Anthony de Francisci, an Italian immigrant sculptor, modeled Liberty on his wife Teresa — who as a young girl had seen the Statue of Liberty from the deck of the ship that brought her to America, and who struck the pose from memory in their New York studio. This painting shows the face three times — the living woman, the plaster model, the struck coin — life becoming art becoming money. It's the most human story in American coinage, and the piece collectors will buy for the description as much as the image.
