The Royal Canadian Mint released a 65 mm diameter fine silver coin last month featuring a beaver family that I illustrated:
My photo of the 65 mm silver coin with a beaver family I illustrated
To date, this is the largest coin I’ve illustrated and it’s neat to see my drawing engraved in such detail. If you click on the photo you can see a larger image; note the texture of the tail and bite marks on the tree. The booklet that comes with the coin describes the scene as “a portrait of a beaver family, its members immersed in the work of felling trees for their dam, lodge, and food cache.” That’s certainly true about the beaver on the left side of the coin. To be precise, the yearling and the kit on the right side of the coin are feeding, not helping with the household chores. The other parent is in the background. Below is a photo with slightly different lighting that more clearly shows the fourth beaver swimming in front of the lodge in the background.
My close-up photo of the beaver family coin showing the swimming adult in front of the lodge. Click on the photo to see a larger image.
Beavers are fascinating animals and I was happy to have the opportunity to learn more about them as preparation for this illustration. You can see this 2.5 inch diameter coin at the Mint’s website here.
At the time of this writing, the website does not reflect the fact that the low mintage coin is sold out.
2 Comments
Comments are closed.
Syndicated on Science Borealis
That is an amazing amount of detail for a coin! Beautiful work, Emily!
[…] swimming beaver coin is the Mint’s second 5 oz. beaver coin; you can see the first here. I like designing for such a large coin (65 mm) because it allows me to tell a more detailed story […]