January 7, 2015 – Designed by Coin Invest Trust for Cook Islands, the reverse of the latest creation Quilling Art 2016 features two hand-crafted flowers made of paper attached to the metal. With their brilliant colours, they form a fascinating contrast to the shining surface of the coin and pay tribute to quilling, a hobby popular throughout the world.
Cook Islands / 2 Dollars / Silver .999 / 1/2 Ounce / 50 mm / Mintage: 999.
The obverse displays the Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of Elizabeth II of England, along with her name, the title of the issuing nation, and the nominal value.
The reverse shows two stylised tendrils in relief on a proof surface and two paper flowers, made with quilling technique, which are arranged on the coin surface. Inside the ornamental pattern that borders the rim, the inscriptions QUILLING ART and, below, FLOWERS, are engraved.
“Christ Carrying the Cross”, decorated with quilling elements. Musée Charles de Bruyères, Remiremont. Photograph: Ji-Elle / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
Quilling, or paper filigree, is a craft in which paper strips are rolled, shaped, and glued together to design creative art works. The paper scrolls are formed with the help of various tools and can quickly be shaped into eyes, leaves, drops, flowers, and other symbols.
The historical origins of quilling go back as far as the Renaissance. Paper strips left over in the process of book trimming were recycled by monks and nuns to ornament book covers. Sheathed with golden colour, such quilling elements were almost as valuable as ornaments made from more precious materials.
In the 18th century, quilling became a popular occupation for ladies from the upper ranks of society, who used the paper-rolling technique to decorate, for instance, tea caddies and furniture. Today quilling has been taken up as a hobby by people young and old around the world. Its practitioners, who refer to themselves as “quillers”, decorate gift cards and boxes, jewellery and mobiles, and many other things with their delicate paper works.
What is more, quilling has also found its way into the visual arts: Artists Yulia Brodskaya and Lisa Nilsson attained international success with their sophisticated paper art works. Coin Invest Trust has now created a completely novel coin, which fuses metal and paper in an exciting new way. Every coin in this strictly limited edition is rendered a unique copy by the handmade quilling elements, whose luminous colours captivate the beholder.
The coin is minted by B. H. Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt GmbH. Collectors can purchase the issue through specialty dealers.
More information on this coin is available here.
This is the website of Coin Invest Trust.
Plenty of interesting facts about quilling can be read on the site of the Quilling Guild.
This is the internet presence of Yulia Brodskaya and Lisa Nilsson.
And if you would like to try quilling yourself, here are some useful tutorials.