Jarrod Ranney Oil Paintings

06/03/2025

The Canadian cent design depicted here was designed by George Kruger Grey and was introduced in 1937. It was used until Canada stopped minting the coin in 2012. He also designed the 5 cent nickel featuring another Canadian icon, the beaver. His initials, KG, can be found on both. He is also responsible for coins from Great Britain, Cyprus, New Zealand, and others.

During WW1, he served with a unit of the British Army that specialized in camouflage. In 1938, he became a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

03/22/2025

“It’s not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.” – Seneca

I don’t think this was time wasted.

03/20/2025

Slow and steady. Also I think I finally nailed Liberty’s chin and jawline.

03/20/2025

In my opinion, the best way is to get to k ow the artist through their works. AI is fine as a tool, like a ruler, but since art is a way to connect with others I say go connect with the art. And the artist.

A dubious “Van Gogh” has sparked a battle between technology, connoisseurs, and the high-stakes art market. What does AI, which is transforming art authentication, have to say about the verdict?

03/18/2025

Back in the saddle

03/08/2025

Scratchboard illustration of a 1955 Double Die Lincoln Cent, one of the most popular US Coin varieties.

03/08/2025

Making good progress on this 1955 Double Die Lincoln Cent illustration

03/02/2025

Designed by George T. Morgan, the U.S. Mint first began producing Morgan Dollars in 1878 under the Bland-Allison Act, which required that the U.S. Treasury buy a certain amount of silver and release it into circulation. After the Mint began production, they continued to produce Morgan Dollars until 1904, after which they took a 17-year hiatus until 1921 when the silver dollars were minted for one final year.

At the time of production, far more silver dollars were produced than were needed for circulation, so excess coins were stored in $1,000 U.S. Treasury canvas bags, and many of these sat untouched for decades.

What people didn’t realize until these bags were opened, however, was that some of the coins that sat near the fabric of the bags had toned beautifully over the decades that they had sat undisturbed. These bank bags had been laced with trace amounts of sulfur in order to prevent rats from ripping into them, and it was this sulfur that reacted with the silver surfaces of coins and caused a thin silver-sulfide film to form. This film refracts light and is what causes us to see beautiful colors—a phenomenon known as thin-film interference.

02/24/2025

On to another, but this time with the intention of adding color.

George T. Morgan was the designer/engraver of this coin, known to many as the Morgan Dollar. It’s got an interesting background because, unlike most coins, it was minted because of a law stating that they needed to be minted and NOT because of their need in circulation. As a result, the Mint kept them stored in bags for decades. Many acquired colorful toning and have become very desirable by many collectors.

02/17/2025

The buffalo (or more properly a bison) on the reverse of the buffalo nickel is said to have been modeled on a bison named Black Diamond, a resident of the New York Central Park Zoo. But a 1926 article in The Numismatist informed collectors that the real model was a buffalo named Bronx, who, fittingly enough, was a member of the Bronx Zoological Park herd.

James Earle Fraser married his former student, Laura Gardin, in 1913, the first year of the Buffalo nickel. She proved to be an outstanding sculptor in her own right and was either a designer or co-designer of several of the classic commemoratives. She was also the originally-selected designer of the Washington quarter before Andrew Mellon replaced her sculpture with one by the now familiar John Flanagan sculpture. Her portrait of George Washington is currently being used as the obverse on the American Women quarter series.

The husband-wife duo co-designed the 1926-1939 Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar, which is considered by many to be the most attractive of the classic commemoratives. Laura designed the side with the standing Indian, whereas her husband designed the side with the Conestoga wagon.

02/16/2025

I was reading Cornelius Vermeule‘s book “Numismatic Art in America” and one of his criticisms of James Earle Fraser’s Buffalo Nickel is that it looks as if it was carved from stone and not a refined metal sculpture. That hand-carved look is why it’s one of my favorites. In fact, I prefer the Buffalo nickel with a little less luster to maintain that illusion of being one of the sculptures he was famous for.

If you’ve ever visited the Franklin institute in Philadelphia, you’ve seen Mr. Fraser’s work in person. It’s the 20-foot tall marble sculpture of Benjamin Franklin that is impossible to miss.

02/15/2025

On to another…