The United States Mint on Saturday, Feb. 6, introduced designs for the Ronald Reagan Presidential $1 Coin and Nancy Reagan First Spouse Gold Coin. In doing so, two ten-year programs formally enter their swan song stages with each coming to a close.
The official unveiling was held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California on what would have been President Reagan’s 105th birthday.
"The release of the Ronald Reagan Presidential $1 Coin and the Nancy Reagan First Spouse Coin will mark the end of the coin programs that have honored the contributions of our nation’s presidents and the indelible work of our nation’s first ladies," said Richard A. Peterson, United States Mint Deputy Director of Manufacturing and Quality.
Artist renderings of candidate designs for the Ronald Reagan dollar and proposed designs for the Nancy Reagan gold coin were revealed last year. The Treasury Secretary was tasked with selecting the winning designs displayed below.
Seen on the obverse (heads side) of the Reagan Presidential $1 Coin is a forward facing portrait of the 40th U.S. President as designed by Richard Masters and sculpted by Joseph Menna.
All Presidential $1 Coins offer the same reverse (tails side) design depicting the Statue of Liberty, created and sculpted by Don Everhart. They also have flat edges with inscriptions of E PLURIBUS UNUM, 2016 for the year of issue and a mintmark denoting where they are made.
Obverses of the Nancy Reagan First Spouse Gold Coins offer a portrait of the former first lady that was designed by Benjamin Sowards and sculpted by Joseph Menna.
Appearing on the reverse is a scene emblematic of Mrs. Reagan’s life with her arms around two children during her "Just Say No" campaign. The scene was designed by Joel Iskowitz and sculpted by Don Everhart.
Shortly after the official unveiling, U.S. Mint officials gave the public another opportunity to see the designs first hand at the February 2016 Long Beach Coin, Currency, Stamp & Sports Collectible Expo (www.longbeachexpo.com.)
"All of us are delighted the United States Mint gave everyone at the Long Beach Expo the opportunity to see the historic design selections as soon as possible after the official unveiling," commented Cassi East, President of the Long Beach Expo.
A display of the newly unveiled designs was setup by a U.S. Mint employee attending the Expo.
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Several products this year will feature the Ronald and Nancy Reagan coins and be available via the United States Mint online store at catalog.usmint.gov.
When released, they will mark an end to the series of Presidential $1 Coins and First Spouse Gold Coins. Both programs debuted in 2007 and have honored former Presidents and First Ladies of the United States in the order they served in office. The two series were authorized by Congress with the passage of the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005. Under the terms of the Act, only Presidents which have been deceased at least two years are eligible to be included in the series.
Later this week, we will offer an article showcasing photos of Reagan Presidential $1 Coins and the dies used to produce.
