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Coin Authority

Newsletter

Educating and Inspiring Coin Collectors

Vol. 3, November 2024  

Masters of Coin Design: 
Susan Taylor

Susan Taylor is one of the most reputable and awarded engravers and sculptors in the history of the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM). Having retired as a Senior Engraver after a 33-year career as a coin artist and medal engraver, Susan Taylor left a lasting impact on Canadian and global numismatics. Learn more about Susan Taylor’s accomplishments and some of the most famous Susan Taylor coins here with GovMint’s Masters of Coin Design series.

Who Is Susan Taylor?

Before Susan Taylor started her career in numismatics, she studied art and history at McMaster University. Her background in art led her to an apprenticeship as a Mint Engraver and launched her career as a notable Canadian coin designer. The Royal Canadian Mint hired Susan Taylor as a Mint Engraver in 1981.

Susan Taylor & The Royal Canadian Mint

At the beginning of Susan Taylor’s career as a coin designer, she worked with oil-based clay and waxed plaster, specializing in bas-relief sculptures. She also showed considerable skill in 3D sculpting with some of the first digital sculpting programs. Susan Taylor sculpted coin designs and prepared master tooling for 15 years until she left the RCM in 1996 for family obligations.

After a three-year break from the industry, Taylor returned to the RCM as a Senior Engraver. Her career as a coin artist exceeded 33 years with the RCM and resulted in some of the best-known and recognized coins in Canadian numismatic history. Susan Taylor’s accomplishments include joining the International Art Medal Federation (FIDEM), winning the 2016 American Medal of the Year Award, and earning the 2023 Coin of The Year Lifetime Achievement Award.

Notable Canadian Coin Designs from Susan Taylor

Some of the most notable Susan Taylor designs include coins issued as recently as 2023. Her work as a coin artist for the RCM continues to inspire coin designers and collectors around the world. Learn more about some of Susan Taylor’s most iconic coin designs below.

Peace & Liberty Medals

Susan Taylor created the classical design for Lady Peace which debuted in the 2019 Peace & Liberty Medals. The series marked the first time the RCM and U.S. Mint collaborated on a medal, as Susan Taylor designed the “Peace” side of the medal and former U.S. Mint Chief Engraver John Mercanti designed the “Liberty” obverse.

The depictions of Lady Liberty and Peace on the medal come from Canada’s National War Memorial, which features a bronze allegorical representation of liberty and peace over statues of 22 Canadian soldiers.

Canada Peace Dollar Series 

The 2019 Peace & Liberty Medal evolved into the popular Canada Peace Dollar series, which has been issued annually since 2020 and features Taylor’s Lady Peace design front and center. The series is famous for its unique embellishments and many firsts.

The series is celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2025, and to mark the occasion, the RCM commissioned the first-ever design update in the series, offering collectors the chance to own the full vision of the Peace and Liberty design that debuted on the Liberty & Peace Medal in 2019. Taylor’s new 2025 Canada Peace Dollar reverse design is rich in symbolism. It shows a "zoomed-out" version of Taylor's original reverse design, which results in a lovely, full-bodied depiction of Lady Peace striding along the Canadian Coast.

Light of Liberty Coins

Lady Liberty has long been an iconic figure in U.S. coinage since her appearance on the nation’s first official coin in 1792. The Light of Liberty Trilogy features three unique depictions of Lady Liberty from non-U.S. coin artists, with Susan Taylor designing the first in the trilogy. 

Susan Taylor’s design features Lady Liberty standing in front of the sunrise with her right arm wrapped around a billowing U.S. flag and her left arm raising a torch. John Mercanti designed the obverse for the series, which depicts a flying eagle and a sunrise.

Masters of Coin Design at GovMint

Susan Taylor has produced some of the best coin designs minted by the RCM. Her experience and talent for sculpting are evident in her designs, and industry leaders have praised her passion for coin design.

Find other award-winning designs from notable coin artists such as Beth Zaiken, Natanya Van Niekerk, and Emily Damstra in our ongoing Masters of Coin Design series at GovMint.

"Susan Taylor’s accomplishments include joining the International Art Medal Federation (FIDEM), winning the 2016 American Medal of the Year Award, and earning the 2023 Coin of The Year Lifetime Achievement Award."

 

These Coins are Ancient History: 
Discover the first coins

While experts date the first coins to between 640-630 BC in ancient Ionia in what is today western Turkey on the Aegean Sea, the need for a method of exchange preceded coins, as we know them, by thousands of years. Before coins, extensive local and even international commerce mostly consisted of two methods of payments. 

The oldest system was simple barter — the trading of two commodities. Someone needing a goat would offer, for instance, two bushels of wheat. The second system of payments in the ancient world used precious metals as money.

In this system, prices were set in weights of silver or gold, with raw metals weighed out on a balance scale. This required a system of weights ranging from a few grams up to large weights of more than a kilogram. 

The most famous ancient measure of weight is the shekel (equal to 11.2 grams), was first mentioned in the Bible when Abraham purchased a plot of land for 400 shekels to bury his wife Sara. 

Around the year 640 BC, an unknown inventor in the Greek colonies of Ionia realized that it would be possible to eliminate the constant weighing out of the metal if it was pre-weighed and cast into shapes. These very first coins were simply small balls of electrum, a naturally formed alloy of approximately half gold and half silver which was prevalent in the area of Ionia. 

These first coins were very small and had no markings on them. It was not long before the Ionians realized that it was necessary to mark these coins in some way to show that this small ball of electrum was indeed manufactured and weighed out, and not just some random piece found in the ground. 

At first, the markings consisted of just a punch on one side of the coin with no clear design, but over the next 30 to 40 years the coins were marked with more and more intricate designs — first as very simple line patterns, then aesthetic geometric designs, and finally pictures of animals and people. 

Gold Coin From the SS Central AmericaGold Coin From the SS Central America

The punch on one side of the coin, however, remained for almost 100 years, and even became part of the design of some coins of Ionia and the surrounding provinces for another 200 years.

Grading Ancient Coins

Rather than Sheldon’s 70-point scale, NGC Ancients will use the adjectival system. In the circulated grades the terms will strictly describe the amount of wear a coin has suffered; however, in the uncirculated grades it will take into account the overall appearance of the coin to distinguish among Mint State, Choice Mint State and Gem Mint State.

However, the Grade is only one of four components of the appearance of ancient coins that we evaluate, the others being Strike, Surface and Style.



"At first, the markings consisted of just a punch on one side of the coin with no clear design, but over the next 30 to 40 years the coins were marked with more and more intricate designs — first as very simple line patterns, then aesthetic geometric designs, and finally pictures of animals and people."

 

Iconic Coins of the U.S. Mint:
1913 Liberty Head Nickel

The Origins of Liberty Head Nickels

The Liberty Head Nickel design appeared on U.S. Mint nickels from 1883 to 1912, replacing the Shield nickel design. Coin artist Charles Barber created the Liberty Nickel (also known as the V Nickel), which depicts a left-facing portrait of Lady Liberty on the obverse and the Roman numeral “V” encircled by a wreath on the reverse. The original design was missing the word “CENTS,” which the U.S. Mint quickly added after some people started gold-plating liberty head nickels and passing them off as five-dollar gold pieces.

Production of the Liberty Nickel continued until 1912, when the Buffalo Nickel became the official five-cent piece of the U.S. Mint.

The Nickel That Should’ve Never Been

In 1913, a year after the U.S. Mint discontinued the Liberty Head Nickel, an unauthorized source mysteriously struck five more coins using the outdated design. These five coins, commonly known as the 1913 Liberty Head Nickels, represent some of the most famous American coins in numismatic history, as they were never approved for production. 

While the exact history behind the 1913 Liberty Nickel is undocumented, many believe a U.S. Mint employee was responsible for illegally striking the coins during the night shift when supervision was limited. Whether or not the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel’s creation was intentional, the coins remained a secret for years.

Why Is the 1913 Nickel So Rare?

The 1913 Liberty Head V Nickel is among the rarest coins in U.S. history because of its unauthorized production and limited quantity. An unknown person struck the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel without authorization from the U.S. Mint after the design had officially been discontinued. Only five of these coins are known to exist, and several have been sold for millions of dollars apiece at coin-collecting auctions.

Who Is Samuel W. Brown?

Many experts believe the most likely culprit behind the creation of the 1913 Liberty Nickel is Samuel W. Brown—a former employee of the Philadelphia Mint. 


The first public acknowledgment of the coins’ existence came in 1919 when Brown ran an ad in the Numismatic magazine offering $500 for any 1913 Liberty Head Nickel. Brown displayed his unique set of the five coins at the 1920 American Numismatic Association (ANA) Convention just one year after running the ad.

Because of Brown’s association with the Philadelphia Mint in 1913, experts speculate that he published the ad in 1919 to cover how he came to possess the coins—by minting them himself—and would later sell them for $600 each. Brown’s suspected involvement in the minting of the 1913 Liberty Nickel would explain how he possessed the entire set and his interest in a coin set that, until 1920, nobody knew existed.

Where Are the 1913 Liberty Head Nickels Today?

Brown successfully sold the 1913 Liberty Head Nickels to August Wagner, who then sold them to Ned Green in 1924. Green was the final owner of the entire collection; each coin started its unique journey after he sold the set.

Two Liberty Head Nickels ended up in museums: the Norweb Specimen at the Smithsonian Institution and the McDermott Specimen at the American Numismatic Association’s Money Museum in Colorado Springs.

The other three copies are all part of unique private collections. The Eliasberg Specimen saw several well-known owners, including famous numismatist Louis E. Eliasberg. The Olsen Specimen is the most notable 1913 Liberty Head Nickel after it appeared on the TV show Hawaii Five-O in 1973. The Walton Specimen went missing after its owner died in a car accident. New York numismatic professionals originally declared the coin a fake, but other experts confirmed its legitimacy in 2003.



"The 1913 Liberty Head V Nickel is among the rarest coins in U.S. history because of its unauthorized production and limited quantity."

 

Silver Eagle Fast Facts 

Where Are American Silver Eagles Coins Minted?

Throughout the series, American Silver Eagles have been minted at various branches of the United States Mint, including the Philadelphia, West Point, and San Francisco Mints. On collector strikes, like Burnished and Proof Silver Eagles, the mint of origin will be denoted by a mint mark. American Silver Eagle Proof coins were first struck at the San Francisco facility (1986-1992) and marked with an “S,” followed by Philadelphia (1993-2000) with a “P,” and since 2001, they have been consistently minted at West Point with a “W.” Starting in 2018, collectors have been treated to Proof Silver Eagles from both the West Point and San Francisco Mints each year.

While Bullion Silver Eagles do not carry a mint mark, grading companies like Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) and Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) can determine where such issues were struck thanks to identifying marks on sealed monster boxes, which is affirmed on the certification label with a “Struck At” pedigree.

What is the Difference Between Type 1 and Type 2 Silver Eagles?

American Silver Eagles are a popular choice among collectors, and they come in two distinct types: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 Silver Eagles, minted from 1986 to mid-2021, feature the classic Heraldic Eagle reverse design by John Mercanti, a prolific coin designer and former Chief Engraver of the United States Mint. In mid-2021, the United States Mint introduced the Type 2 Silver Eagle, marking a significant update with a new reverse design by Emily Damstra.

The Type 2 reverse design features a more naturalistic depiction of an eagle coming in for a landing, grasping an oak branch. Type 2 Silver Eagles also incorporate an enhanced security feature to prevent counterfeiting in the form of a reeded edge variation.

Do American Silver Eagles Tarnish?

Despite being of high quality at 99.9% purity, American Silver Eagles are not immune to tarnishing. The slight alloy composition, which is not 100% pure silver, renders them vulnerable to tarnishing over time, primarily upon exposure to air and specific environmental conditions. While pure silver is less prone to tarnishing due to its resistance to oxidation, the slight .01% presence of other metals in Silver Eagles can lead to tarnishing over time. Proper storage and handling practices are recommended to maintain the appearance of silver bullion coins, like Silver Eagles.



"The Type 2 reverse design features a more naturalistic depiction of an eagle coming in for a landing, grasping an oak branch. Type 2 Silver Eagles also incorporate an enhanced security feature to prevent counterfeiting in the form of a reeded edge variation."

 

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