While the Mint says the Native American coins are now popular enough to be back-ordered, a recent Federal Reserve study provided to NPR says nearly 60 percent of them come back to Federal Reserve vaults.īoth the Mint and Federal Reserve now support eliminating the Sacagewea quota. By law, Sacagewea must appear on one in every five dollar coins manufactured, the legacy of political dealings on Capitol Hill. Native American coins bear the likeness of Lewis and Clark guide Sacagewea. In total, the mint has mailed out 284 million one-dollar coins, including presidential and Native American coins, through the direct-ship program. The system was set up to promote the use of dollar coins and we are simply trying to do the right thing here."Īround this time, people buying dollar coins to get frequent-flier miles drew national attention in outlets such as the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal.Īfter the Mint acted, orders for Native American dollar coins, which are only available directly from the Mint, dropped – from 88.7 million in 2009, to 52 million last year and 19 million so far this year. That's not what the system was set up to do. "It's not illegal," he said, "But it's an abuse of the system. Jurkowsky said the Mint sent letters to the top abusers and imposed a limit of 1,000 coins every ten days. "Do we feel a little bit violated? Yes, and that's why we aggressively sought measures to eliminate what we called an abuse," says Jurkowsky. The top 20 customers bought between $219,000 and $696,000 worth, says Mint spokesman Tom Jurkowsky.Īnother clue the hackers left was that dollar coins were arriving in banks still clad in their U.S. Officials there first noticed something amiss in summer 2008, when they saw that a small number of customers were repeatedly ordering large numbers of one dollar coins. The Mint's direct-ship program is aimed at getting the coins into everyday circulation. (For more, see our story " $1 Billion That Nobody Wants.") The law requires that more and more coins be minted, despite a lack of demand by the public. The mountain of coins is the unintended result of a 2005 act of Congress. The problem is that even if so-called "travel hackers" like Liaw put some of the coins in circulation, their purchases from the Mint contribute to a huge and growing buildup of one-dollar coins in Federal Reserve vaults. Liaw says she spends some of the coins at the local farmer's market and stores. Liaw says she and her husband, who use a variety of tricks for earning miles, are planning trips to Greece and Turkey, "all on miles and points." "We've used them to go on trips around the world," says Jane Liaw, a 35-year-old public health researcher and science writer in San Francisco. Once in possession of the coins - shipped to them by the government for free - they can deposit them into their bank accounts and pay off the credit card bills. ![]() We recently reported on the the government's failed effort to persuade Americans to use dollar coins.īut the coins have found at least one group of fans: Travel enthusiasts who buy thousands of dollar coins with credit cards that award frequent-flier miles for purchases. Or buy American Liberty products in the online catalog.Jane Liaw Liaw orders coins from the U.S. Learn more about the coins and medals below. In 2019, the Mint produced the silver medal in high relief for the first time. It is also unique in that it portrays Liberty as an African American woman. The 2017 American Liberty 225th Anniversary Gold Coin was the Mint’s first proof high relief coin. The American Liberty designs are released first as a 24-karat gold coin and then as a silver medal.Īdvances in technology allow the Mint to manufacture the coins in high relief. The obverse designs feature modern versions of Liberty, paired with contemporary eagle designs on the reverse. Mint American Liberty series celebrates modern interpretations of the concept of American liberty. Although the representation of Liberty changed over time, the values she stood for did not. ![]() Throughout the decades, Liberty’s appearance and poses changed to reflect a changing America. ![]() circulating coins for over 150 years, from 1793 to 1947. The allegorical figure of Liberty appeared on U.S.
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