Mintage of new coins was authorized by the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020, which also authorized the American Women Quarters Program and later planned circulating commemorative programs.[1][2] The act received unanimous support from both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives and was signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2021.[3] The Biden administration worked with advisory committees to secure designs that reflected its progressive ideology, but some proposed designs, such as those commemorating abolitionism or the civil rights movement, were replaced following its departure from office in 2025. In October and December, proposed designs featuring President Trump for the $1 coin were released, but no final decision has been announced.
Preparation
During the first Trump administration, Congress passed the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020, authorizing special designs for circulating coins between 2022 and 2030, including for the United States Semiquincentennial, to be celebrated in 2026 for the 250th anniversary of American independence.[4] The act, which had been introduced as a bill by Representative Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, on March 27, 2020, authorized a redesign of the six denominations of circulating coins for the Semiquincentennial, including five quarter dollars.[5] The coins were required to be symbolic of the semiquincentennial, and one of them was to show the contributions of women.[6]
The Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) is authorized to opine on public artworks, including coinage.[7] The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) advises the United States Secretary of the Treasury on matters relating to coinage and medals.[8] During the Biden administration, the Mint worked with the CCAC to develop designs and themes for the Semiquincentennial symbolizing movement towards an America deemed more inclusive.[9] Over a multiyear period, the CCAC consulted historians, political appointees of both major parties, the National Park Service, the Smithsonian and others. It decided the themes for the five quarters should be the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, abolition, suffrage and civil rights.[6]
Initial designs
The CFA and CCAC both reviewed proposed designs for the cent and nickel in February 2024. For production reasons, the Mint did not propose a full redesign for either coin, but merely noting the anniversary with a dual date. Both committees supported the use of the dual date "1776–2026". There was some support on each committee for the use of a privy mark of the numbers "250" placed on the Liberty Bell.[10]
Thirteen candidate designs for the dime's obverse and eight for the reverse were reviewed by the CCAC and CFA in October 2024, with one depicting Liberty as an African-American favored by the CFA and the CCAC choosing one depicting Liberty wearing a Liberty cap. Both committees agreed on elements of the design. The reverse designs chosen by both groups depicted an eagle in flight carrying arrows, with the theme of the dime to be Liberty over Tyranny.[11]
Both CFA and CCAC met in October 2024 to recommend designs for the five quarters. For the Declaration quarter, both groups proposed the same designs: an obverse showing Liberty nurturing a "spark of enlightenment" with a reverse depicting the Liberty Bell, complete with crack, swinging and tolling.[12]
Both groups agreed on an obverse for the Constitution quarter depicting Liberty striding forward with a torch in one hand and a rolled document, representing the Constitution, in the other. They differed on the reverse, with the CFA recommending a design featuring a detail from the chair George Washington sat in as president of the Constitutional Convention, depicting the Sun. The CCAC felt the public would not identify the CFA's favorite, and suggested a design featuring part of Independence Hall, where the convention met.[13] For the Abolitionism quarter, both groups favored the same portrait of Frederick Douglass while choosing different designs showing the breaking of chains.[14]
The Suffrage quarter favored by the CCAC depicts a woman, striding to the left while carrying a banner, Votes for Women. Members chose a reverse featuring a Votes for Women rosette like those often worn by suffragists, though they asked that Mint artists replace the slogan to avoid duplicating it. CFA members recommended the same obverse while favoring a reverse showing a child's hand joining others to uplift a stone foundation inscribed with "Liberty Equality Justice for Women SUFFRAGE".[15] The same Civil Rights quarter design for the obverse was recommended by both groups, showing a African American girl, intended to be Ruby Bridges, facing right and carrying her schoolbooks. On the reverse, different concepts, both featuring people with arms linked and the legend "We Shall Overcome" were chosen by the two groups.[16]
The half dollar design selected by both groups featured the Statue of Liberty on the obverse, with her torch being passed from one generation to the next on the reverse.[17]
The Secretary of the Treasury (under Biden, Janet Yellin), has the final decision on coin designs. According to an unnamed source cited in The Wall Street Journal, Yellin approved designs for the Sesquicentennial coinage before leaving office in January 2025, but no final announcement was made nor final designs released.[6]
Events
On October 3, 2025, the Treasury Department issued design concepts for possible use on the $1 coin for the 250th anniversary. These featured President Donald Trump in profile on the obverse, and on the reverse Trump standing and raising his fist with the U.S. flag in the background, and the words Fight! Fight! Fight!, evoking his words and actions during the 2024 assassination attempt on him. The authenticity of the designs was confirmed by U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach.[4]
Under the authorizing legislation, head-and-bust images of any person, living or dead, were not to be used on the obverse of the coins. A living person could not appear on the reverse. Although no general law forbids a living person from appearing on a U.S. coin, it has rarely happened. President Calvin Coolidge appeared on the 1926 Sesquicentennial half dollar, and, more recently, Eunice Shriver appeared on the 1995 Special Olympics silver dollar. Beach stated that further information would follow the end of the 2025 United States federal government shutdown.[4]
On October 27, 2025, President Trump dismissed all members of the CFA. Every CFA member then serving had been appointed by the previous president, Joseph Biden,[7] who had, in 2021, dismissed the members of the CFA appointed by Trump during his first term as president.[18]
Announcement of designs
Designs
On December 10, 2025, the Mint announced new designs for the 1776~2026 coinage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. With the striking of circulation cents halted in November 2025, the 1776~2026 cent (as well as the half dollar) is not being struck for use in commerce, but only for collectors.[19]
The coin designs are intended to symbolize the American journey towards a more perfect Union, and are intended to showcase iconic moments and documents in American history.[19] The cent and nickel, as recommended by the CCAC and CFA, were unchanged but for the dual dating. The dime's obverse was a head of Liberty wearing a Liberty cap, with a reverse featuring an eagle. The half dollar depicts the Statue of Liberty, and on its reverse its torch being passed.[20]
One quarter honored the Mayflower Compact, in which each individual agreed to submit to the will of the majority. It featured a man and a woman of the Pilgrims embracing on the obverse, with the reverse depicting the Mayflower. A second marked the American Revolutionary War, with the American commander in chief, George Washington, on the obverse and a Revolutionary War soldier depicted at Valley Forge on the other side. A quarter for the United States Declaration of Independence depicted its author, Thomas Jefferson on the obverse, with the Liberty Bell tolling on the reverse. The United States Constitution quarter design depicts James Madison, deemed its father, on the obverse, and the steeple of Independence Hall, its clocks showing the time 2:50, on the other. The Gettysburg Address quarter design shows Abraham Lincoln, who wrote and delivered the speech, backed with a design showing two hands grasping each other and a quotation from the Gettysburg Address, "a new nation conceived in liberty".[20]
Reaction
The CCAC was not called upon to review additional designs before the announcement.[6] No announcement was made regarding the dollar coin, and government sources declined to comment when asked if it were still planned for President Trump to appear on it.[9] Nevertheless, the Mint posted on its website candidate designs for the dollar coin, with all obverses depicting Trump.[6] The change in themes meant that the Votes for Women designs and those featuring Bridges and Douglass were abandoned.[9]
Acting Mint director Kristie McNally stated of the December 2025 designs, "the designs on these historic coins depict the story of America’s journey toward a 'more perfect union', and celebrate America’s defining ideals of liberty,"[20] Treasurer Beach stated of the design change, "while the Biden administration and [Biden-era Treasury] Secretary [Janet] Yellen remained focused on DEI and Critical Race Theory policies, the Trump administration is dedicated to fostering prosperity and patriotism."[21] The original coin designs, according to Canadian Coin News, "would have gone much further in foregrounding social-justice milestone, and their abandonment provoked debate among coin collectors officials and the general public.[22]
Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat senator from Nevada, regretted the abandonment. "Those designs represented “continued progress toward 'a more perfect union'.... The American story didn’t stop at the pilgrims and founding fathers."[9]Newsweek called the change, "the latest example of the Trump administration’s broader effort to reshape how American history is officially depicted".[21] According to the Mint, the replacement designs celebrate "American history and the birth of our great nation".[23]
Best of the Mint reproductions; other issues
In February 2024, the Mint announced plans, based on public surveys, to issue one-ounce and fractional ounce reproduction of classic coin issues during 2026, known as the "Best of the Mint" program. It announced five candidates, which gained immediate support from the CCAC: the 1916 Mercury dime, Standing Liberty quarter and Walking Liberty half dollar, the 1907 Saint-Gaudens double eagle in high relief, and the 1804 dollar. Each would bear the Liberty Bell/250 privy mark and be accompanied by a silver medal of modern design inspired by the coin in question.[24][25]
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