2021 was an incredible year in numismatics! From the mid-year release of the new silver and gold eagle designs to the 100th Anniversary release of the Morgan and Peace dollar collection, collectors had a lot to look forward to. The U.S. Mint hopes to keep that momentum going in 2022 with some incredible brand-new coin programs for collectors to enjoy.

NEGRO LEAGUES BASEBALL COMMEMORATIVE COIN PROGRAM

The 2022 Negro Leagues Baseball Commemorative Coin Program celebrates the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Negro Nation League. The US Mint is producing gold $5 coins, silver $1 coins, clad half dollar coins, and a Jackie Robinson silver medal all as part of the program.

The gold $5 coin was made with both proof and uncirculated finishes and a mintage limit of 50,000 across all product options. Both coins feature Andrew “Rube” Foster who is credited with establishing the league in a meeting held at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri in 1920. The silver $1 coin will be made with both proof and uncirculated finishes and a mintage of 400,000 across all product options. Lastly, is the clad half dollar coin made with both proof and uncirculated finishes and a mintage limit of 400,000 across all product options.

There are three unique offerings in the program as well. The 3-coin proof set which features one of proof coin of each denomination, gold $5, silver $1, and clad half dollar with a product limit of only 5,000. The proof silver dollar and Jackie Robinson silver medal set, which features the same design as the Jackie Robinson Congressional Gold Medal produced in 2003 by the US Mint, with a product limit of 15,000. The US Mint also is continuing its use of privy marks with a proof silver $1 coin that includes a privy mark shaped like a diamond and surrounds the number 100 alluding to the 100th anniversary of the league, with a product limit of 20,000. The privy mark is very similar to the V75 privy mark on the special 2020 Proof Silver American Eagles.

UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES SILVER MEDALS PROGRAM

The Armed Forces Silver Medals Program continues this year after it began in 2021. The program honors each of the six branches of the U.S. Armed Forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Space Force. The medals are to be emblematic of the branch as a whole and not a specific unit, battle or action.

In 2021 the Air Force and Coast Guard were each honored with a 2.5 ounce silver medal and will each have a 1 ounce medal in the same design minted in 2022. The Navy and Marine Corps are both scheduled to have 2.5 ounce silver medals released in 2022 with 1 ounce medals in the same design set to release in 2023. That will mean the Army and Space Force should have their 2.5 ounce silver medals released next year, 2023, with their 1 ounce medals released in 2024. Each medal has a mintage limit of 10,000.

Medals differ from US coins in that they have not been given monetary value by the US Government and therefore are not legal tender, and medals have both their obverse and reverse right side up whereas US coins have the reverse upside down to the obverse (called a coin turn).

NATIONAL PURPLE HEART HALL OF HONOR COMMEMORATIVE COIN PROGRAM

The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor Commemorative Coin Program pays tribute to the service and sacrifice of men and women who were killed or wounded in action. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor represents Purple Heart recipients from the Civil War to the present day through special outreach and educational programming. The US Mint is producing gold $5 coins, silver $1 coins, clad half dollar coins, and a colorized silver $1 coin all as part of the program.

The gold $5 coin will be made with both proof and uncirculated finishes and a mintage limit of 50,000 across all product options. Both coins feature the Purple Heart medal on the obverse and George Washington’s facsimile signature under the Badge of Military Merit from the Revolutionary War on the reverse. The silver $1 coin will be made with both proof and uncirculated finishes and a mintage of 400,000 across all product options. Both coins feature the Purple Heart medal and a nurse in a World War I helmet as she tends to a wounded soldier, representing the more than 23,000 women nurses who served in the Army and Navy during the war.

Lastly, is the clad half dollar coin made with both proof and uncirculated finishes and a mintage limit of 750,000 across all product options. The half dollar design is unique in its use of negative space to show what has been sacrificed for liberty. The obverse shows a soldier who’s leg has been amputated above the knee and the negative space depicts the leg that was lost. The reverse shows a young boy with the dress cap of an enlisted Marine. Behind him is the silhouette of a Marine in dress blues depicted with negative space to show the loss of a loved one.

There are two other offerings in this program. The 3-Coin Proof Set includes the proof gold $5 coin, the proof silver $1 coin, and the proof clad half dollar coin, with a product limit of 5,000. The final offering is a silver $1 coin with the same design as the other silver dollars in the program except the Purple Heart medal on the obverse is colorized, making it the third colorized coin ever released by the US Mint.

AMERICAN INNOVATION $1 COIN PROGRAM

The American Innovation $1 Coin Program continues in 2022 with the next four states in order of statehood. The program was begun in 2018 with a surprise Inaugural coin representing the entire program, and then four state coins each year since.

The 2022 coins include the states of Rhode Island, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The US Mint will again produce both 25-coin rolls and 100-coin bags of uncirculated finish coins from both the Philadelphia and Denver mints for each state. It will be followed later in the year with a proof finish set of all four states from the San Francisco Mint, and for the second year a reverse proof finish set of all four states from the San Francisco Mint in a single lens. Coins from 2018-2020 all had reverse proof finish coins released in their own packaging.

AMERICAN WOMEN QUARTERS PROGRAM

The American Women Quarters Program is currently scheduled for four years honoring five women each year from ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse backgrounds. The 20 selected will be a diverse group of notable American women who made significant contributions in a variety of fields, including suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts.

The five women selected for 2022 include: Maya Angelou, celebrated author, performer, and social activist; Dr. Sally Ride, physicist and first American woman in space; Wilma Mankiller, first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation; Nina Otero-Warren, a leader in the New Mexico’s suffrage movement; and Anna May Wong, first Chinese-American film star in Hollywood.

The US Mint is producing for each design in the series 40-coin rolls and 100-coin bags from the Philadelphia and Denver mints in uncirculated finish clad quarters. They are also surprisingly making 40-coin rolls of uncirculated finished San Francisco Mint coins as part of a PDS 3-Roll Set clad quarter offering. They will also produce a Proof clad set of all five quarters and a Proof silver set of all five quarters. Lastly, the US Mint is set to produce an American Women Quarters Ornament for each honored woman in the series from the San Francisco Mint, but little is known on their specifics.

MORGAN AND PEACE SILVER DOLLARS

The six 2021 silver dollars honoring the centennials of the Morgan and Peace dollar designs were well received. The US Mint currently plans to release proof finish Morgan and Peace dollars in 2022. The US Mint’s chief sales and marketing officer said in future calendar years they plan to produce Morgan and Peace dollars in different finishes, at multiple Mint production facilities, and as a recurring annual product.

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This entry was posted in General on May 17, 2022 by Daniel Clements