New Law Brings Newly Designed Sacagawea Dollars
America loves their series. First came the 50 State Quarters. Next came the Westward Journey Nickels. Then the Presidential $1 Coins.
Now wait… Be patient… And please hold your horses… Why? Because a new Sacagawea Golden Dollars series is on the way.
Is it just me or is your heart NOT racing? Well, the new commemorative Sacagawea Dollars won’t be out until 2009 so maybe there’s time to build some excitement.
Congress passed the legislation, the President just signed it and now the Native American $1 Coin Act is law.
Mainly, the new law requires the United States Mint to:
- Issue annual redesigns of the Sacagawea’s reverse image
- Include edge-incused inscriptions similar to the new Presidential $1 Coins
Okay, not too bad so far. Especially if a few tweaks are made to the edge lettering.
But also, the law sets a Sacagawea mintage amount to be "not less than 20% of the total number of $1 coins minted and issued in each year". Basically, the Sacagawea Dollars have been set to the same mintage pace as each new presidential $1 coin.
What that really means is that like the current Sacagawea Dollars and the new Presidential $1 Coins, although liked by many coin collectors, we’re going to have a bunch of new, shiny-fresh coins getting stock piled in vaults and never really used by the public.
Sure, there will be positives with the new series. But as long as we have the $1 bill circulating, any dollar coin will be a failure in terms of truly being used in circulation.
Instead of rehashing the details on why I think that, you may wish to read the initial CoinNews.net article about the Native American $1 Coin Act as well as the article Facing Facts with Presidential $1 Coins, Their Design & Their Future.
I’ll keep my mouth shut on this one!
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September 27th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Hopefully, the Sacagawea coin will get more than 20% mintage so the excess of presidential dollar coins currently being minted can be replaced in terms of production numbers by the Sacagawea $1 coin.
October 2nd, 2007 at 3:09 pm
[...] Bush signed the Native American $1 Coin Act mandating the redesign of Sacagawea Dollar. Starting in 2009, the Sacagawea reverse will no longer [...]
November 12th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
[...] Designs changes are coming for the Sacagawea coin in early 2009 and a new law mandates equalized production numbers compared to presidential dollars. That’s something coin collectors will enjoy but it’s not likely to increase their usage in every day transactions. [...]
January 18th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
not sure about anyone else, but i am seriously getting kind of tired of series coins. they’re way too much to keep up with, and they lack consistency. also, each design change causes hoarding and other such things. just my opinion. kinda tired of it.