Birch
Biography
The name Birch appears on the truncation of the bust on pattern cents of 1792. The same engraver is believed to have produced the dies for the 1792 half dismes and the reverse die for the 1792 disme.
Carl W. A. Carlson wrote "Birch and the Patterns of '92" for The Numismatist of March 1982. The article reviewed the problems with biographical information about Birch. It had been believed that the pattern dies were cut by Thomas Birch. He would have been 13 years old in 1792. The name Robert Birch is taken from Snowden's Mint Manual of 1860. Snowden was putting into print stories that had been passed down as oral history. There have been no contemporary records found that confirm any facts about Birch.
The Carlson article supports a theory that William Russell Birch may have done the engraving for John Harper during a visit to Philadelphia.
Research by author Pete Smith in 2011 proved that William Russell Birch did not engrave the 1792 dies.
Source credit: Pete Smith, American Numismatic Biographies
