Coin Blog

The United States Mint has released the designs for the upcoming 2010 First Spouse Gold Coins. These issues will cover the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th Presidencies of the United States. The coins will feature three First Ladies and one of the "Liberty" designs issued for James Buchanan who did not marry.

The three spouse coins feature a portrait of the First Lady on the obverse paired with a reverse design featuring a scene or image emblematic of their lives or work.

Abigail Fillmore First Spouse Coin
13th Presidency
1850-1853

The Abigail Fillmore gold coin reverse features an image of her shelving books in the White House Library. She had purchased the first volumes for the White House collection with an appropriation received from Congress. Designer of the obverse was Phebe Hemphill with the reverse by Susan Gamble.

Jane Pierce First Spouse Coin
14th Presidency
1853-1857

The Jane Pierce First Spouse Gold Coin features an image of the First Lady watching Senate debates within the US Capitol Building. She is known to have sat to listen to the heated debates on the topic of slavery. The obverse and reverse designs are by Donna Weaver.

James Buchanan's Liberty Gold Coin
15th Presidency
1857-1861

The James Buchanan's Liberty coin features the image of Liberty used for the Liberty Head $2.50 Gold Quarter Eagle, originally designed by Christian Gobrecht. This represents the fourth coin in the Liberty sub set of coins, issued for Presidents who served without a spouse. The reverse features a young James Buchanan working as a bookkeeper in the family store. This was designed by David Westwood.

Mary Todd Lincoln First Spouse Coin
16th Presidency
1861-1865

The final First Spouse release for the year 2010 will feature Mary Todd Lincoln. This is expected to be a popular issue, as she was the wife of President Abraham Lincoln, a figure popular in history and numismatics. The reverse depicts the First Lady visiting some wounded Union soldiers bringing flowers and books. This was designed by Joel Iskowitz. The obverse was designed by Phebe Hemphill.

H.R. 6184 America's Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008 was signed into law on December 23, 2008. This will create a new series of National Park Quarters to follow the 50 State Quarters Program and Washington DC & US Territories Quarters Program.

The new series would feature at least 56 quarters with designs emblemnatic of a National Park or National Site in each of the 50 States, plus Washington DC and the US Territories. The quarters would be released at a rate of five per year in the order that each park or site was designated. This will give the new program a duration of at least 11 years. In the ninth year of the program, the Secretary of the Treasury has the option to expand the program for a second round of designs, bringing the program duration to 22 years.

The bill also provides for the production of oversized silver repliacs of each National Park Quarter. These replicas would be 3 inches in diameter, contain 5 ounces of .999 silver, and have incused edge lettering. The replicas would carry the 25 cent denomination.

There have been some mixed opinions on another long series of "new State Quarters." Since 1999, there have been an endless parade of series redesigns which all utilize the concept of a rotating reverse design. Unfortunately, it looks like constantly changing coin designs are becoming the norm rather than the exception.

The first National Park Quarters will be released in 2010.

Following the immense success of the 50 State Quarters program, there has been a proposal for another long series of quarters with rotating reverse designs. This program will likely be known as the National Park Quarter Program.

The bill which would authorize the program was first introduced in the House of Representatives on June 4, 2008. Another version of the bill was recently introduced in the Senate.

If the bill becomes law, quarters with reverse designs to honor the National Parks of the United States, the District of Columbia, and US Territories would be issued at a rate of 5 designs per year for a duration of 11 years. The program may optionally be extended for another cycle, creating the potential for 22 years of National Park Quarters.

The first National Park Quarters would be issued starting in 2010 after the conclusion of the 50 State Quarters program and the additional year for quarters honoring D.C. and the U.S. Territories.

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