The Royal Canadian Mint recently released two silver collector coins engraved with my illustration of a bouquet of maple leaves and of a swimming beaver.
The former, which shows a hand holding leaves of three species of maple in autumn color, is part of the Mint’s 2013 O Canada series and is the only colored coin in that series:
1/2 oz. Fine Silver Coin – Maple Leaf (2013) – designed by Emily S. Damstra
The 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 about the subject. In this case, I chose to illustrate an aspect of the beaver’s life that I find especially interesting: The beaver is bringing an aspen branch down to the bottom of its pond to store it in advance of winter. The reason a beaver constructs dams is to create a pond deep enough that it won’t completely freeze in the winter, allowing the beaver safe and easy access to food the animal has cached.
5 oz. Fine Silver Coin – Swimming Beaver – designed by Emily S. Damstra
I really like how the Mint used different finishes on this coin to make the foreground elements contrast with the background (though it’s a bit hard to tell from my mediocre photograph of the coin).
This is my 5th numismatic design that includes a water line with elements of the illustration above and below water. (The others are the Memphré, Mishepishu, a Polar Bear, and an Iceberg with whales). I didn’t plan to create a body of work with that element in common – it just happened that way! I suppose I find the water line to be a useful device for telling a story, creating an interesting composition, and showing a unique perspective.
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VERY impressive — they’re all beautiful coins! Congratulations, Emily!
I’ve never seen a colored coin before and didn’t know they made them that way . . . is the colored portion enameled?
Thank you, Amelia. The Royal Canadian Mint makes quite a few colored coins; some of them are enamel but not this one. If you click on the photo to enlarge it you can just barely make out dots like you’d see with any 4-color printing process. The description and specifications are at the following link, but the Mint’s website doesn’t say anything about the color process: http://www.mint.ca/store/coin/12-oz.-fine-silver-coin-maple-leaf-2013-prod1730015#.UqdwyI2xp4s
These are gorgeous Emily! I’m showing them off to my dad right now!
They’re beautiful, Emily! Love the color in the leaves and all the detail with the beaver…