Moroni That Might Have Been: Washington D.C.

During planning for the Washington D.C. Temple, the church invited prominent LDS sculptors to submit designs for the Angel Moroni that would top the east center spire.

One source states that nine sculptors were invited to submit statuettes for consideration. A different article in the
10 July 1971 issue of the Church News states that there were eight statuettes submitted by prominent sculptors.

As far as I have been able to identify, this is a unique situation. With other statues, both before and after, the Church has chosen one sculptor and approached them with the commission for the Angel Moroni.

Of the eight statues submitted, the Church settled upon the statue submitted by Avard Fairbanks. Aside from Avard Fairbanks, statues were also submitted by
Dallas J. Anderson
Justin F. Fairbanks (Avard Fairbanks son)
Edward J. Fraughton
Franz M. Johansen
J. Dell Morris
Dennis V. Smith
Karl A. Quilter (would later sculpt 3 additional statues)

The Church News article mentioned above has a photograph showing all the submissions. The photograph is poor quality and does not identify which statue is from which sculptor. I have used multiple methods of processing in
Photoshop to enhance and show the details of the various statues. From these multiple images I have sketched the following representations of what these statues looked like.

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References

J. Michael Hunter “I Saw Another Angel Fly” Ensign, January 2000.
“Angel Moroni Statue Chosen For Temple” Church News, 10 July 1971.