John Croker (engraver)

John Croker (21 October 1670 – 21 March 1741), born in Saxony and known in his youth as Johann Crocker, was a master jeweller who migrated to London, where he became a medallist and engraved dies for English and later British coins and medals.

Crocker was born at Dresden in 1670, to cabinet-maker[clarify] John George II, Elector of Saxony, by his marriage to Rosina Frauenlaub.

[2] Shortly after his appointment at the Mint, Croker received confirmation of his right to issue medals on his own account, which was seen as a means of maintaining his engraving skills.

[6] Struck in silver as well as in bronze,[5][7] on the obverse is the head of King George I, on the reverse the winged figure of Clemency surrounded by the words "CLEMENTIA AVGVSTI".

[2] In 1729 the Master of the Mint admitted, with some apprehension, that Croker was then "the only man now living who has hitherto made Puncheons for the Head on the Coin", and recommended the appointment of an assistant, John Sigismund Tanner, then aged only 24.