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An Artistic Job That Fits the Bill
Christopher Madden, a banknote engraver, says he was attracted to the job because of its aesthetic aspects.
(By Lois Raimondo -- The Washington Post)
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Although many countries used to employ engravers, the United States is one of only a few remaining, and its core of engravers is aging. Madden is one of the last engravers trained by the bureau, and he started in 1988.
Madden grew up near Dayton, Ohio, in a family that valued the kind of gruff work that puts food on the table. His father was an assistant foreman for General Motors Corp. in Dayton; his grandfather was a Kentucky coal miner.
The hardscrabble existence didn't appeal to Madden, who had a passion for drawing and painting. "My dad didn't really like his job. He always came home with his eyes red," he said. Madden attended Ohio State University and studied art, which brought skepticism from his family. "Art is a nice hobby, but what are you really going to do?" his father would ask.
Madden saw a notice for a job at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the promise of a steady and purposeful career that still tapped his aesthetic skills. "It seemed the answer," he said.
Madden entered the bureau's 10-year apprenticeship. He learned how to sharpen his engraving tool on a piece of stone and to engrave simple shapes before graduating to the portraits of such figures as Benjamin Franklin. He focuses on pictures, while other engravers do letters and sculptural elements. Madden may spend hours a day with his eye inches from his steel canvas, all those years of expertise behind him.
Soon, Madden will be teaching someone new how to engrave; the bureau is recruiting two pictorial engravers. A lingering question is whether people will be willing to commit a significant chunk of their lives to this craft, without the hope of fame many artists harbor.
"In the past, engravers were a very small group," currency expert Hoge said. "As large printing companies like American Banknote got out of the business of printing notes, the huge investment needed to build up a cast of people will those skills became considerable. Now you've got a huge group of people who are computer literate, with artistic skills."
Madden is confident that these new engravers, who will also go through the 10-year apprenticeship, will master the hand-engraving process even as technology takes over. "In order to make this transition from the old methods to the new methods," he said, "the engraver still must impart all those years of experience and all the technological prowess he or she has gathered to create a secure bank note."
