American Liberty One Ounce Gold Coin

The allegorical figure of Liberty took its form on U.S. circulating coins from 1793 to 1947, almost for over 150 years. Throughout the decade, Liberty’s appearance and poses kept reflecting the changing America. From 2015, The U.S Mint released gold coins and silver medals that portray modern versions of Liberty. Fresh design proposals for the 2021-W American Liberty High Relief gold $100 coin suggest Liberty can take the form of a bucking horse. The submitted designs reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee stirred up various opinions. Many preferred Liberty to remain a symbolic representation of a familiar human form, as it has been the case since Liberty appeared on the nation's earliest circulating coins.

After all the unraveling, United States Mint Director David. J Ryder announced the Bucking Horse design in a roundtable discussion with numismatic journalists on May 4th. Since then, the images of the coin have appeared in the U.S. mint marketing brochures.

The Design

As described by the Mint, the design shows "A wild American Mustang horse bucking off a western-style saddle, evoking the throwing-off of the yoke of British rule during the American Revolution." The design was created by Beth Zaiken and sculpted by Craig A. Campbell. According to the design description, "The Mustang horse is presented both as native to this land, yet simultaneously an immigrant to the nation as we know it today. The ancestor to all true horses alive today evolved here in North America. Those horses inexplicably disappeared at the end of the last Ice Age, only to be accidentally re-introduced in their domesticated form by the Spanish in the 1500s, having earlier reached Eurasia by way of the Bering land bridge." The mustang is centered on a rising sun. Surrounding this design are inscriptions of Liberty, 2021, In God, We Trust, followed by the artist's initials.

The reverse of the coin was sculpted by the United States Mint Medallic Artist Phebe Hemphill. The approved reverse design features a close-up of a bust right of an American Eagles with its beak open. Inscriptions on the reverse include E Pluribus Unum, W, 1OZ. .9999 Fine Gold, $100, United States Of America and the artist's initials.

The American Liberty gold coin designs are struck in high relief and are usually used on a .999 fine silver medal without coin inscriptions. In 2019, Mint officials said that the 2021 gold coin would have an Enhanced Uncirculated finish. All previous American Liberty gold coin issues allegorically depicted Liberty as a woman; a standing figure bearing a torch and an American flag on the 2015 issues, a portrait of a black woman in both 2017 and 2018 issues, and a radiant portrait on the 2019 coin and medal.

The 2021 American Gold Coin depicting the bucking horse is scheduled to launch on August 19th,2021.