Representatives Castle And Maloney Introduce The Presidential Dollar Coin Act To Redesign The Golden Dollar Coin To Honor U.S. Presidents

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New rotating design is based on the popular 50 State Quarter Program

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Just in time for Presidents' Day, Congressman Mike Castle (R-DE) and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) together introduced legislation to redesign the circulating Golden Dollar Coin with a design-changing series, honoring four U.S. Presidents each year on the front of the coin and the Statue of Liberty on the coin's reverse. This program is modeled after the wildly successful 50 State Quarter Program authored by Rep. Castle.

This legislation would provide for the dollar coin to be issued with the images of the U.S. Presidents on the obverse of the coin and the Statue of Liberty on the reverse. This program would run in conjunction with the current design of Sacagawea. Starting in 2007 and continuing until all Presidents, including living Presidents and excluding the sitting President, have been honored, the program would issue four different designs a year in the order in which Presidents served. A nearly pure-gold investment-grade bullion coin and bronze metal replicas honoring First Spouses would be issued in tandem with the Presidential Dollars.

"The popularity of the quarter program with kids, students, and adults alike was an inspiration to look for a way reenergize the use and acceptance of the Dollar Coin, while also providing a valuable educational tool. I believe that this Presidential dollar coin, each carrying the President's likeness, dates of service and the number of his term will allow both recreational and serious collectors to learn valuable information about the leaders of our nation. From these coins, and the coins of the First Spouses you can learn that five Presidents to date have not had spouses while they were in office, two have had more than one owing to deaths during their term, and one President would have two coins bearing his likeness, as he was the only one to date to have served non-consecutive terms," said Castle.

"Just like the state quarter program that has been so successful, the presidential dollar coins bill is a win-win proposition. The presidential coins will teach history while generating revenue for the U.S. Treasury. I am also very excited that New York's most famous resident and most powerful symbol, Lady Liberty, will grace the back of each coin."

In addition to encouraging enthusiasm for coin collecting, Reps. Castle and Maloney believe the coin holds great educational potential. Based on the precedence set by the quarter program, it would be possible for teachers to work to build lesson plans around the issuance of the coins, as they have with the quarter program, and that both numismatists and informal collectors would collect the coins in a variety of ways.

This design-changing series will run simultaneously with the Sacagawea coin honoring the legendary figure in the history of the American West honored for her indispensable role on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Upon completion of the presidential series, the dollar coin will return to featuring solely Sacagawea and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Elizabeth Wenk
February 18, 2005
Afshin Mohamadi