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Benjamin Sowards

The Utah illustrator who put a devilish grin on a gold coin — and George Washington back on the Delaware.

Most coin portraits play it safe. When Benjamin Sowards designed the obverse — the heads side — of the 2016 Mark Twain $5 gold coin, he gave America's great humorist a sly, devilish look. It is the kind of choice you make when you draw people for a living, not committees.

Who he is

Benjamin Sowards is a painter and illustrator who teaches for a living and designs coins on the side — and the side work has landed in millions of pockets.

He studied at Brigham Young University and at the Laguna College of Art and Design, two schools known for training realist painters rather than abstract ones. Since 2001 he has directed the illustration program at Southern Utah University, where he teaches both traditional painting and digital art. Before any of his designs reached the Mint, his name was already known for fully painted book covers — including the Leven Thumps series of young-adult fantasy novels.

That background matters. Sowards came to coinage as a storyteller and a portraitist, not as an engraver. His coin work carries the marks of someone used to filling a whole canvas: faces with mood, scenes with motion.

His craft and his role at the Mint

Sowards is a member of the U.S. Mint's Artistic Infusion Program — the AIP, a roster of outside artists the Mint invites to submit designs alongside its own staff sculptor-engravers. An AIP artist draws the design; a Mint sculptor then translates that drawing into the three-dimensional relief — the raised surface — that becomes a coin die. The two names share the credit.

His style is usually described as realistic with a touch of fantasy, and you can see why the Mint wanted it. His coins lean on character. The Mark Twain obverse he drew shows the writer with a sly, almost devilish expression — a portrait that reads as a personality, not a stamp. His best-known design, the reverse of the 2021 Washington Crossing the Delaware quarter, is pure narrative: General Washington faces right with his saber drawn, a boat of Continental soldiers fighting the icy current behind him. The Mint unveiled it on December 25, 2020 — exactly 244 years to the day after the real crossing.

Before those, Sowards had already worked through the First Spouse gold series, where the Mint pairs each presidential spouse's coin with a scene from her life. He designed the reverse of the Jacqueline Kennedy coin (released 2015) and the obverse of the Nancy Reagan coin (2016). On a coin he designed, his initials are the quiet signature an AIP artist is allowed to leave on the finished piece.

Key facts

Role
Illustrator, painter, U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) artist
Nationality
American
Training
Brigham Young University; Laguna College of Art and Design
Day job
Director of the Illustration Program, Southern Utah University (since 2001)
Best-known coin design
Reverse of the 2021 Washington Crossing the Delaware quarter
Other Mint work
Mark Twain $5 gold obverse (2016); Jacqueline Kennedy First Spouse reverse (2015); Nancy Reagan First Spouse obverse (2016)

Questions collectors ask

What coins did Benjamin Sowards design?

Sowards designed the obverse of the 2016 Mark Twain $5 gold commemorative, the reverse of the 2021 Washington Crossing the Delaware quarter, the reverse of the Jacqueline Kennedy First Spouse gold coin (released 2015), and the obverse of the Nancy Reagan First Spouse gold coin (2016). As an Artistic Infusion Program artist, he draws the design; a Mint sculptor-engraver then translates it into relief.

Did Benjamin Sowards design the Washington Crossing the Delaware quarter?

He designed the reverse — the tails side — showing General Washington with his saber drawn and a boat of soldiers crossing the icy Delaware behind him. It was sculpted by Mint medallic artist Michael Gaudioso and unveiled on December 25, 2020. The obverse keeps the standard George Washington portrait.

Is Benjamin Sowards a U.S. Mint engraver?

No. He is an Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) artist — an outside illustrator the Mint commissions for designs. He draws the design; a staff sculptor-engraver, such as Don Everhart on the Mark Twain coin, turns it into the three-dimensional model used to make the dies.

Why does Mark Twain look mischievous on his gold coin?

That was Sowards' design choice. His obverse portrait gives Twain a sly, devilish expression rather than a solemn one — a reflection of the writer's wit, and of a portraitist's instinct for character over formality.

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