National Numismatic Collection , National Museum of American History , Washington , DC

By William L . Pressly

In 1834 , just two years after the creation of the American security engraving and printing firm Rawdon , Wright , Hatch & Co ., partners Freeman Rawdon and George W . Hatch each produced an elaborate vignette of a nude classical goddess to help their business stand out from their rivals in terms not only of the quality of their work , but also in terms of their familiarity with the erudite subjects of high art . Rawdon produced an image of the classical goddess Venus ( Figure 1 ) and Hatch executed a design featuring Hebe ( Figure 2 ). As a mark of the importance of these images , each engraver signed his work : “ ENGD . BY FREEMAN RAWDON ” and “ Engd by GEO . W . HATCH . 1834 .”

Rawdon would have also completed his undated design by 1834 , as the earliest known

FIGURE 1 : $ 20 note issued by the Ocmulgee Bank in Macon , GA , dated February 6 , 1840 . dated note with this vignette is inscribed in ink “ Oct 1st 1834 ” ( the “ 18 ” is printed ). Hatch ’ s image of Hebe on the $ 3 note of Tecumseh , Michigan , is so imposing that the counter containing the “ 3 ” beneath it had to be rotated to face downward to better accommodate the large size of the vignette ( the counter in the opposite corner was rotated to face upward in order to allow more room for the equally imposing vignette of Tecumseh , a chief of the Shawnee tribe ). Rawdon ’ s Venus steps from the ocean onto the shore , whereas Hatch ’ s design strikes an overtly patriotic cord .

The two vignettes are paired on at least two bank notes — the $ 50 bill for the Miners Bank of Dubuque , Wisconsin , of 1837 – 1838 , and the $ 100 bill of the Chattahoochee Railroad & Banking Company of Georgia , ca . 1838 – 1840 .

In Hatch ’ s vignette , Hebe , the goddess of youth and beauty and cupbearer to the gods , offers nectar to the American eagle , one sip of which confers immortality , thereby bestowing eternal life on the new nation . The eagle grasps its protective national shield in one talon and in the other an olive branch , combined with arrows symbolizing peace and war . Behind the two protagonists , stars — representing the individual states — dot the firmament . The casting of Hebe and the eagle in patriotic terms had begun much earlier , in 1796 , with Edward Savage ’ s print Liberty , in the Form of the Goddess of Youth , Giving Support to the Bald Eagle ( Figure 3 ). Savage ’ s concept is based on English fulllength allegorical portraits by artists such as Sir Joshua Reynolds , George Romney , William Hamilton and John Hoppner — paintings that flatter their aristocratic sitters by associating them with the goddess of youth . Savage , however , converts society portraiture into a political statement , where the eagle represents America and where Hebe , shown trampling on emblems of British royalty , represents American Liberty . Hatch ’ s politicized interpretation follows Savage ’ s lead , but his compacted composition with its close familiarity between Hebe and the large eagle provides a more satisfying arrangement .

An earlier vignette attributed to Asher B . Durand , who was Hatch ’ s teacher , is the

38 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Summer 2024 | www . MoAF . org