The Sculptor's Wife

In 1921, sculptor Anthony de Francisci needed a face for Liberty. He found it across the room. He modeled the new Peace Dollar on his wife, Teresa de Francisci — an Italian immigrant who, as a young girl, had stood on the deck of the ship that carried her to America and watched the Statue of Liberty rise out of the harbor. Years later, in their New York studio, she struck that remembered pose from memory.

The Sculptor’s Wife tells that story in a single image: the face appears three times — the living woman, the plaster model, and the struck coin. Life becoming art becoming money. It is arguably the most human story in all of American coinage.

The Peace Dollar was introduced in 1921 to commemorate the peace following World War I and struck for circulation through 1935. The 1922 issue marks the first year of the lowered-relief design that made the coin practical to mass-produce — the version that carried Teresa’s likeness into the hands of a nation. Designed by de Francisci, the obverse shows Liberty crowned with rays; the reverse, a bald eagle at rest above the word PEACE.

Message from the Curator

I’ve told this story across a counter more times than I can count, and it never fails to land. People come for the silver and stay for Teresa — the immigrant girl who saw Liberty from a ship and then, years later, became her. This piece is my attempt to give that story a frame worthy of it: not just a coin, but the human chain behind it.

Artist / AI Disclosure

This MintMark artwork was conceived, directed, and curated by the artist through a human-directed, AI-assisted fine-art process. Human numismatic expertise and historical research directed the AI-assisted rendering. The AI is the brush. The knowledge is human.

This is an original interpretive artwork inspired by American coinage and the history of the Peace Dollar. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the United States Mint or any government agency.