***

I was so excited when Łukasz Rosanowski, the owner of Mint of Gdansk asked me to draw a Witcher series coins. It was a huge challenge! With Łukasz we talked for hours and hours about all details of the first coin and about the whole coin series. We both knew that the project could not refer neither to the Polish, quite old film adaptation of The Witcher, nor to the well-known game. The design of the Witcher coins should be based only to the Andrzej Sapkowski’s book. I need to clarify: „The Last Wish” coin, the firrts coin in this series, was created in 2019 and its premiere took place before famous Netflix „Witcher” series.

When you create the whole coin series, you should first create the whole graphic framework for the entire series. The characters should have the same coherent look in all coins.That’s why the first coin „The Last Wishes” imposed the layout of the series. This first coin was the beginning of the illustrated minted story.

Preparation for a project is always fundamental! I have read “The Last Wish” book several times. I took notes: Geralt’s sword had to be a typical medieval longsword and it should have a notched handle. I had to break with the common Geralt’s image taken from the Polish movie and famous game: no smooth hair combed into a ponytail. And the “book” witcher did not carry two swords on his back! Only one of them was suspended on his back. The second one, the special silver sword, was hidden in the horse saddlebags. Geralt of Rivia was dressed in a coat and a leather jacket laced on the shoulders and under the neck. Unlike his friend Dandelion, Geralt wasn’t handsome. I imagined Witcher to be a crude, strong guy with messily flowing hair tied with a headband on his forehead.

My husband, who is a fan of Andrzej Sapkowski’s saga, supported me in my project. He verified all my sketches with a very critical eye. He checked all details of the main illustration. I worked with two book editions: the paper edition and e-book version of the saga–just to be able to find faster the necessary descriptions. The design of the coin had to be as close to the text as posible.

The “Last Wish” coin design is not simply one selected scene from a book. I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t do something unusual. 😉 The reverse of the coin is a compilation of two different scenes from the book:

1) Dandelion loses his voice and Geralt fights with the Genie to protect his friend. Gerald holds in his hand a seal with a nine-pointed star (this is not the Aard sign!),

2) Yennefer, holding in both hands a magic ball with a pentagram, is approaching to the Genie. Behind her a portal opens.

In the book, these two scenes do not happen at the same time, but on the coin they do. I named them simultanous scenes. Of course this is nothing new… We know simultaneous scenes from the medieval paintings and painted lives of saints.

On the obverse we see elements that are repeated on each coin in the Witchers’ series:
• an ornamental ring with a pattern in a Celtic style;
• three Witcher swords (two of Geralt’s and one of Ciri’s—all three as described in the book),
• a Geralt’s medallion with a wolf,
• Yennefer’s medallion: an obsidian star with diamonds.

***

Sword of Destiny

“Sword of Destiny“, the 2^nd coin in Witcher series, selective gilding, 3D insert, issuer: Niue 2020.

***

On the reverse: inside the oak tree, Eithné—queen of Brokilon, gives Ciri a cup of the Water of Brokilon. In the background we see the dryad Braenn. And on the simultaneous scene: in Brokilon forest Geralt is fighting against a scolopendromorph.

The first rough sketch showed a completely different scene: a dryad archer and Geralt are fighting against the scolopendromorph to protect Ciri. Ciri is hidden in the bushes.

On the obverse: the Brokilon forest.

***

Blood of Elves

“Blood of Elves“, the 3^nd coin in Witcher series, selective gilding, wooden insert, issuer: Niue 2022.

***

I was working about 9 months on the 3^rd coin in the Witcher series. It was very tough project. About ten sketches of this coin were created. Concepts were constantly changing… Finally the decision was made: on the 3^rd coin we will see Geralt’s fight with the Scoia’tael elf. The elf, in a characteristic hat with a squirrel tail, is bleedeing after the mortal cut of Geralt’s sword. She falls to her knees and before she fell on her face, she screamed: „Shaerraweeeeedd!!!”.

Ciri, witcher’s apprentice, with her hair cut short, has a rose in her vest. She picked this white rose from the Shaerrawedd rose bush. In the background, we see a simultaneous scene: furious Yarpen Zigrin cuts with an ax the black-bearded dwarf. This dwarf just killed Yarpen’s brother which body we see behind. In the background, the approaching Scoia’tael troups and burned houses.

The coin is minted. The weakest link in this coin composition is the cart wheel insert. Made of small piece of wood, the insert is not filigree enough and it does not match the detailed coin relief. Not empty gaps between the spokes do not look natural. A 3D printing insert would probably be better. What a pity!

On the obverse:
• Shaerrawedd—a destroyed elven palace,
• a gravestone of Aelirenn—also called the White Rose of Shaerrawedd, the leader of the elves,
• a rose bush from which Ciri picked a flower.

Above the scene a hypothetical Scoia’tael coat of arms with a squirrel.

Unfortunately, my adventure with the Witcher coin series ended with these three coins. Do the subsequent coins reflect my original idea of the simultaneous scenes? Judge for yourself.

***

I will not write much about this project, because its iconography is not complicated. There is less symbolism here than in the previous 4 coins of the series (see: Ares, Poseidon, Hephaestus and Apollo). Zeus, god of storms and lightning, flies among the clouds. Behind him we see the Mont Olympus. Atributes of Zeus are: eagle and aegis—the shield of Zeus and Athena, featuring the head of Medusa and made of Amalthea’s skin. Amalthea was the goat who suckled the infant Zeus.

***

The second coin in this series after “Spartacus”. This is the ilustration of the famous battle of Thermopylae. The Spartan phalanx is just hiting the Persian army.

***

I started working on this project in 2018 and the coin was originally going to have an amber insert. Finally, the design was finished in 2019 and the coin was refined with selective gilding. Great topic and finally something different from Roman or Greek gods!

On the reverse on the second plan we see the Alamut castle (my own hypothetical reconstruction of the fortress). On the rim the inscription “Nizaris ” in Arabic.

Strong and Beautiful Goddesses series, Niue, 5 dollars, 2 oz, 45 mm, antique finish high relief coin, selective gilding, client and producer: Mint of Poland.

***

Victoria and Nike

Niue 2018.

About this coin:

Photo of the coin: Power Coin Blog

“The best design of all time and over the world with women on coin.” / “Sympathetic design” (my own translation from Russian): Silver Stacking Academy 2 YouTube

***

Athena and Minerva

Niue 2019.

This is the sequel of the series inspired by artwork of Alfons Mucha.
Athena was the goddess of wisdom, art and war. Her attributes are: the owl (on her helm), a symbol of wisdom and the olive tree (olive branch in her hand), a symbol of prosperity. Athena offered the first olive tree to the Athenians…
Minerva, Roman goddess of war and art. She follows the Greek myths around Athena: on her helm we see Pegasus, a winged horse symbolizing artistic inspiration. Athena (Minerva) helped Bellerophon catch Pegasus with a golden bridle…

See the coin on Mint of Poland’s YT channel.

***

Aphrodite and Venus

Niue 2020.

In my opinion, the third coin in this series, unfortunately does not reproduce accurately my design. The faces of both goddesses on the minted coin are not so delicate as on my drawing. What a pity…

***

Tyche and Fortuna

In Greek Tyche (Τύχη) means blind fate, blind luck or fortune. Tyche is blind—she has a gold sash that covers her eyes. Fortuna is looking at the roman coin with the personification of the fortune. Both goddesses were responsible for the prosperity of the cities: they wear city—shaped crowns, respectively Greek and Roman. In ancient art Tyche and Fortuna was depicted as carrying a cornucopia—a horn of plenty. The wheel represents the unpredictable turns of fortune.

See the coin on Mint of Poland’s YT channel.

***