Two Women, Two Iconic Coins
While women rarely appeared on 19th-century currency outside of royalty, two notable exceptions, Leonor Molina Adam and Anna Willess Williams, left a lasting mark on iconic coin designs.
Coins and bank notes worldwide still mostly portray men, although nowadays it is quickly changing.
But back in the 19th century, the gap was wider, and very few women appeared on currency. With some honorable exceptions, like that of Martha Washington on the 1891 $1 silver certificates, most female depictions related to queens and other members of the Royal families.
Also, among this select few are two ladies whose portraits were featured on two iconic 19th-century coins.
Leonor Molina Adam
Leonor Molina Adam was born in Cuba in 1865. After the death of her father, who fought against Spanish troops during the Ten Years’ War of Independence (1868–1878), she moved to the United States with her mother and four brothers and sisters. By the outbreak of the Second War of Independence (1895–1898), Leonor was actively participating in numerous events organized by Cuban exiles to support the war effort on the island against Spain.
One of these initiatives involved minting coins in 1897 for sale in the United States and elsewhere. The man in charge of coordinating the coinage was José Octavio Zayas. He drafted a sketch of the coins inspired by the Goddess of Liberty on American $1 coins. However, the idea was turned down by an American patent attorney, who, upon consultation, saw the similarities between said female images as a potential cause of rejection by the American Treasury.
Zayas then proposed his female cousin, Leonor, as a model for the young Republic of Cuba coins. She posed for the French-born artist Philip Martigny and became the first woman and, so far, the only one to represent the country in its currency. Following the expert’s recommendations, Leonor was portrayed without a Phrygian cap and laurel wreath, which is used on the $1 American coins.
The coins were struck between July and August 1897 by two private mints located in Philadelphia and Providence, which has given rise to the existence of some varieties. They are known as the “Souvenir Pesos,” given their absence of nominal value and the use of said word instead. That was the result of an attempt to circumvent the American Law that would have surely prohibited the coinage of Cuban pesos in the country. While many Americans sympathized with the Cuban cause, the country still maintained diplomatic relations with Spain at that time. However, once the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, the legend “SOUVENIR” was replaced by the nominal value “ONE PESO.”
Anna Willess Williams
Our second protagonist is Anna Willess Williams. Her father died shortly after she was born in Philadelphia in 1857. The event left Anna’s mother alone with the responsibility of raising a large family of nine children. Following her studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Anna Willess pursued a career in education.
It was a former professor in the academy, Thomas Eakins, who recommended Anna to George T. Morgan as a model for the Liberty portrait that was about to be engraved on the $1 silver coins. After overcoming some concerns over public exposure, Anna finally posed for Morgan in five sessions held in 1876 at Eakins’ studio in Philadelphia. Morgan later described her features as exceptionally suited to the Liberty idea. The outcome is known to everybody: The Morgan dollars (or, why not say, the Anna Willes dollars) were first struck on March 11, 1878, and were produced until 1904, with a final strike in 1921.
While Williams had posed for Morgan on condition of anonymity, her identity was finally revealed in 1897 by a Philadelphia newspaper. The fact coincided with the disclosure of Leonor Molina’s identity, who had posed for the corresponding coins.
In fact, the similarities between the two women did not go unnoticed, and the American media soon began drawing parallels, highlighting their classical features and their personification of the purest ideals of freedom and independence in both nations. It is interesting to note that none of them capitalized on their popularity. Leonor lived a quiet life in the United States until her death in 1957. Her presence in the Cuban coins was soon forgotten, only to be rediscovered by the great numismatist Thomas Lismore, shortly before her death.[1]
Anna Willess continued her career in education until retirement and, over the years, rejected several business proposals to stage as Miss Liberty, which often involved large sums of money. Shortly before her passing in 1926, she referred to the story simply as an “…incident of my youth…”.
But the legacy of both ladies persists. Commemorative Morgan dollars were restruck in 2021 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the last year of minting of the iconic coin. In view of the success, the coins have been produced every year till today. Similarly, Cuba has issued several commemorative coins to celebrate the coinage made in 1897–1898 by the Cuban independentists.
[1] “Las monedas de Cuba, 1870-1953”, T. Lismore, Havana, 1955.
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