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 Replies: 28 / Views: 2,670 |
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New Member
United States
18 Posts |
Hi everyone, If you could ask a U.S. Mint coin artist anything you ever wanted to know, what would you ask? U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Joel Iskowitz has agreed to take on the members of the Coin Community family in a Q&A type interview. =) It won't be live, like some of the interviews here in the past, but you can ask your questions here, and I'll pass them all along to Joel via email. He'll send his responses, which I'll write up in interview format at Coins.About.com. When the interview is done, I'll let everyone know. I expect to do two versions: the Q&A type for online, and a more traditional magazine type format for one of the numismatic print publications. Joel has designed several U.S. coins, including one that you hopefully have in your pocket right now, in an effort to help circulate them: the John Adams Presidential dollar. Joel also designed the upcoming James Madison Presidential dollar, the Arizona State Quarter, and a few other coins (I think 9 in total.) Joel has also designed postage stamps for several nations (but not the U.S.) You can see his portfolio and artist's studio web pages here: Joel Iskowitz Portfolio http://www.portfolios.com/profile.h...JoelIskowitzJoel's Mountain Studio http://www.themountainstudio.com/Some sample questions might be:
- What does it feel like knowing that millions of Americans have your artwork in their pockets and homes?
- Does it bother you that the Mint goofed on making some of your Adams dollars, and made big errors out of them?
- What are the differences between designing a coin and designing a stamp?
These are just three ideas off the top of my head. I could just ask all the questions myself, but I wanted this to be an interview between Joel and the collecting community, not just an interview between him and me. I'll probably add some questions beyond those you guys ask here, but I want most of the questions to come from you guys. =) (Gals are welcome to participate, too.)  Please be aware that not all questions may be accepted. Irreverence and penetrating, thoughtful questions are okay; rude ones are not. Question deadline is Wednesday evening if I have Web access at the ANA show in Milwaukee, and Saturday morning if I don't, so please don't delay. Thank you for your help! =) Susan Headley |
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Forum Dad
 United States
24154 Posts |
Thanks Susan! I'm sure our members can come up with some great questions for Joel. Let's try to keep this thread on topic and come up with some good stuff! I know it will be difficult for some of you but please resist the urge to answer the questions yourselves.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2443 Posts |
Wow, that's great. OK, some from the top of my head right now.
What kind of restrictions did you have when you were designing your coins?
How did you first get into the coin/stamp designing business? Was it a contest or an artist call out?
Are you a coin/stamp collector?
Did the mint give you any examples of your finial product, or did you have to wait like the rest of us to get one?
What in your opinion needs to have a redesign and what would you do to it?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
914 Posts |
Have you ever seen a coin design and think 'Wish I created that one'?
Which 19th century coin design is your favorite?
Edited by Vaslin
08/06/2007 11:43 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1454 Posts |
Would you consider designing a foreign coin and if so which country would you want it to be?
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
Would the mint ever consider producing and releasing into circulation (in test areas) designs which would be considered for U.S. Coins to see if they would be generally accepted? This would get the public more interested in obtaining rarer examples of these modern "patterns". It would generate interest in both pattern coins (currently a very undervalued area of the market) and modern releases from the mint.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
882 Posts |
Do you know if the US mint has plans in regard to the dollar coin taking over the paper dollar bill? If so, when?
I know hes a US Mint coin artist, but I think he would have a better idea than all of us...
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1360 Posts |
1) How does the process of submitting a design to the Mint work? For example, do you submit a design and then receive feedback regarding changes that should be made? Does the Mint give you a chance to alter/edit your design? Or is a design simply accepted or rejected without any sort of discussion taking place? 2) Can you give me an idea of the sort of process that takes place when you are starting a new design? Do you start with several variations of the same theme? Or do you start with only one design, and then modify it as you go along? And if you start with several variations, how difficult is it to discard the ones you don't use? Because I would imagine that you would form an attachment to something that you have put so much of your time and ability into. 3) How does it feel knowing that way over here in Australia (along with many other countries) you have people eagerly awaiting your newest designs? That all over the globe your designs reside in collections, and are loved by so many? 4) If you were given the opportunity to design for any mint in any country on earth, which would you choose? And why that particular mint/country? Thanks for the opportunity to ask these questions!  Edited by Snooba
08/07/2007 05:47 am
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Valued Member
United States
499 Posts |
I don't have any questions for Mr.Iskowitz but would like to take a second to say that he is a very interesting person and a total gentleman. I met him at the release event for the Adams dollar. He has a policy of not signing anything that can contain a coin he designed (holders, rolls, etc.) as he doesn't want these items showing up on ebay. He did however break his own policy for my 9 year old son when he found out that we are Descendants of Adam's relatives. He made my son swear that he would never sell it and then signed a roll of dollars. Needless to say this is my son's favorite item in his collection! Ziggy |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Good idea. I'm sure there will be many, many questions.
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Rest in Peace
United States
2668 Posts |
What changes in your designs have, uh, irritated youse? Not like Fountainhead (Shameless plug for an Ayn Rand book), but beyond miffed.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
62064 Posts |
Why don't they restore the LIBERTY designs and do away with the dead Presidents Coins? Not disrespectful, just prefer the classic designs of the older coinage.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1571 Posts |
Why don't they just dump all the dollar, (the 2-bit sized coins, and make a decent looking coin that people would be proud to own, instead of the ones made of Gold, that are more an investment against the day we have to use something beside coins? You know what I refer to, the chip under the skin, someplace, and just pass thru a machine to spend something, (credits, maybe). It would tend to eliminate the charges for "overdrawing the checking account", but would do nothing for the credit cards. People would find a way to "Just charge it"!
Dick.
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Forum Dad
United States
24154 Posts |
How are you compensated for your skills? I'm certainly not asking how much, but do you only get paid if your design is used, or are you on the payroll?
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New Member
 United States
18 Posts |
I would like to thank everyone for their great questions! I will leave this topic open until late Sunday night, in case anybody can think of any last minute questions, and then these will all be forwarded to Joel Iskowitz for his responses. It might be a week or so before he has time to answer them all, send them back to me, and then for me to write it all up and put it on the Web, but I'll post a link on the forum here once it's done. I sincerely appreciate everyone's participation, and would like to thank Bobby and Susan for providing this wonderful community for us all! I know I don't post much here, but I read most threads a couple times a week, just to keep tabs on what people are saying. =) Susan |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
914 Posts |
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Replies: 28 / Views: 2,670 |
Posted 08/06/2007 11:32 pm
