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Native
American Dollar Edge Lettering |
The Native
American Dollar |
This is the one place stop to find all of the
information, facts, and figures that you will ever want on the
Native American Dollar series. This page will be constantly
updated as more information becomes available. Check back often.
| Beginning in 2009, the United States Mint began issuing $1 coins featuring designs celebrating the important contributions made by Indian tribes and individual Native Americans to the history and development of the United States. The obverse design remains the central figure of the "Sacagawea" design first produced in 2000, and contains the inscriptions LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST. The reverse design will change each year to celebrate an important contribution of Indian tribes, or individual Native Americans, and contain the inscriptions $1 and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The law requires that at least 20 percent of all $1 coins minted and issued in any year be Native American $1 Coins. Like the Sacagawea and Presidential $1 Coins, the Native American $1 Coins will maintain their distinctive golden color. In addition, they will feature edge-lettering of the year, mint mark and E PLURIBUS UNUM. |
|
Native
American Dollar Edge Lettering |
Facts and Figures:
| Obverse Design | Sacagawea and infant son Pompey. |
| Reverse Design | Changes annually. |
| Mintage years | 2009 - Present. The date is located on the edge of the coin. |
| Mints | Philadelphia (P), Denver (D), San Francisco (S); Mint mark located the edge of the coin. |
| Composition | Manganese Brass Clad Outer Layers: 77% Cu, 4% Ni, 7% Mn, 12% Zn Inner Core: 100% Pure Copper Overall Composition: 88.5% Copper, 6% Zinc, 3.5% Manganese, 2% Nickel |
| Edge | Lettered edge:  E PLURIBUS UNUM 2 0 0 9 P |
| Weight | 8.1 grams |
| Diameter | 26.5mm (1.043") |
| Thickness | 2.00mm |
| Obverse Designer | Glenna Goodacre |
| Reverse Designer | Varies by annual designs. |
Reverse
Designs on the |
2009
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THEME:
Agriculture - The "Three Sisters Planting
Method". This is an ancient method of gardening used
by Native Americans where corn, squash, and beans are
grown together simultaneously on the same mound of soil. In this efficient
planting method, corn stalks provided support for the
bean vines, which added nitrogen to the soil. Squash
provided ground cover, which discouraged weeds.
Productivity was much higher (by some estimates as much
as 30 percent) for the three grown together than each
grown separately. DESIGNED & ENGRAVED BY: U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Norm Nemeth MINTAGE: Philadelphia: 39,200,000; Denver: 35,700,000; San Francisco: 2,179,867 |
2010
|
THEME:
"Government - The Great Tree of Peace" - The
Hiawatha Belt is a visual record of the creation of the
Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy,
with five symbols representing the five original
Nations. The central figure on the belt, the Great
White Pine, represents the Onondaga Nation with the four
square symbols representing the Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga
and Seneca Nations. The bundle of arrows symbolizes
strength in unity for the Iroquois Confederacy. DESIGNED BY: Artistic Infusion Master Designer Thomas Cleveland ENGRAVED BY: U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Charles Vickers MINTAGE: Philadelphia: 32,060,000; Denver: 48,720,000; San Francisco: 1,689,216 |
2011
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THEME:
"Supreme Sachem Ousamequin, Massasoit of the Great
Wampanoag Nation Creates Alliance with Settlers at
Plymouth Bay (1621)" - The
2011 reverse design depicts hands of the Supreme Sachem
Ousamequin Massasoit and Governor John Carver,
symbolically offering the ceremonial peace pipe after the
initiation of the first formal written peace alliance
between the Wampanoag tribe and European settlers. Within
most Native American cultures, the ability to make peace
was historically as highly prized as leadership in war
and often conducted by a separate peace chief, who
stepped in when the time for the warriors had
passed. For centuries, tribes created alliances with
each other that spanned hundreds of miles. One of
the first treaties for a mutual alliance with settlers in
what became the United States of America occurred between
the Puritan settlers at Plymouth and the Massasoit of the
Pokanoket Wampanoag in 1621. Historians credit the
alliance with the Massasoit with ensuring survival of the
Plymouth colony. DESIGNED BY: Artistic Infusion Master Designer Richard Masters ENGRAVED BY: U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Joseph Menna MINTAGE: Philadelphia: 29,400,000; Denver: 48,160,000; San Francisco: 1,673,010 |
2012
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THEME:
"Trade Routes in the 17th Century" - In keeping
with the coin's theme, the 2012 reverse design features a
Native American and horse in profile, with horses running
in the background, representing the historical spread of
the horse. American Indians maintained widespread
trans-continental, inter-tribal trade for more than a
millennium. The Native American trade infrastructure
became the channel by which exploration, settlement and
economic development in the colonial period — and
later of the young republic — ultimately thrived.
When early European traders ventured from eastern city
centers into the interior lands, they followed trading
routes still in use, often in the company of Native
American guides and traders who had used them for
generations. These routes showed the way to European
explorers and traders and marked the corridors for future
east-west travel. Of all the goods traded throughout the
continent, the horse, spread by Indian tribes through
Native American trade routes, is perhaps the most
significant. The horse became perhaps the most
sought-after commodity in inter-tribal trade. The horse's
spread in Native American hands was so prodigious that it
became the primary means of transportation and the
nucleus of the ranching economy already underway in the
western territories. These long-established Native
American trade routes also provided the path for this
primary means of transportation — a significant
contribution to opening up the continental interior to
the developing Nation. DESIGNED BY: United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Thomas Cleveland ENGRAVED BY: U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill MINTAGE: Philadelphia: 2,800,000; Denver: 3,080,000; San Francisco: 1,189,445 |
2013
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THEME:
"The Delaware Treaty" - After declaring
independence, the United States signed its first formal
treaty with an Indian tribe, the Delaware Tribe, at Fort
Pitt, now Pittsburgh, on September 17, 1778.The reverse
design features a turkey, howling wolf, and turtle (all
symbols of the clans of the Delaware Tribe), and a ring
of 13 stars to represent the Colonies. The design
includes the required inscriptions, UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA and $1. The additional inscriptions include
TREATY WITH THE DELAWARES and 1778. DESIGNED BY: United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Susan Gamble ENGRAVED BY: U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill MINTAGE: Philadelphia: 1,820,000; Denver: 1,820,000; San Francisco: 1,192,690 |
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2014
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THEME:
"Native Hospitality Ensured the Success of the Lewis
and Clark Expedition" - The reverse design depicts
a Native American man offering a pipe while his wife
offers provisions of fish, corn, roots and gourds.
In the background is a stylized image of the face of
Clark's compass highlighting "NW." DESIGNED BY: Chris Costello ENGRAVED BY: Joseph Menna MINTAGE: Philadelphia: 3,080,000; Denver: 5,600,000; San Francisco: 665,100 |
2015
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THEME:
"Mohawk high iron workers, builders of New York City
and other skylines (from 1886)" - The reverse design
depicts a Mohawk ironworker reaching for an I-beam that
is swinging into position, rivets on the left and right
side of the border, and a high elevation view of the city
skyline in the background. DESIGNED BY: Ronald D. Sanders ENGRAVED BY: U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill MINTAGE: Philadelphia: 2,800,00; Denver: 2,240,000; San Francisco: 1,050,166 |
2016
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THEME:
"Code Talkers from both World War I and World War II
(1917-1945)" - The design features two helmets with
the inscriptions WWI and WWII, and two
feathers that form a "V," symbolizing victory,
unity, and the important role that these code talkers
played. DESIGNED BY: U.S. Mint Artist Thomas D. Rogers, Sr. ENGRAVED BY: Renata Gordon MINTAGE: Philadelphia: 2,800,000; Denver: 2,100,000; San Francisco: 923,414 |
2017
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THEME:
The coin honors Sequoyah of the Cherokee Nation, creator
of the Cherokee language. The
reverse design features a profiled likeness of Sequoyah
writing “Sequoyah from Cherokee Nation” in
syllabary along the border of the design. DESIGNED BY: Chris Costello ENGRAVED BY: Charles L. Vickers MINTAGE: Philadelphia: 1,820,000; Denver: 1,540,000; San Francisco: 488,460 |
2018
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THEME:
This year’s coin recognizes the accomplishments of
Olympian and multi-talented athlete Jim Thorpe. The
reverse design depicts Thorpe, with the foreground
elements highlighting his football and Olympic
achievements. Inscriptions are “JIM THORPE”,
and “WA-THO-HUK”, his native name. DESIGNED BY: Michael Gaudioso ENGRAVED BY: Michael Gaudioso MINTAGE: Philadelphia: N/A; Denver: N/A; San Francisco: N/A |
