Weekly World Numismatic News for April 19, 2020

Glenna Goodacre, the designer of the Sacagawea Dollar and world-renown sculptor, died at her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico of natural causes. She was 80 years old.

Amongst her better-known works include the Vietnam Women’s Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Goodacre also created the 8-foot standing portrait of President Ronald W. Reagan at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.

The unveiling of the Sacagawea Dollar design at the White House with (L-R) irst Lady Hillary Clinton, Sacagawea Model Randy’L He-dow Teton, and Designer Glenna Goodacre.

Numismatists know Goodacre for the design of the Sacagawea Dollar. Since there are no images of Sacagawea, the Shoshone guide of the Lewis and Clark expedition, Goodacre found Randy’L He-Dow Teton, a member of the Shoshone-Cree tribe, to be her model. The resulting profile of Sacagawea in three-quarter view and her infant son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, carried on her back has been produced for 20 years.

In 2018, Goodacre donated several plaster and bronze casts of the coin that was used to test the design and show the relief of the coin. There is also a plaster cast with an alternate version without her baby on her back.

As Dennis Tucker wrote in her memory, “The numismatic community joins Glenna Goodacre’s family, friends, and many fans in mourning her loss and celebrating her art.”

And now the news…

 April 14, 2020

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Renowned sculptor and painter Glenna Goodacre, who created the Vietnam Women’s Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C, has died. She was 80.  → Read more at huffpost.com

 April 14, 2020

She discovered the rare 22-carat, 16th century  Henry VII Fine Gold Angel coin A single mum struck gold when she unearthed a 500-year-old coin worth £2,500 in her back garden. Amanda Johnston, 48, was bored at home in the appropriately named Portsmouth suburb of Moneyfields when she grabbed her son George's metal detector and set to work looking for treasure.  → Read more at dailymail.co.uk

 April 15, 2020

(Bloomberg) — The clamor for retail investors to get hold of precious-metals coins is about to get more urgent.  → Read more at finance.yahoo.com

 April 16, 2020

(Kitco News) – Bullion investors shouldn’t expect to see a drop in premiums anytime soon as the supply crunch for gold and silver coins continues to grow, according to Peter Hug, global trading director for Kitco Metals.  → Read more at kitco.com

 April 16, 2020

Gold saw its price soar over 1.5% notching its highest increase in more than seven years earlier this week, as investors moved towards the precious metal’s traditional safe-haven focus on fears of an extended recession and gloomy corporate earnings.  → Read more at irishexaminer.com

 April 18, 2020

Jeb Robinson is on the hunt for the SS Benmacdhui A diver aged 84 and his old team – the youngest in his 70s – are kitting up to find treasure on the bed of the North Sea. Jeb Robinson will show there’s life in the old seadog yet as he searches the SS Benmacdhui.  → Read more at mirror.co.uk