I had the great honor and pleasure of designing the new Bluecoats Silver Penny, continuing a tradition the corps has had since 1992. This season marks the first use of a specially-produced “penny” to replace the coin, which is no longer in production.

Since the announcement of the end of the penny, the organization conducted a months-long reimagination of the “Silver Penny” tradition, which ultimately resulted in the decision to mint their own coin with a symbolic design.

The “heads” side of the coin features the Autumn Leaf, a symbol of the corps’ alumni and an homage to the corps’ song, “Autumn Leaves”. It reads “Bluecoats Drum & Bugle Corps”, and includes the year at the bottom. The “tails” side features the Shield - a part of the corps’ logo - and the corps slogan, “Six Words.” Since the tradition began, the organization issued the pennies to the corps after having them silver-plated, thus, the new coins are silver.

I am honored as an alumnus and artist to have been tasked to design this!

Photos by Josh Clements

Bluecoats Merchandise