Happy New year everyone! 2019 looks all promising for us at the Numismatic part of the world. The U.S. mint is planning to circulate a rare coin of unknown design, denomination and mintage this year. The mint has some products in pipeline for millennials. Apart from all this, this year also promises to bring some wonderful coin designs to the interested numismatists among us.

Like we do every year @CSN blog, this post unveils the coins being released in 2019, their design and history.

2019 American Innovation $1 Coin program

The U.S. mint is releasing the American Innovation $1 coin which will start a 56-coin program this year for each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the five U. S. territories – Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. These will depict the ‘Statue of Liberty’ design on the obverse and a new reverse design every year to honor an innovation from each state/territory. There was an introductory coin for the program last year in December.

This coin has the ‘Statue of Liberty’ design in its obverse that is common to all the coins that would be released in the coming years. The reverse design honors President George Washington and features a representation of his signature on the first-ever U.S. patent issued on July 31, 1790. He issues it to Samuel Hopkins for developing a process for making potash.

Check out the American Innovation coin @CSN

2019 Commemorative coins

Apollo 11 50th Anniversary coins

One of the most world altering events that happened last century was the landing of man on moon. Apollo 11 mission managed to snag the attention of nearly 600 million people across the world, who watched it live on the television. It happened on July 22nd, 1969. Exactly 50 years back. The mission was the first of many catalysts for the advancement of technology on many fronts.

To honor the event, the U.S. mint is releasing the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary coins. The following are the versions being released; 5-ounce Proof Silver dollar, Proof Silver dollar, Proof-Clad Silver dollar, Uncirculated Silver dollar, Proof Half dollar, Proof-Clad Half dollar, Uncirculated Clad Half dollar, $5 Gold Proof, $5 Gold Uncirculated.

The coin has a unique concave obverse/convex reverse shape. The obverse depicts a footprint on the lunar surface. The reverse features a representation of a close-up version of the famous Buzz Aldrin on the moon photograph. It shows just the visor and part of the helmet of astronaut Aldrin. The reflection in Aldrin’s helmet includes Neil Armstrong, the United States flag and the lunar module.

American Legion 100th Anniversary

After a devastating World War 1, the veterans who returned home wanted to create a non-profit organization for a positive change across America. The American Legion was formed in Paris in 1919 and soon enrolled nearly a million members. The Legion is the reason war veterans get so many benefits they rightly deserve. The ‘GI Bill of rights’ one of the greatest achievements of the Legion still helps many veterans to complete higher education, get better jobs and buy houses in suburbs.

The American Legion gets involved in helping people affected by natural calamities. They provide funds for medical researches and for children and youth education programs. This year the American Legion will be seeing its 100th Anniversary. The U.S. mint will be releasing the American Legion 100th Anniversary coins to honor the contribution of veterans for a better America. It is being released in three versions; the $5 Gold coins (50,000 mintage), Silver dollar coins (400,000) and Clad Half-dollar coins (750,000). Each version has a different design.

The $5 Gold depicts the Eiffel Tower on the obverse, a V for victory in World War I, the word LIBERTY and the years 1919 – 2019 encircled by the outer ring of an American Legion emblem. The design is a salute to the organization’s founding in Paris after the armistice that ended the Great War. The reverse shows a soaring bald eagle with a sculpted American Legion emblem.

The silver dollar shows the Legion emblem on the obverse surrounded by oak leaves and a lily, again alluding to the fact that the Legion’s founding was in Paris. The reverse shows a crossed U.S. and American Legion flags under a fleur-de-lis. The dates 1919 and 2019 are on the sides and the inscription 100 YEARS OF SERVICE over the top.

The half-dollar features two children on the obverse, one of whom is wearing her dad’s Legion cap. They are shown to be reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. The reverse continues the pledge with …OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA with a U.S. flag and Legion emblem above the inscription.

2019 America the Beautiful coins

The 2019 America the Beautiful quarters will see the 10th year in its program and will be released on the 15th of January. The Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) created the new designs for the following quarters honoring Lowell National Historical Park (Massachusetts), American Memorial Park (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), War in the Pacific National Historical Park (Guam), San Antonio Missions National Historical Park (Texas), and Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness (Idaho). The designs were sculpted by the Mint’s Sculptor-Engravers. We will talk about each of these designs in the coming posts @CSN blog.

Other coins

This year for the Native American $1 program, the theme is ‘American Indians in the Space program’. As it is with every year, the obverse features Sacagawea. The reverse features Mary Golda Ross (Cherokee nation) writing calculations. The mint is also releasing a “2019 Explore and Discover coin set”, “2019 Youth Coin and Currency set” and other regular coins like the American Eagle dollar, Kennedy Half dollar, American Buffalo. With growing interest on coin collecting among youngsters, the U.S. mint is trying to strike a balance between the loyal older collectors and the enthusiastic newcomers. Let’s hope that its’ a great year for both kinds!

This entry was posted in General, Silver coins, Gold coins, Currency, U.S. Coins on January 11, 2019 by lavanya kannan