March 9, 2004

Castle Introduces "Presidential $1 Coin Act" to Redesign the Golden Dollar Coin by Honoring Presidents of the United States

New rotating design is based on the popular 50 State Quarter Program

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Delaware Congressman Mike Castle, the creator of the widely popular 50-state quarter program, today introduced legislation to redesign the circulating Sacagawea Golden Dollar Coin with a design-changing series, honoring four U.S. Presidents each year on the front and putting the Statue of Liberty on the coin's reverse.

Castle's “Presidential $1 Coin Act” would temporarily remove the current designs from the front and rear sides of the current circulating Golden Dollar Coin that was issued beginning in 2000. Starting in 2006 and continuing until all Presidents (including living Presidents), except the one who is sitting, have been honored, the program would issue four different designs a year in the order in which Presidents served. A nearly pure-gold investment-grade bullion commemorative coin honoring First Spouses would be issued in tandem with the Presidential Dollars.

“Just as with the quarters, this is a way to revitalize the design of our coins while at the same time providing a valuable educational tool,” Castle said. “Each coin would carry the President's likeness, dates of service and the number of his term, and the same would be true for the First Spouse coins. So, for example, anyone paying attention would learn that five Presidents to date have not had spouses while they were in office, two have had more than one owing to deaths during their term, and one President would have two coins bearing his likeness, as he was the only one to date to have served non-consecutive terms.”

Castle said he imagined that teachers would work to build lesson plans around the issuance of the coins, as they have with the quarter program, and that both numismatists and informal collectors would collect the coins in a variety of ways. “I can imagine a set of Presidential dollars, a George-and-Martha Washington set, and a set of First Spouse coins,” said Castle, who noted that a Spouse set would be vary valuable as the coins would be struck in gold that is .9999 percent pure, a purity never before used for U.S. coins.

The legislation seeks to revitalize coinage by moving the issue date, mint mark and other important mottoes on the coin to the edge of the Presidential Dollar and the Spouse coins, as has been done on coins such as the 2-euro coin from the European Union and the 1-RMB coin from the People's Republic of China. “That will allow for the images on the obverse and reverse of the coin to be larger, more dramatic,” said Castle. His legislation calls for the image of the Statue of Liberty to be “large enough to be dramatic, but not so large as to create a ‘two-headed' coin.”

At the end of the Presidential Dollar program, Castle said, the images on the obverse and reverse of the coin would return to the current design, featuring the Native American woman Sacagawea, a guide and translator for the explorers Lewis and Clark, on the obverse. “I fully expect that having the rotating images of Presidents on the coin will vastly increase demand for the one-dollar coin and help it find its natural place in U.S. commerce,” said Castle. “Once this program is over Sacagawea can return to a coin that has been rehabilitated."

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Congressman Michael N. Castle
Dollar Coin Fact Sheet

The Presidential $1 Coin Act:
-Creates two coin programs, a circulating one-dollar coin featuring Presidents and an investment-grade $10 gold "bullion" coin featuring First Spouses.

Presidential Coin Specifics:
-Beginning 2006, temporarily replaces current images on the one-dollar coin with images of the country's Presidents on the front (obverse) and of the Statue of Liberty on the reverse.

-Four Presidents a year, in order of service, until all but a sitting President have been honored.

-Obverse will carry a likeness of the President, his years of service and the number of the term of his Presidency.

-Reverse carries the Statue of Liberty, large enough to be dramatic but not so large as to make a "two-headed" coin.

-Issue date, mint marks and important mottoes to be lettered on the edge of the coin to allow larger and more dramatic artwork on coin.

-One coin per term; however if non-sequential terms by same person, separate coins will be issued.

First Spouse Coin Specifics:
-Made of .9999 "fine" gold -nearly pure, more pure than previous U.S. bullion coins.

-Issued in sequence with the Presidents, available with them or separately.

-Design feature on obverse similar to those of the President (likeness, dates, term).

-Reverse carries scenes emblematic of the life and works of the First Spouse.

-In instances where there is no First Spouse (four to date) obverse will be image of "Liberty" as carried on a circulating coin of the President for that term, and reverse would carry scenes relating to the President's term.

-Edge-lettered (edge-incused) as is the Presidential dollar.

-Coin will be same diameter as the one-dollar coin and of appropriate size and thickness.

-Denomination will be $10; sale price will reflect production costs including metal cost -- sold both to collectors and to investors

Current One-Dollar Coin Design:
-Returns after the Presidential series is completed (this will occur when all but a sitting President have been honored).