Sales of gold-coloured one-dollar coins featuring the face of President Donald Trump to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States began at noon on the 2nd (Eastern Time). The U.S. Mint has set the selling price at $61 for a roll of 25 coins (approximately $2.44 per coin) and $154.50 for a bag of 100 coins (approximately $1.55 per coin). The obverse side features President Trump’s face, surrounded by the English word “LIBERTY,” the phrase “In God We Trust,” and the numbers “1776 (year of the founding of the U.S.)–2026.” The reverse side features the number “250” commemorating the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, alongside the presidential seal depicting the bald eagle, the national bird, holding an olive branch and a bundle of arrows.
U.S. federal law prohibits the engraving of a living person’s portrait on a one-dollar coin. However, in 2020, during the first Trump administration, a bill was passed allowing the issuance of a 250th anniversary commemorative coin that prohibited human faces only on the reverse side. In other words, this effectively opened the way for placing a portrait on the obverse side of the coin. While this coin is primarily for collectors, it can be used as legal tender. It was cast using a mixture of copper, 6% zinc, 3.5% manganese, and 2% nickel to produce the golden hue favoured by President Trump. It does not contain actual gold.
The U.S. Mint emphasized on its website that it “will undoubtedly be a standout collectible in modern coin collections.” Access to the Mint website even experienced temporary outages ahead of the sales launch. President Trump is not the first sitting U.S. president to have his face featured on a coin. The faces of then-President Calvin Coolidge and the first U.S. President George Washington appeared side by side on a 50-cent commemorative coin produced in 1926 to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of the United States.