In conjunction with the Whitman Baltimore November show, the Liberty Seated Collectors Club will unveil a new headstone for the Christian Gobrecht family on November 13, 2024, at Lawnview Memorial Park in Rockledge, PA on November 13 at 1 P.M. This is approximately a 2-hour drive from Baltimore.
Although most often associated with Liberty Seated coinage, Christian Gobrecht (1785-1844) reworked the entire series of U.S. coinage during his brief tenure with the Mint, notably beginning with the Gobrecht dollar with 1836. Gobrecht further contributed the long-running Classic Head gold designs, in addition to the Braided Hair series of copper cents and half cents.
Originally interred at Philadelphia's Monument Cemetery in north central Philadelphia, the remains of Gobrecht and his family were moved in 1956, when the Monument Cemetery property was ceded by the city of Philadelphia to Temple University. Bill Bugert, writing in the July 2008 Gobrecht Journal, detailed his investigation into the location of the Gobrecht plot. The documentary trail, beginning with the old Monument Cemetery, eventually led to Bugert to Lawnview Memorial Park in Rockledge, PA.
There, Bugert discovered that the original Gobrecht family headstone had been discarded during the 1956 move of remains from Philadelphia to Rockledge, PA. A marker reading simply “GOBRECHT” now marked the family plot, hardly a fitting tribute to the third Engraver of the U.S. Mint.
Accordingly, The Liberty Seated Collectors Club, collectors of Gobrecht's Liberty Seated coinage, has sponsored a new, black granite marker for the Gobrecht family grave, and an unveiling ceremony will take place on Wednesday, November 13, at 1 P.M., just prior to the Whitman Baltimore coin show. For further information, contact Dennis Fortier (ricajun@msn.com), Vice-President of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club.
Spotting map to Gobrecht's gravesite in Lawnview Cemetery, Rockledge PA, off State Route 232
The new grave marker:
