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The Preliminary Coinage Designs of Emanuel Hahn.
Emanuel Otto Hahn (1881-1957) was born in Reutlingen , Germany , but brought to Canada in 1888. One of Canada's preeminent sculptors, he pursued that calling from the very first, winning scholarships and training under Walter Allward as well as his elder brother, Gustav Hahn. His work very much leaned toward realism and his love of the Canadian wilderness was legendary. With his wife, Elizabeth Wynn Wood, an accomplished sculptress in her own right, the Hahns often made extended canoe trips into the north. Hahn's work was very much "from life".
As collectors, we are most familiar with him in connection with his coinage designs for he was responsible for the reverses of the "Voyageur dollar", the 1939 Royal Visit dollar, the Schooner 10-cent and Caribou 25-cent. But his work on coinage designs was much more extensive and although a number of them have survived in the Canadian archives (the artifacts now housed at the Bank of Canada), a number of others evidently have not. For instance, we believe that although he worked up designs for all denominations of the 1937 Canadian coinage, none exist today for the 50-cent - nor, for that matter, the 10-cent since his "Bluenose" design was originally intended for a 25-cent. We also know that his first choice for the 1935 dollar reverse was a caribou.
The design for the reverse of a commemorative silver dollar marking the Silver Jubilee of George V in 1935 was not the subject of a competition. The government had left the matter too long and it was not until November, 1934 that they simply commissioned Hahn, the renown Toronto sculptor, to work up a design immediately. Hahn was even faster, arriving in Ottawa with a caribou design (now apparently lost) already sketched. It was highly regarded by an informal - but blueribbon - panel of advisors but Finance Minister Rhodes suggested a "canoe with a voyageur or Indian", and this was quickly worked into at least two similar designs by Hahn since he was hard at work at his Toronto studio within days making a model from the approved design. As we see from the above sketches ( probably arranged in sequence), not much change was done between preliminary sketch and issued coin. From the first sketch, the devices flanking CANADA and DOLLAR were eliminated, as was the skein of geese and the background land at the ends of the canoe. On the second, the background rays of the northern lights were added but the "too windy" tree on the island was modified, the canoe detail simplified, its perspective dropped and the figures made smaller.
Although the Silver Jubilee commemorative dollar was a one-shot-deal, it was, nevertheless, part of an ongoing process dating back to at least 1927. At that time, John Honeyford Campbell, the recently appointed Deputy Master of the Ottawa Mint, began advocating the overhaul of the Canadian coinage designs, designs that had essentially been in place since 1858. Although they were "balanced designs" - a central obverse design mated with a reverse consisting mostly of an encircling wreath - they were dull .
John Honeyford Campbell, Emanuel Hahn at about age 40 Deputy Master, Ottawa (1925-31) Master, R.C.M. (1931-8)
On the occasion of Canada's 60th Anniversary of Confederation in 1927, there was a design competition for a series of commemorative coins but so tardily held as to not allow time for completion. In any case, the submitted designs were not held in high regard but perhaps its significant that the winner of the cent reverse design was Gustav Hahn, Emanuel's elder brother - his mentor that he was soon to surpass handily.
By the early 1930s, both John Campbell and Emanuel Hahn - fast becoming known as Canada 's premier sculptor - were both advocating an overhaul of our coin designs. In this vein, Hahn designed the commemorative dollar but also submitted designs for other denominations. We know that initially Hahn conceived of the dollar reverse as depicting a caribou, and did indeed submit such a design. That is unknown today but may be similar to the "standing caribou" he used again later. Of the other denominations from 1935, only a 5-cent reverse seems to have survived. Depicting a Canada Goose in flight, it was another design he called on again and again. The reader will note that the goose is not too different from that used by Alex Colville on the 1967 dollar reverse - and may even been a little more interesting since its offset perspective allows the view of both wings.
Events favoured design change when George V died in January, 1936, allowing the mint nearly a full year before the coinage of his successor, Edward VIII, was released. Campbell and the other advocates - Emanuel Hahn included - then went forward and a design competition was called in April, twelve Canadian artists invited to participate. Seventy-six drawings were received and six selected for the consideration of Prime Minister King and Finance Minister Dunning who apparently had the final say. They rejected them all on the grounds that they depicted Canada as a "howling wilderness" and then turned to the Royal Mint with the request that the "real" artists there design the coins. Of the three thus contracted (Percy Metcalfe, Frank Dobson and George Kruger-Gray) only the last did any work on the project. Kruger-Gray's designs for the 1-, 5- and 50-cents were accepted and used - two of them to the present day.
Offended, most of the Canadian artists walked off the project. All but Emanuel Hahn who had an ally in John Campbell. He was continuing to work up designs, two of those for a cent shown below: one, dated 1936, shows a trillium while another dated 1937 shows a stylized maple leaf. In this case, perhaps it's as well that Kruger-Gray prevailed, even though the "sprig of maple" we still use almost certainly does not exist in nature. Oddly, the winning design entry for the cent in the 1927 competition, by Gustav Hahn, also showed a spray of maple.
Judging solely by the number of sketches that have survived, it seems that Hahn favoured two denominations: the 5-cent and 25-cent. A couple of his efforts from 1936 are shown here. At above left is shown a stylized wheathead which, however, may have had its conceptual genesis with the reverse of the contemporary Italian 5-centesimi (coined 1919-37) above center . In its turn, Hahn's design may contain faint echoes of yet another 5-cent design: Thomas Shingles' "V-nickel" of WWII. At above right is one of Hahn's 1936 submissions for the 5-cent, using one of his favourite designs: the Canada Goose in flight. The Big Dipper star constellation in the background was also much used by him. Both also appeared on 25-cent designs but never used.
Two more 5-cent designs, dated 1937, were also submitted. That above left shows a standing caribou and may be an update of the original design for the 1935 silver dollar, now lost. At above right is a very familiar design: the "caribou head" that was modified for use on the 25-cent piece - and still in use. Interestingly, both have the Big Dipper stars in the background that were dropped. Perhaps it was just as well; the stars might have been mistaken for a swarm of deer flies, something that would be all too realistic.
Hahn, of course, did not have his designs for the 5-cent accepted; that went to Kruger-Gray's "Beaver". Strangely, one of Hahn's designs that was accepted - the schooner "Bluenose" - does not exist today as a drawing. Nor, in fact, does any design drawing for a 10-cent by him. What does exist is a plaster model of this design - but for a 25-cent piece.
Plaster models take some time to create, indicating that for some reason Hahn believed it would be used on the finished coin. We can only guess what was going on. Probably it was a matter of economics. It was, after all, in the depths of the Depression and money was scarce in Canada .
George Kruger-Gray, while employed on the Canadian project, was being paid by the hour by the Royal Mint, his wages costed out to Canada . (So would have been Frank Dobson ; that was why he was quickly dropped) For this reason, it makes more sense why such of Kruger-Gray's drawings that we have are only - and all - of the recognizably finished coin: the 1-cent "sprig of maple"; the 5-cent "beaver" and the 50-cent stylized "arms of Canada ". Presumably they were all approved at once - with modifications (the 50-cent drawing, for instance, shows the lion and unicorn supporters in a seated position). Indications are that Kruger-Gray's models were all completed in the fall of 1936, perhaps some as early as September, whereas Hahn was still not entirely completed in December.
In contrast, Hahn was being paid for the finished job and it seems that his part of the project was being forced to work around that of Kruger-Gray's. If they so chose, the government "powers" could be nitpicky and wasteful of Hahn's time; after all, it cost them nothing extra. The fact remains: the Hahn drawings that have survived show that he made a lot of submissions and changes whereas those of Kruger-Gray's was strictly linear and limited.
The "Bluenose" model aside, Hahn made a number of designs for the 25-cent piece, a couple of them based on his favourite "Canada Goose in flight", also used on the proposed 5-cent.
At top left and top right are both variations on the "Canada Goose in flight" and both dated 1936, indicating early designs. Below, that at bottom left is a rather striking and unusual depiction of a polar bear on an ice floe, the northern lights in the background. Bottom right is presumably one of the last drawings for the 25-cent since it is recognizably that of the finished coin, modifications later made in the positioning of CANADA and the date - as well as the elimination of Big Dipper in the background.
This is such of Hahn's proposed designs as still exist. Almost certainly there were once more. We may presume that he submitted designs for all the denominations 50-cent on down in early 1936 (it had already been decided that his "Voyageur" design for the dollar would be carried on into the new reign). Yet we have no 50-cent design - nor, for that matter, for the 10-cent. Some of the rejected designs were very, very good. All a matter of what-might-have-been.
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June 2008The Preliminary Coinage Designs of Emanuel Hahn Prince Edward Island : Br-916 l
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