Nevada Goldback® Gallery
2020 — Present
1 - One Goldback
Caritas (Charity)
Caritas, or Charity, is the Virtue beautifully featured on Nevada’s 1 Goldback Denomination. This is her first appearance on a Goldback Design, and is notably patterned after a depiction of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Austin, Nevada. Catholicism is Nevada’s most dominant religion and St. Augustine’s is the oldest Catholic Church building in the state. Like all Goldback designs, the art contains many levels of symbolism. Some major symbols of Charity featured include: the Sierra Nevada Lily, which is in the container below Mary’s feet to the right; the Mary Magdalene Rose, in the container on the left; cherubs crowning Mary and Burning Hearts to either side of her; Charity’s lit candle in her hand, and Nevada’s sun, rising over the mountains seen through the window behind her.
The window, the candlestick in the right corner of the window sill and the columns on each side of the design, are each inspired from St. Mary of the Mountains Catholic Cathedral in Virginia City, (now, Saint Mary in the Mountains Catholic Church & Museum), which was also an inspiration for this artwork. The window below Mary’s dress hides the word “Love”, the symbol of a square, a compass, a wagon wheel, and rosary beads. The viewer will also note the ash tree, symbolizing marriage and Las Vegas’s status as the marriage capital of the world; and a family of ring-necked pheasants, which showcase the selfless acts of nurture and protecting their family and young.
5 - Five Goldbacks
Sophia (Wisdom)
Another Virtue’s debut appearance is found on Nevada’s 5 Goldback Denomination. The Virtue Sophia, or Wisdom, makes her first appearance here as Athena. Sophia represents divine inspiration and progress, and is found surrounded by numerous Nevada specific symbols, inventions, technologies, and bastions of wisdom. These include: several libraries and university buildings from the University of Las Vegas and the University of Nevada, the quartz mill from the State Seal, an antique Hoover Dam hard helmet, various books and scrolls, a wagon wheel, pen and ink, some books by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), a silver mine car, the State’s No. 40 Locomotive, and many others. Particularly of note is an open scroll depicting words from the 15th Amendment, significant because Nevada was the first state to adopt it, allowing equal rights to vote in the state, regardless of skin color.
Sophia is clothed in battle gear with her traditional raised helm, arm guards, and breastplate, and is armed with her shield and spear. The viewer will also find the traditional symbol of Wisdom’s owl shown on the gorget worn around her neck. Additionally, she is shown holding a pick axe, representative of the mining that was so influential in the development of the State. Each Nevada Goldback Design contains a pillar, and Sophia can be found standing atop an open book supported by this design’s pillar bearing the motto of the Great Seal of Nevada, “All for Our Country”. Also present are Nevada’s Mountain Bluebird, and the White Pine, nodding to mountainous and rural White Pine County along the central, eastern boundary of the State.
10 - Ten Goldbacks
Justitia (Justice)
Justitia, or Justice, makes her second appearance as a Virtue on Nevada’s 10 Goldback Design. Notably, she is not blindfolded, but rather wears a veil that is pulled back from her face. Here, she is patterned after the statue of Justice as she appears on the Virginia City, Nevada, Storey County Courthouse. At the time of her construction there, the Justices of the Peace in Nevada, watching over the Wild West, wanted those who broke the law to know that Justice sees all and depicted her with eyes wide open! The pillar to Justitia’s right is also the artist’s rendition of the pillars on this same structure.
Wild horses can be seen running in the distance. In the background below the mountain range is Nevada’s unique Pyramid Lake, located in southeastern Washoe County. It is in an elongated inter-mountain basin nestled between the Lake Range on the East, the Virginia Mountains on the West, the Pah Rah Range on the Southwest and the Fox Range and Smoke Creek Desert to its North. The word “Battleborn” is engraved on the pillar upon which Justice stands, invoking the language from the State Flag and Nevada’s status as a Civil War-born State. Below that is the symbol of a badger next to some native mesquite trees. The viewer will also note a six shooter and 30-30 rifle next to a wine barrel stamped with the symbolic brand of “Cup Bearer Wine, Cana Dry Red” in the foreground (specifically significant to the larger artwork), and Sandhill Cranes in the background.
25 - Twenty-Five Goldbacks
Fortitudine (Fortitude)
Fortitudine, or Fortitude, is the third, and final new virtue that debuts in the Nevada Goldback Series. She is patterned after Nike, the Greek winged goddess of Victory. A driving theme for this piece is “Fortitude brings Victory over Vice”, as can be seen illustrated with the bobcat pouncing on a “land crocodile”, the tortoise. Fortitudine is patterned after the trumpeting angels found along the walls of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, and is understood to be sounding the first trumpet of Triumph.
On her head is the laurel wreath, a symbol of glory, and in her left hand, a palm leaf symbolizes triumph. A notable feature of this design is the symbol of pillars rising up out of the desert that is in a rare “super bloom”, symbolizing Fortitude’s role and success in holding Nevada and her people together in the past, present and future. Also present are barrel cactus, the sagebrush in bloom as it is on Nevada’s State Flag, a joshua tree in bloom, and other hidden symbols. All of this is back-dropped by the beautiful Red Rock Canyon near Las Vegas.
50 - Fifty Goldbacks
Liberty (Libertas)
Libertas, or Liberty, the capstone Virtue design of each U.S. based Goldback series, makes her second appearance here under a starry Nevada night sky. Here, in the peaks of the Sierra Nevadas, she is depicted as biblical Eve, mother of the human race, patterned somewhat after a statue of Aphrodite from Ceasar’s Palace, Las Vegas. She is championed here by the artist as a symbol of the biblical story about a free woman who exercised her agency and power of choice to bring about the human race. In her left hand she holds high a pomegranate fruit, symbolizing all of humankind, and in her right hand she is holding a vertical rod, a symbol of royalty that also nods to the vertical mining technique that helped Nevada to become an outstanding precious metals producer.
She is featured standing on a stone pedestal which bears a seashell, often found in connection to depictions of Aphrodite, and at her feet is a basket of pomegranates. Next to her is a biblical depiction of a rock altar with a fire burning on it, which points toward a common biblical practice done to demonstrate thanks to the Divine for the blessings of freedom. To Liberty’s right is a small pillar, which balances a world globe, with which Liberty champions her cause to the world. Nevada’s Desert Bighorn Sheep can be found both behind and before as symbols of both steadfastness and mobility in their freedom in the highest places of Nevada’s mountains. Also present is the Bristlecone Pine, one of the longest living trees on Earth, symbolizing the eternal nature of Liberty as a crowning Virtue.