Overview
- The U.S. Mint began selling the gold-colored $1 semiquincentennial coins on Wednesday, Sept. 2, in collector 25-coin rolls for $61 and 100-coin bags for $154.50 with an initial two-order household limit.
- The obverse shows President Trump’s portrait rendered by Chief Engraver Joseph Menna from an official White House photo and the reverse uses a Presidential Seal with a prominent “250” to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary.
- The coins have a gold-like manganese-brass finish but contain no actual gold and are mostly copper with zinc, manganese and nickel; the Mint says they are legal tender but is selling these packages as numismatic products rather than releasing them into general circulation.
- The Mint randomly included 250,000 special-issue pieces struck on July 4 that carry a small “July 4th” privy mark and collectors reported at least one advanced-delivery coin certified MS64 before the public sale.
- The release has prompted dispute over precedent and law because statutes generally bar living people on U.S. currency, the Treasury cites the 2020 semiquincentennial authorization as its basis, and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee declined to review the design while the Commission of Fine Arts approved it.