Whatever the future has in store for Kwakiutl artist Richard Hunt, the world-renowned Victoria carver and painter will always have at least $200 close at hand, thanks to a recent commission.
As part of the compensation for his design for a new $200 pure-gold coin, worth nearly $4,200, Hunt was given one of the 500 coins produced by the Royal Canadian Mint.
“I told them it might be nice for the artist to have one of them and they agreed,” he said with a laugh.
The coin, weighing in at just over 31 grams and released for sale this week, features a shining sun surrounded by two engraved pairs of bighorn sheep across its 30-millimetre surface. Two of the sheep are enhanced with brightly coloured backgrounds, while two others have been finished in gold.
The coin, called Ramming Bighorn Sheep, also sports a ring of mountain peaks that frame the battling sheep. The sheep also feature the eagle crest representing Hunt’s home village of Fort Rupert and the raven crest of his father, Henry Hunt, on their hooves.
The flip side of the 99.99 per cent gold coin is a picture of the Queen.
It’s the fourth coin Hunt has designed for the mint. “They saw my website years ago and said they liked my work and wanted to work with me,” he said. “It’s really nice to see your work on a coin.
“I was honoured they liked my work.”
His first, in 2005, showed two native groups coming together, while a second one he designed in 2012 to mark the 25th anniversary of the loonie featured two loons kissing.
In 2015, Hunt designed a $10 silver coin — Mother feeding Baby — with a mother eagle giving a minnow to her eaglet, while the father flies toward them carrying a salmon.
The most recent design took him about two weeks to produce, first using pencil and paper and then painting an image that measured about 10 inches by 10 inches.
He said the engravers at the mint worked with him as they tweaked the design — adding more rounded features to the sheep — throughout the process.
Hunt said he had originally designed the coin with four painted sheep, but the mint opted for two, offset with two gold ones, which he likes. “I think it looks good.”
Hunt said in his experience it won’t be long before the coins are worth more than their $4,199.95 sticker price (they’re available online at mint.ca).
“I guess there is quite a group of people who collect the coins,” he said, noting one of his earlier coins was retailing for $300 but sold out quickly and collectors started reselling it at a much higher price.
Hunt has a few projects underway, including a moon mask commissioned by a collector in New Mexico and a frog bowl he can’t quite seem to finish. “It always gets harder at the end. I’m almost there.”
He also has big plans for a piece of old-growth cedar in his studio, which he hopes to transform into a large, wearable killer whale mask, much like one he did 40 years ago that is on display at the Royal B.C. Museum.
