Chiara Principe is an award winning Italian coin and medal designer and sculptor. She has been working in the Numismatic field since 2010 by taking care of the design up to the realization of models for the issue of coins, medals, and ingots for private and institutional clients. The world of art has always attracted her: she fell in love with drawing and modeling early on, deciding to continue her artistic training at the Italian Mint where she also gained her first work experience.
Since 2012 onwards, more than 10 years of freelancing has made her discover and love her job in every aspect, always proposing her new challenges and great opportunities. Among her main collaborations are: the East India Company, the Samlerhuset Group, the Central Bank of Luxembourg, Power Coin, the Republic of San Marino, and the Vatican City, for whom she regularly works.
Principe loves working with great versatility both on the traditional projects and on the most modern and innovative ones, using a mixed technique -traditional and digital - in order to get the best result.
Congratulations - Chiara Principe announced as the 2025 ANA Gold Coin of the Year Winner!
The 2025 World's Fair of Money event in Oklahoma City presented the 42nd Coin of the Year (COTY) Awards - a competition that recognizes and encourages outstanding coin design and innovation worldwide. Many amazing coins were highlighted for their unique artistic conception, and we are so very proud of our featured designer, Chiara Principe, for her “Best Gold Coin of the Year” win! This was Principe’s very first COTY Award and a truly impressive achievement.
The Design Theme: War and Peace
Chiara Principe’s latest Vatican City gold coin reflects the ideas of “war and peace” and focuses on the eternal struggle between good and evil that has always marked the history of humanity. The stunning gold coin places us before an important choice - which side do you want to be on?
The innate dualism of the human heart is translated into the design through a perfect vertical split that separates two opposing scenarios. By playing with depths in the metal, Principe highlights the negativity and horrors of war on the left of the coin where we see a lone soldier paired with a smoky backdrop and harsh barbed wire border. On the right, the barbs transition into an olive branch sculpted onto a reflection of the same man - this time in a raised relief. The man is no longer alone but accompanied by symbols of the future such as a young girl with a flower. A representation of the flow of life and an idea of hope.
Congratulations on your exciting win, Chiara! We look forward to seeing more beautiful projects in the years to come.
CLIENT FEEDBACK
The Philatelic and Numismatic Office of the Republic of San Marino has beencollaborating for several years with the artist Chiara Principe and appreciates in a particular way her whimsicality, attention to detail and dynamism of the compositions.
UFFICIO FILATELICO NUMISMATICA SAN MARINO
The Vatican City State Mint has entrusted the creation of many coins to the artist Chiara Principe in the last decade. Of her works we appreciate above all theexpressive freshness and great versatility with which over the years she hassuccessfully addressed the most varied themes!
VATICAN CITY STATE MINT
