Heidi Wastweet's coins and medals

Zoins

I've seen models of coins on Heidi Wastweet's website and I always wondered who commissioned them. It turns out it was Ron Bozynski of Royal Oak Mint back in the 1990s. Here's a silver cent with a mintage of 100 that just sold for $66.

Here are some links for Heidi:

• Personal Site: http://www.wastweetstudio.com/
• US Mint: https://www.usmint.gov/learn/artists/aip-heidi-wastweet
• American Medallic Sculpture Association: https://amsamedals.org/heidi-wastweet/

Some items from her bio:

• Chief Engraver for Sunshine Mint for 11 years
• lead designer/sculptor for Global Mint for 5 years
• member of Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) for 8 years
• president of American Medallic Sculpture Association since 2016
• member of US Mint Artistic Infusion Program since 2019

It looks like her tenure on CCAC overlapped with Roger Burdette for a short time, like 12 months, before Roger resigned to prevent a conflict of interest. Her appointment was announced March 2010, and Roger's resignation was announced March 2011.

She her work is also in some museums and the ANS!

Her medals are in the permanent collection of Brookgreen Gardens, The British Museum, the Smithsonian and the American Numismatic Society.

coinsarefun

Great information! You always research and come up with the most interesting things.

ricko

@Zoins.... Thank you for the information and links.... I like these historical tidbits. Cheers, RickO

JBK

I saw that cent for sale - didn't know the history.

Her achievements are all the more remarkable as she is self taught.

LanceNewmanOCC

here are some images from the commission medals section of her site. link provided by op.

johnny9434

wow theres some nice things in here, I like

ms70

"member of US Mint Artistic Infusion Program since 2019"

They need to put her in charge at the Mint.

Zoins

Here's Heidi's new rendition of Lady Liberty:

Freedom Girl

RedCopper

Looks like snakes on Lady Libertys head

Zoins

@RedCopper said:
Looks like snakes on Lady Libertys head

Interesting. I never thought of that. I don't see snakes because I expect a snake's head to be wider than its neck. Maybe snake tails but I normally expect the heads to be on the end too.

The me, the hair goes great with the word "freedom" because it looks "free".

gonzer

The Mint engravers can only dream of being half as talented as her.

Jimnight

@LanceNewmanOCC

Thank you for posting those medals ... they are really nice.

MsMorrisine

@Zoins said:
Here's Heidi's new rendition of Lady Liberty:

Freedom Girl

not enough realism. but she has premium quality stuff. (the thick earring would stretch that lobe) the reverse fits quite well with the obverse.

I'd hope that there are more designers of her caliber and they CCAC can filter out less desirable designs.

there is also the question of suitability of design. ditto on CCAC.

the freedom is ok with that, but only ok.

Zoins

@MsMorrisine said:

@Zoins said:
Here's Heidi's new rendition of Lady Liberty:

Freedom Girl

not enough realism. but she has premium quality stuff. (the thick earring would stretch that lobe) the reverse fits quite well with the obverse.

I'd hope that there are more designers of her caliber and they CCAC can filter out less desirable designs.

there is also the question of suitability of design. ditto on CCAC.

the freedom is ok with that, but only ok.

Agree that artists may not have enough freedom to come up with a design like that for the US Mint, but it's a popular example of her work. I like to see what artists can do when they are given the freedom to express their creativiity.

For something perhaps more suitable to the US Mint, I really like her rendition of William Penn, done for the ANA. Of note, this was a collaborative effort. While Heidi did the sculpting, the design was done by Jamie N. Franki, another member of the U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion program. This was struck by Medalcraft Mint in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Here are two US Mint renditions of William Penn from my collection done by George Morgan for comparison.

messydesk

Here's a video on the making of the Freedom Girl medal (no sound).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp6F3TLA6xs

Zoins

@messydesk said:
Here's a video on the making of the Freedom Girl medal (no sound).

Great video! It's neat to see all the steps that go into making this.

Here's a color toned specimen I picked up a while back. Haven't seen many of these around.

Namvet69

Thanks for enlightening me on this artist. I am impressed. Peace Roy

LGTheCoinAnalyst

Great thread! I know Heidi and love her work.

coinsarefun

Oddly enough I just purchased one of her medals that was designed by Mel Wacks and sculpted
by Heidi Wastweet's with a mintage of Max mintage of 50 but I think there might be even less.
I’ll post it when I receive it.

ZoidMeister

Another of her designs . . . .

Z
.

.

coinsarefun

@Zoins said:

@messydesk said:
Here's a video on the making of the Freedom Girl medal (no sound).

Great video! It's neat to see all the steps that go into making this.

Here's a color toned specimen I picked up a while back. Haven't seen many of these around.

.
.
Looks pretty toned like that. Do you know who did the toning?

coinsarefun

I like that Maui one a lot.@zoidmeister. The fish and turtle looks really nice

BillyKingsley

First time I'm becoming aware of her work is in this thread, but I like what I am seeing here.

ZoidMeister

@coinsarefun said:
Oddly enough I just purchased one of her medals that was designed by Mel Wacks and sculpted
by Heidi Wastweet's with a mintage of Max mintage of 50 but I think there might be even less.
I’ll post it when I receive it.

.

.
Please do . . !

coinsarefun

@ZoidMeister said:

@coinsarefun said:
Oddly enough I just purchased one of her medals that was designed by Mel Wacks and sculpted
by Heidi Wastweet's with a mintage of Max mintage of 50 but I think there might be even less.
I’ll post it when I receive it.

.

.
Please do . . !

.
.
Here you go.

.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1063685/what-happens-when-mel-wacks-and-heidi-wastweet-get-together-on-a-medal#latest

Zoins

Here's one done by Heidi Wastweet for Mike Bozynski which Mike only released recently.

I couldn't resist picking up as I figured this might be my only opportunity in a very long time!