A Shawnigan Lake artist related to a famous Italian coin-engraver has designed a new British sovereign.
Angela Pistrucci has designed a gold sovereign portraying Saint George slaying a dragon for the London Mint.
The sovereign honours the 200th anniversary of the first gold sovereign. That coin, also portraying Saint George and the dragon, was designed by Pistrucci’s great-great-great-grand-uncle Benedetto Pistrucci.
Pistrucci, 53, said she was thrilled and “really shocked” when the London Mint asked her to design the new sovereign.
“It’s gratifying because [Benedetto Pistrucci] was a master. For me, it’s a familial bond, I guess you could say.”
Although it’s legal tender, the new sovereign is being marketed by the London Mint as a collector’s item (with an accompanying book) that sells for $1,230 Cdn. The mint has previously produced British coins commemorating Winston Churchill, the Queen’s 90th birthday and the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
Pistrucci connected with the London Mint in 2015, when it was issuing a reproduction of a 1841 Duke of Wellington medal by Benedetto Pistrucci. The mint was seeking to invite the chief medalist’s relatives to an event marking the medal’s release, and found Pistrucci through her website.
Impressed by Pistrucci’s artistic skill, the London Mint subsequently commissioned the 2017 sovereign.
It took her two years to complete drawings for the new design, which is directly inspired by the original sovereign. Her design, with the Queen’s profile on the back, had to be approved by Buckingham Palace.
She is now in the process of designing nine other coins for the London Mint, including a half-sovereign.
Last year, Pistrucci attended the Scuolo dell’Arte della Medaglia in Rome to study the art of coin- and medal-making.
The artist, who specializes in relief work, particularly art tiles, was awarded “Best in Show” at the 2007 Sooke Fine Arts Show and has served as an instructor for the Metchosin International Summer School of Art.
A former Victoria resident who moved to Shawnigan Lake in 2015, Pistrucci is also a relation of Edward John Cobbett, a noted 19th-century English painter.
