Emily Damstra is a freelance natural science illustrator and nature artist who has designed over a dozen coins and medals for the US Mint, as well as more than three dozen coins for the Royal Canadian Mint. She has been a professional illustrator for 20+ years and has enjoyed a career that has seen her illustration work appear in books, magazines, advertisements and on interpretive signage mounted in public parks.
You can learn more about Ms. Damstar at her web site: Illustrator & Designer Emily S. DamstraFor the Canadian Mint, Ms. Damstra has delivered natural habitat designs highlighting the nation's flora and fauna. Her work has graced gold and silver coins, some with color enhancements some using traditional engraving, but always with eye toward realistic depictions.
Though I have a Canadian commemorative coin collection that numbers 100+ pieces, I find that I don't own any that feature a design by Ms. Damstra. It's not an indictment of her work - I like it very much - it's a matter of my collection being focused on commemorative Silver Dollars and her work appearing on collector coins of higher denominations.
For the US Mint, Ms. Damstra has designed the Common Obverse and Reverse of the 2018 Breast Cancer Awareness commemorative coins, the Obverse and Reverse of the 2017 Boys Town Silver Dollar and the Reverse of the 2021 Christa McAuliffe Silver Dollar.
She has also created multiple designs for the American Women Quarters™ Program:
- 2022 Maya Angelou (Reverse)
- 2022 Anna May Wong (Reverse)
- 2023 Edith Kanaka#699;ole (Reverse)
- 2024 Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray (Reverse)
Along with:
- 2019 Native American $1 Coin - (Reverse)
- 2019
American Innovation $1 Coin - Georgia (Reverse)
- 2020
American Innovation $1 Coin - Massachusetts reverse
- 2019 America the Beautiful Quarters® Program - Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness - Idaho (Reverse)
- 2020 America the Beautiful Quarters® Program - Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve - Kansas (Reverse)
-And, a favorite of many here:
- 2021 American Eagle Silver Coin - (Reverse)
She has also designed several Mint medals.
Assembling a set of
US coins designed by Ms. Damstra would be a very doable endeavor, and, IMO, make for an attractive and historically interesting collection.
Samples of her commemorative coin designs (I prefer uncirculated examples for my collection!):
For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including other Quick Bits stories, see:
Commems Collection. 
Posted 07/13/2025 12:35 pm
