wooden version used as part
of the set for a play staged by Saint Gaudens' assistants. The marble
version was carved in 1914 (seven years after Saint Gaudens' death)
and contains the ashes of Saint Gaudens, his wife, his son, his
brother and his brother's wife. Here is a closer shot with the half
cent:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg035.jpg

and closer still:

http://members.aol.com/flip1948/SaintGaudens/sg036.jpg

CONCLUSION

Well, that pretty much wraps up my two hour stay. I'll be going back
next spring.

If I remember correctly, the entire estate consists of 150 acres and
there is much I didn't see. In addition to the aforementioned guided
tours there are a couple of hiking trails and a small building called
the Ravine Studio. This studio is used by the resident sculptor and
according to the friendly Park Service employee, you can stop by and
watch him work or chat with him. The site is apparently open year
round, but full access to all of the exhibits only occurs from early
may through the end of October.

For more information you can visit their website at:
http://www.sgnhs.org/saga.html

An birdseye rendering of the site:
http://www.sgnhs.org/BIRDSEYE.jpg

A smaller version of the birdseye rendering with numbered points of
interest and links:
http://www.sgnhs.org/virtual.html

++++++++++
Phil DeMayo - always here for my fellow Stooge
When bidding online always sit on your helmet
Just say NO to counterfeits