A San Marcos artist has designed a coin for the U.S. Mint to celebrate the county’s 250th anniversary.
Christopher Polentz’s design features a quill in the foreground. In the background, the sun breaks through the clouds.
“The storm clouds are representative of many things,” he said. “The battle, the uncertainty, the discomfort.”
The sun, he said, represents hope.
Polentz is part of a nationwide pool of artists that works with the Mint to design coins and medals.
“They accepted me and I was shocked,” he said.
He was shocked, he said, because of the portfolio he submitted in his application. He described his style as surreal and dark. His Instagram page and website show portraits with exaggerated features.
He and two dozen other artists went to Philadelphia to tour the Mint and learn about the coin-making process. They learned about how to make a design mintable.
Artists typically have two weeks to come up with an initial design, Polentz said. Staff at the Mint gave feedback on things like spacing and how deeply design features can be pressed into the metal.
Polentz has made 20 designs for the Mint so far, and three have been minted.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” he said.
The two other designs are on the same 2025 coin celebrating liberty. On the front of the coin is a sunflower and a honey bee. It represents the symbiotic relationship between democracy and the American people, Polentz said.
He knew he wanted to include an eagle on the back, but he wanted it to look different from eagles he’d seen on other coins. His eagle calls out mid-flight, its wings framing its face.
“It's aggressive. It's angular. It's kind of threatening,” he said.
Collectibles like the 2025 Liberty coin sell fast, Polentz said.
“I had all my family members online in case I couldn't get one,” he said. “At exactly 10 o’clock we have to be online, ready to drop our money on this coin, because it'll be gone.”
The Mint is making 15,000 of the Declaration of Independence platinum coins. They cost $2,495 each on the Mint’s website.
