Three years ago, Chris Polentz heard the U.S. Mint was putting out a nationwide call for artists to apply for the Mint’s Artististic Infusion Program. The San Marcos-based artist decided to give it a chance. He sent samples of his art, filled out the application and forgot about it.

Now he’s on a team of artists designing coins and medals for the U.S. Mint. He never thought he would eventually design a coin for the country’s 250th anniversary.

When he got the acceptance email, Polentz thought it was a phishing scam. “You just don’t know these days,” he said. “I was surprised that I had actually been selected. My work is not what I would call mainstream.”

Polentz was chosen to join a team of more than 30 artists with various backgrounds from across the country to create designs for U.S. coins.

“We are recording American history on coins and medals,” Polentz said. The U.S. Mint has been depicting the story of the country on coins since its inception in 1792.

The artists each draw up their design for the assigned concept of the coin and refine it as it undergoes review by support staff at the Mint. The idea is to make sure the design is “coinable,” that is, it can be produced on a coin, before all the designs in the portfolio move on for committee review. For Polentz, the design work begins with traditional drawing, and then eventually becomes completely digital.

“it is quite an involved process,” said Polentz, who has been teaching art courses for nearly 40 years at various colleges and working as a freelance illustrator.

Before beginning any design projects, Polentz, along with the other new designers, were flown to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia for a four-day educational symposium on the history of American coin design and on the detailed guidelines required for a design to be compliant or “mintable.”

“Being selected to work on these historic projects is a once in a lifetime opportunity and very exciting, but afterwards reality set in and the work began. These were my very first designs for the mint. I felt a lot of pressure, or maybe I put it on myself, wondering if I was really qualified and could I deliver?”

Only one artist’s design is picked for a coin.

Polentz’s first design, 2025 American Liberty High Relief Gold Coin, was about a year and a half in the making and was minted last year.

Polentz came up with the idea of a sunflower and honey bee, representing a “living partnership, each necessary for one another’s survival, as is the case with our democracy,” he said.

“The Fibonacci Sequence, a  numerical pattern appearing in the sunflower’s seeds, is a wonderful hidden representation of the people and government arranged in an organized, harmonious fashion working and growing together,” Polentz said.

His design was sculpted in gold and silver for both the obverse (front side of the coin) and reverse side for the 2025 Liberty series and was selected as one of the top 100 Coin of the Year (COTY) designs worldwide for 2025. It was top 10 in the Best Gold Coin category. There were 600 submissions from mints, banks and collectors around the world.

So how does Polentz get his ideas?

“I run many ideas through my head, most of them are not all that great. At some point in time I have to decide on something, and then run with that. The swirling eagle on the reverse side of the coin–I really don’t know where that came from either. I wanted something powerful, aggressive, with a modern ‘designy’ feel to it — not a literal or editorial portrait of our nation’s symbol, the bald eagle. The design can’t always be planned, as much as it has to evolve, grow and change from what you thought it was going to be, into what it is going to be. It takes on a life of its own, then the direction it needs, will just happen,” Polentz said.

Polentz has worked on 20 coin design projects with the U.S. Mint over the past two and a half years and so far three of his designs have been minted. Two designs were on the front and reverse sides of the 2025 Liberty coin and one on the front of the 2026 Declaration of Independence Coin.

The 2026 $100 Platinum Proof Declaration of Independence Coin is the first in the U.S. Mint’s Charters of Freedom series, which marks the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and showcases Polentz’s design on its front side. The series continues with the other two Charters of Freedom: the United States Constitution (slated for 2027) and Bill of Rights (slated for 2028).

This series incorporates symbolic elements of nature to “chronicle America’s journey through its founding documents, collectively known as the Charters of Freedom,” according to the U.S. mint website.

“The imagery is storytelling,” Polentz said.

His coin, which is roughly 1.3 inches in diameter, shows a quill pen and parting storm clouds with rays of sunlight breaking through, with the word Liberty on the top and Declaration of Independence on the bottom. The border includes 13 stars representing the original colonies and the words “In God We Trust” and “E pluribus unum,” which means “Out of many, one,” which is the unofficial motto of the United States, referring to the forming of a single nation from 13 colonies.

“The design depicts storm clouds of revolution sweeping across the country declaring our independence and breaking free from British rule. The clouds of revolution are parting and liberty shines upon our new nation,” Polentz explained.

On the reverse side of the coin, which Polentz did not design, is an eagle in flight, an olive branch in its talons and the inscription, United States of America.

Only 15,000 of the collectable coin will be minted. The price listed on the U.S. Mint website is $2,645.

Polentz’s initials appear engraved on the lower left of the front of the coin and the sculptor’s initials appear on the right.

Coin designs are reviewed by two committees, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, which independently make their recommendations and are then passed on to the Secretary of the Treasury. It is the Secretary of the Treasury that makes the final decision on which design will be used.

“Some of my designs have gone through 12 iterations before they are accepted as part of the portfolio for final submission,” Polentz said. “The coins are important historical documentation and are catalogued in the Library of Congress.”

Artistic Infusion Program artists receive $3,000 for each coin design, and an additional $5,000 if their design is selected to be minted on a coin.

“I never imagined I’d be designing coins for the 250th anniversary of our nation, a true honor and the pinnacle of my career”  Polentz said.

Polentz’s work is on Instagram @christopherpolentz.