John Sigismund Tanner (1705 – 14 March 1775; ) was an engraver of the

Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...

, making dies for coins and medals. Tanner, a native of

Saxe-Coburg Saxe-Coburg (german: Sachsen-Coburg) was a duchy held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in today's Bavaria, Germany. History Ernestine Line When Henry IV, Count of Henneberg – Schleusingen, died in 1347, the possessions of the ...

, worked mostly for the

Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's oldest company and the official maker of British coins. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclus ...

at the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

and was its Chief Engraver from 1741. He remained at the mint until his death in 1775 although took little part in preparing the new dies, as during his latter years he suffered from approaching blindness and many other infirmities. Most of the work carried out during Tanner's latter years was carried out by his chief assistant

Richard Yeo Richard Yeo (ca 1720–1779) was a British medalist and Chief Engraver at the Royal Mint, in which capacity he supplied patterns for the guinea and five guinea coins of George III. He was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Art, and appea ...

, who succeeded to the post of Chief Engraver upon Tanner's death. Tanner designed a sixpence for the Royal Mint during the reign of King George II, the coin became popularly known as the "tanner" and this appellation preserved until decimalisation in 1971.

Life

GREAT BRITAIN, GEORGE II 1757 -SIXPENCE a - Flickr - woody1778a

In 1729, the Master of the Mint admitted, with some apprehension, that John Croker, Chief Engraver to the Mint since 1705, was then "the only man now living who has hitherto made Puncheons for the Head on the Coin" and recommended the appointment of an assistant in the shape of Tanner, then aged only 24. When Croker died on 21 March 1741, Tanner succeeded him. After 1739 he engraved most of the dies for the coins of

George II George II or 2 may refer to: People * George II of Antioch (seventh century AD) * George II of Armenia (late ninth century) * George II of Abkhazia (916–960) * Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051) * George II of Georgia (1072–1089) * ...

and

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

.Christopher Edgar Challis, ''A New History of the Royal Mint'' (1992), p. 409 Tanner died on 14 March 1775, after retiring from the Mint.John Nichols, ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

'', vol. 45 (E. Cave, 1775)
p. 151
/ref>

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, John Sigismund 1700s births 1775 deaths 18th-century engravers Artists from Dresden English engravers German emigrants to the Kingdom of Great Britain