Nations

Description. One of my favorite coins of all time is the American Peace Dollar. Its obverse, in addition to being one of the most beautiful depictions of Liberty to ever be featured on a coin (come at me Morgan folks!), happens to be based on the image of an immigrant, Teresa de Francisci, the wife of the artist who designed the coin. The artist himself, Anthony de Francisci, was also an immigrant, from Palermo, Sicily. On the coin's reverse, in addition to what I always thought was a slightly understated legend of "PEACE" tucked below the eagle on a rock, is the much more visible motto of the United States--E Pluribus Unum, meaning "Out of Many, One."

Thinking about that coin and the patriotic language (the motto of the US!), I couldn't help but think how those simple statements would be labeled as contentious and political today.

The fundamental characteristic of human beings, the thing that has defined our history and shaped our civilization, is that we are social creatures. We are BORN dependent on the people around us. Any greatness we can achieve throughout our lives as individuals is equally dependent of the world we create with other human beings. Out of the unique contributions and experiences of so many people, we create one society, one world. E pluribus unum.

Thinking about the Peace Dollar and the vision of the US that it summons for me (a vision that is aspirational more than anything), I decided that I wanted to make my own take on the original coin based on the photos of the original model, Teresa de Francisci.

Description. Based on the Legendary British silver Britannia, this bar features the helmed personification of Great Britain with spear and shield, accompanied by the legendary Lion of Britain. The crashing waves hint towards Britain's historic dominance of the sea. For this piece, I experimented with trying to achieve a mirror finish for the background (which just involves a painful amount of sanding and polishing).

Description. [A poured bar in .999 fine silver, from 2 to about 6 troy oz. Some pours leave the moon bright; others tone it copper.]

Description. After many, many requests, I finally decided to tackle one of the classic designs from the world of coins, the Mexican Libertad. I’ve been wanting to experiment more with optical effects and light refraction in my work, so I reached out to a friend and fellow artist who happens to have a PhD in topology to explore new ways to torture geometry and play tricks on the eye. His contribution was the rippling halo effect behind the figures head. A tight set of offset concentric circles adds to the optical effect. The result is one of the most difficult pieces I've ever tried to pour.

Description. Originally conceptualized as the fifth installment in the Nations series, this design ended up becoming one of the first official pieces in my limited edition Rounds series. I have yet to make this design as a bar.