George William de Saulles

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GEORGE WILLIAM DE SAULLES

Engraver to the Royal Mint - 1893 to 1903.

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From Forrer:

DE SAULLES, GEORGE WILLIAM (Brit.). Late Chief-engraver at the Royal Mint, London; born I862; died July 2It, 1903.
This talented Engraver "began his art training at an early age at the Birmingham School of Art, where, under the able tuition of the master, Mr. Taylor, whose influence he was always pleased to acknowledge, he studied some years, winning several prizes and a scholarship, which he could not follow up in consequence of being apprenticed to Mr. Wilcox, die-sinker, of Birmingham, with whom a varied practice, which included the execution of dies for labels for Manchester goods- at that time large and artistic in design, some including figure subjects - gave good scope for training to an intelligent student.

Occupied with these and ordinary die-sinking work, Mr. de Saulles completed his term of apprenticeship and came to London in 1884, where he spent several years working for Mr. Pinches. Leaving London in 1888, de Saulles returned to Birmingham and worked for Joseph Moore, the medallist, until 1892, when, hearing that the post of Engraver to the Royal Mint was vacant, on account of the death of Leonard Charles Wyon, he made application for the office, and was duly appointed.

Since that time he was occupied in the production of dies for the coins and medals issued by the Government, his first public work being the execution of the dies for the new issue of coins in 1893, designed by Thomas Brock, R. A., who also superintended the work. Mr. de Saulles also executed many private and public commissions, one of the most recent being the dies for the new issue of coins on the king's accession. He designed, modelled, and engraved most of his works. He initiated and executed with remarkable rapidity the most complicated and diverse designs, as the following list shows, but it is to be feared that devotion to his art, which kept him working early and late, weakened a constitution never very robust and helped on the end so much to be deplored."

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de Saulles designed the standing Britannia on the reverse of the florin of King Edward VII.



He also designed the standing Britannia on the reverse of the British trade dollar.

See also: Britain One Dollar 1902 Tradedollar