In 1993, I took some time away from the American Numismatic Association convention in Baltimore and drove to Dr. Selma Burke's home/studio in New Hope, Pa. to interview her on the topicof her claim that her design was used on the Roosevelt dime.

My article, from which the below is adapted, ran in the Nov. 30, 1993 issue of Numismatic News as "Who Really Designed the Roosevelt Dime?" Much of what appeared in the AtlasObscura article, "Who Really Designed the American Dime?," referenced in The E-Sylum January 21, 2006 matches with what Burke told me as to the design competition she won; herdrawing Roosevelt from life; her problems with getting him to pose; and Eleanor Roosevelt's later visit and comments about Burke's work making FDR look too young.

There is a little bit more to Burke's claim, not contained there, but expressed to me during the interview. I was also able to take a b+w photo of her original drawing, which was done on brownbutcher paper she had obtained from an A&P grocery store and took with her to her sittings with the president. (Burke was in her 90s when I talked to her, but was still very sharp.)

She said It wasn't just the similarity between the image on the dime and her work that led her to believe she hadn't been properly credited. She told me she received a phone call late oneevening (in 1945, during the time the design was being prepared at the Mint) from a Ruth Wilson, at the Recorder of Deeds office, where Burke's plaque was to be displayed.

Burke related of this call:

Burke said she was acquainted with Wilson as she and Wilson were godparents to the daughter of a Mary Wilson.

"She [Ruth Wilson] felt very close and she had to let me know what was going on. I was sleeping, and I said, 'I am not going to Washington. I won this thing [the contest for Recorder ofDeeds office plaque of Roosevelt]' No, I just took a stand."

As in the Atlas Obscura article, Burke claimed to me that her subsequent attempt to gain credit for the design led to her being investigated by the feds, namely J. Edgar Hoover'sFBI.

I talked to Burke one additional time, by telephone, shortly before her death in 1995, and later was invited to speak at an exhibit of her works in Austin, Texas. I found her to be a very graciouslady, and am convinced she truly believed until her death that she designed the dime.

I do think, but have no proof of it, that there was some truth behind her story of the late night phone call, which helped bring her to her conviction. Perhaps, if it occurred, it wasn't evenSinnock who requested to see the design, and even it was, it doesn't mean the dime's image was lifted from her work.

Whether she deserves credit for the dime or not (and there are additional arguments for not presented in the Atlas Obscura article by Christina Ayele Djossa and here by Dick Johnson), therecan be no doubt Dr. Selma Burke's place in history as one of the nation's leading sculptors is forever secured.

Bob adds:

Susie Nulty writes:

To visit Richard's Roosevelt Review, see: http://www.richardsrooseveltreview.net

Roger Burdette wrote:

To read the complete discussion, see: The Selma Burke Controversy Lives on LongAfter the 1940s (https://www.ngccoin.com/boards/topic/348290-the-selma-burke-controversy-lives-on-long-after-the-1940s/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
VAN RYZIN ON SELMA BURKE AND THE ROOSEVELT DIME DESIGN (http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v09n07a05.html)
BURKE VS. SINNOCK: WHO DESIGNED THE DIME? (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n03a13.html)