BALLIN, CLAUDE
BALLIN, CLAUDE (French). Succeeded Jean Varin as Director of the Paris Medal-Mint, 1676 — 1678. This famous artist, who was born in Paris in 1615 and died at the Louvre on the 22nd January 1678, is the most celebrated goldsmith of the second half of the seventeenth century. His productions were works of art, which unfortunately have nearly all been destroyed, partly under Louis XIV. when through the necessities of st...
BALTIMORE, LORD
BALTIMORE, LORD (Brit.). Lord Proprietor of Maryland, issued a series of coins, temp. Charles II., for circulation in his own province. They are Shillings, Sixpences, and Groats in silver, and Pennies in copper. The obv. of these present a bare head, in profile, of Lord Baltimore, with the legend CAECILIVS D'NS TERRAE MARIAE &c. T. and on R. his arms under the crown of his palatinate, with indication of value. The pe...
BALUGANI, FILIPPO
BALUGANI, FILIPPO (Ital.) 1734-1780. Medallist of the end of the eighteenth century, whose best known productions are the medals he engraved in honour of the mathematician and physician Vincenzo Riccati ; — Francesco Zanotti ; — Giacomo Gradonico ; — Dr Giovanni Battista Morgagni (1682-1771), of Padua, 1771 , etc. He was- a pupil of Vittorio Bigari, and became a member of the Clementine Academy. At Bologna he filled...
BARBER, CHARLES E.
BARBER, CHARLES E. (Amer.). Sixth Engraver to the United States Mint at Philadelphia. He was a son of William Barber, and was born in London, in 1840. "He was appointed an assistant in 1869 and became the official head by promotion in 1880, to fill the vacancy caused by his father's death. The appointment was not unmerited. Mr. Barber's five-cent piece is a successful venture in very low relief. His handiwork is more...