Laura Gardin Fraser

Laura Gardin was the wife of James Fraser, with both active mainly as coin designers in the USA. She was a student of her future husband in New York, before they opened a studio together. Her career in sculpture started with creating medals, coins, fountains, and animals for which she became very well known. She was the first woman to design a coin for the United States Treasury and was commissioned to do several monuments, including the double equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in Wyman Park, Baltimore, Maryland, the three relief panels at the entrance to the library at West Point, and a white granite figure of Pegasus at Brook Green Gardens, South Carolina.

Prince Friarstown was a legendary polo horse, an English thoroughbred, born in 1914. The “Prince Friarstown Cup” was awarded to the best pony in the U.S. Open. The two figures of the Wrestlers formed a large stone sculpture. The 45 x 27 cm sized Cup for the US Polo Association from 1930 was awarded to the winner in the fight against America against England. The Portrait of Ed Crump shows a successful racehorse. Ed Crump was the name of a thoroughbred born in 1912 who had competed twice in the Kentucky Derby. It was possibly named after Edward Hull “Boss” Crump (1874-1954), an American politician, who was Mayor of Memphis and later a member of the House of Representatives for Tennessee.