Joseph F. Menna, chief engraver of the United States Mint, and Ventris C. Gibson, director of that coin bureau, will be among the dignitaries in attendance Nov. 13 at the Liberty Seated Collectors Club’s unveiling at Lawnview Memorial Park in Rockledge, Pennsylvania, of a granite headstone for the grave site of the Mint’s third chief engraver, Christian Gobrecht.

The 1 p.m. Eastern Time unveiling is being held in conjunction with the Whitman Baltimore Expo coin show.

Despite being most recognized for the designs for the Seated Liberty coinage, Gobrecht (born 1785, died 1844) reworked the entire series of U.S. coinage during his brief tenure with the Mint, notably beginning with the Gobrecht dollar with 1836, according to LSCC President Len Augsburger.

Gobrecht further contributed the long-running Classic Head gold coin 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 city of Philadelphia ceded the Monument Cemetery property to Temple University.

LSCC numismatist Bill Bugert, writing in the July 2008 Gobrecht Journal, detailed his investigation into the location of the Gobrecht plot. The documentary trail, beginning with Monument Cemetery, eventually led Bugert to Lawnview Memorial Park in Rockledge, Pennsylvania.

There, Bugert discovered that the original Gobrecht family headstone had been discarded during the 1956 move of remains from Philadelphia to Rockledge.

A marker reading simply GOBRECHT now marked the family plot, hardly a fitting tribute to the third engraver of the U.S. Mint, according to Augsburger.

The LSCC membership sponsored a new, black granite marker for the Gobrecht family grave, which will be unveiled during the Nov. 13 dedication. For further information, contact LSCC vice president Dennis Fortier at ricajun@msn.com.

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