A new reverse design for the 2013 Native American $1 coin was unveiled by the United States Mint last week. The dollar design represents the theme of "The Delaware Treaty (1778)."
Expected to debut early next year on new $1 coins, the design marks the fifth in a series of annually changing reverses to appear on Native American coinage. Congress mandated rotating dollar designs with the passage of the Native American $1 Coin Act.
Reverse designs are required to celebrate the "important contributions made by Indian tribes and individual Native Americans to the development of the United States and the history of the United States," under the terms of the Act that is Public Law 110-82.
First introduced on the dollar in 2009, its theme and those that followed are offered below:
- 2009 – Three Sisters of Agriculture (depicting a Native American woman planting seeds of corn, beans and squash)
- 2010 – Great Tree of Peace and the Iroquois Confederacy (offered the image of a Hiawatha Belt with five arrows bound together)
- 2011 – Great Wampanoag Nation (shows the hands of the Supreme Sachem Ousamequin Massasoit and Governor John Carver)
- 2012 – Trade Routes in the 17th Century (a Native American and horse is shown in the foreground with running horses in the background)
2013 Native American dollars feature a reverse design that is emblematic of the Delaware Treaty of 1778. After having declared independence just a few years before, the first formal treaty signed in the name of the United States was with an Indian tribe, the Delaware, at Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) on September 17, 1778.
To signify that treaty, the dollar design shows images of a turkey, howling wolf and turtle. These three creatures are symbols of the clans of the Delaware Tribe. A string of thirteen stars surround the design representing the thirteen original colonies.
Inscriptions surrounding the scene include TREATY WITH THE DELAWARES, 1778 and the standard annual inscriptions of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and $1.
U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Susan Gamble designed the reverse with U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill in charge of sculpting.
Designed by Glenda Goodacre, obverses show an image of Sacagawea and her child as seen on all of the related dollars since 2000. The famous Shoshone woman accompanied explorers Lewis and Clark on their expedition through the frontiers of America. The inscriptions "LIBERTY" and "IN GOD WE TRUST" surround the portrait.
An edge inscription is placed on each coin indicating the year of production, a mint mark for the facility that produced it and "E PLURIBUS UNUM."
Standard circulating and uncirculated quality coins are struck at the U.S. Mint facility in Philadelphia with a mint mark of ‘P’ or the U.S. Mint facility in Denver with a mint mark of ‘D.’ Proof quality coins are struck at the U.S. Mint facility in San Francisco and bear a ‘S’ mint mark.
Native American $1 coins are composed from 88.5% copper, 6% zinc, 3.5% manganese and 2% nickel. They feature a golden color with a diameter of 26.5 mm and a weight of 8.1 grams.
When first released, circulating quality $1 coins are typically offered by the United States Mint in 25-coin rolls, 100-coin bags, 250-coin boxes and 500-coin boxes. Numismatic proof and uncirculated coins will appear in several annual U.S. Mint products next year, including:
- 2013 Proof Set,
- 2013 Silver Proof Set,
- 2013 Mint Set,
- 2013 Presidential $1 Coin Proof Set,
- 2013 Presidential $1 Coin Uncirculated Set,
- 2013 Annual Uncirculated Dollar Coin Set,
- 2013 Presidential $1 Coin Covers and
- 2013 Presidential $1 Coin and First Spouse Medal Sets
Each of these products, when released, are found directly on the U.S. Mint product page located here.
