I’m Sarah Braybrook - a fine artist, history lover, and lifelong coin enthusiast.

My fascination with coins began in childhood, where finding coins and banknotes on the ground was always a thrill. I would spend hours copying their designs onto printer paper. I was drawn to every detail - the faces, the animals, the lettering - long before I understood their value. That quiet obsession led to my first job after high school with renowned coin dealer Downie’s, where I began to see coins as more than currency - they were art and stories captured in precious metal.

But it wasn’t until my thirties that I finally gave art the space it deserved. A mentorship in picture book illustration led me to enrol at Adelaide Central School of Art, where I studied fine art and fell in love with oil painting. Recreating Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring was defining  - it taught me how much could be said with a brush and a quiet gaze.

In 2016, Coinworks commissioned me to paint the 1813 Holey Dollar,  Australia’s first official coin, and specifically the '1808 Ferdinand VII.' That painting reconnected me with both my artistic voice and my coin-collecting roots. I didn’t know it then, but that commission would eventually lead me to Coinart - the space where everything I love meets on the canvas.

Today, I specialise in creating fine art that honours rare Australian coins. I don’t come from a formal numismatic background, but I bring to the work a deep respect for history, beauty, and legacy. My oil paintings and drawings are created for collectors, history lovers, and anyone who believes the past deserves to be seen - and remembered.

You’ll now find me painting and drawing coins in my Adelaide Hills studio, building a collection one brush and pencil stroke at a time, and writing the kind of stories I would’ve loved to read as a coin-obsessed kid.