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V26 2023 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 26, Number 3, January 15, 2023, Article 6

CHARLES L. VICKERS (1937-2022)

E-Sylum Feature Writer and American Numismatic Biographies author Pete Smith submitted this article on U.S. Mint sculptor/engraver Charles L. Vickers, who passed away last month. Thanks. Thanks also to Jim Licaretz for notifying us and to Norma Vickers for providing additional photos. -Editor

Charles L. Vickers (1937-2022)

Charles L. Vickers sculpted many coin designs during his years as a sculptor/engraver for the U. S. Mint. He was born in Camp County, Texas, on July 16, 1937, the son of a building contractor, Horace Ellington Vickers (1904-1971) and Ellie Lawrence Vickers (1906-1993).

Vickers served in the United States Army with the 101st Airborne Division from 1957 through 1959. He studied at the Art Students League and Frank Reilly School of Art, the Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts. He was a member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts.

A job with the Franklin Mint had him move to Philadelphia in 1976. He started a studio there in 1985. Also in 1985, he was employed as a senior graphic designer for Thomas J. Paul, Inc.

The reverse of the Lincoln Memorial cent was changed in 2009. The Philadelphia Inquirer had an article on September 23, 2008, featuring Vickers and his design for one of the new reverses.

As a teen, Charles Vickers, a sculptor/engraver for the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, had to split firewood using a wedge and a wood-headed hammer called a maul.

So, a few years ago, when the mint assigned him to submit one of four new designs for the penny, an image immediately came to the Jenkintown gentleman's mind: Lincoln reading a book while taking a break from splitting logs with a double-banded maul.

Charles Vickers sculpted the models for these coins during his career as sculptor-engraver at the United States Mint December 29, 2003, until retirement on March 31, 2016:

2005 50 State Quarters Minnesota (sculptor)
2006 Benjamin Franklin Commemorative Coin Scientist reverse (designer and sculptor)
2006 San Francisco Old Mint Commemorative Gold Obverse (designer)
2006 50 State Quarters Nebraska reverse (sculptor)
2005 Marine Corps 230th Anniversary Silver Dollar reverse (sculptor)
2007 First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program Thomas Jefferson's Liberty reverse (designer and sculptor)
2007 John Adams Presidential $1 Coin obverse (sculptor)
2007 Little Rock High School Commemorative Coin Silver Obverse (sculptor)
2007 Jamestown Commemorative Coin Silver Reverse (sculptor)
2007 50 State Quarters Washington reverse (sculptor)
2008 Elizabeth Monroe First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program reverse (sculptor)
2008 Bald Eagle Commemorative Coin Clad Reverse (sculptor)
2008 American Eagle Platinum Coin reverse (sculptor)
2008 50 State Quarters Alaska reverse (sculptor)
2009 Anna Harrison First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program reverse (sculptor)
2009 Margaret Taylor First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program obverse (sculptor)
2009 James K. Polk Presidential $1 Coin obverse (sculptor)
2009 Lincoln Bicentennial One-Cent Coin Formative Years in Indiana reverse (designer and sculptor)
2009 District of Columbia and U.S. Territories Quarters Program American Samoa reverse (sculptor)
2010 Jane Pierce First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program reverse (sculptor)
2010 Franklin Pierce Presidential $1 Coin obverse (sculptor)
2010 Native American $1 Coin reverse (sculptor)
2010 Boy Scouts of America Centennial Silver Dollar obverse (sculptor)
2011 Julia Grant First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program reverse (sculptor)
2011 America the Beautiful Quarters Glacier Park National Park reverse (sculptor)
2011 U.S. Army Commemorative Coin Clad Obverse (sculptor)
2012 Caroline Harrison First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program reverse (sculptor)
2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Hawaii Volcanoes National Park reverse (designer and sculptor)
2013 Ellen Wilson First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program obverse (sculptor)
2013 Helen Taft First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program reverse (sculptor)
2014 America the Beautiful Quarters Arches National Park reverse (sculptor)
2014 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin Arches National Park reverse (sculptor)
2015 First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program Bess Truman reverse (sculptor)

Congressional Gold Medals

2003 Briggs vs. Elliott & Brown vs. Board of Education Congressional Gold Medal obverse (designer and sculptor)
2008 Code Talkers Recognition Congressional Gold Medal Santee Sioux Nation reverse (designer and sculptor)
2008 Code Talkers Recognition Congressional Gold Medal Comanche Nation obverse (sculptor)
2008 Code Talkers Recognition Congressional Gold Medal Yankton Sioux Tribe reverse (designer and sculptor)
2008 Code Talkers Recognition Congressional Gold Medal Oneida Nation obverse (designer)
2010 Nisei Soldiers of World War II obverse (sculptor)

Private Medal Commissions

Official medal of the Ronald Reagan Library
Ronald Reagan Four Pillars of Freedom medal set
USS Ronald Reagan christening medal
USS Ronald Reagan Captain's medal
Pope John Paul II 25 th Anniversary medal
2001 George W. Bush inaugural medal

After leaving the Mint, Vickers signed coin labels for NGC. Poor health with Parkinson's limited his activities in recent years. He died on December 30, 2022, and is survived by his wife, Norma and son Jamie.

What a prolific artist! Vickers will be buried in the Long Island National Cemetery in New York. His son Jamie Vickers works in the animation industry in LA. While his Selective Service and Driver's License cards show his middle name as "Lesley", Pete notes that other official records show "Lessie" as his middle name. -Editor

To read an earlier E-Sylum article, see:
SCULPTOR-ENGRAVER VICKERS RETIRES FROM MINT (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n15a11.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

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