Design Approved for US Mint’s 24K Gold Trump Coin, Despite Objections
The United States Treasury Department has taken a major step forward in its plan to engrave President Donald Trump’s portrait on a commemorative 24-karat gold plate.
The US Commission of Fine Arts, an advisory board whose members are handpicked by Trump, approved the general design on March 19 for a 24K gold commemorative coin emblazoned with the president’s portrait.
Separately, the Treasury said it plans to issue Trump’s $1 coin that the fine arts commission approved in January, despite protests from Democrats and coin enthusiasts who say the move violates ancient practices.
The commemorative gold coin features a photograph taken by the White House’s chief photographer of Trump leaning over the Resolute Desk, which is on display in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. The US Mint did not respond to a request for comment on how much it would cost, although some on the agency’s website are selling for thousands of dollars.
“It’s a tough, tough picture of him,” said Chamberlain Harris, a committee member and deputy director of Oval Office operations at the White House. “It is fitting to have a current president presiding over the 250th anniversary with this year’s commemorative coin.”
Megan Sullivan, acting director of the Office of Project Management, said the Treasury Secretary presented a series of projects to Trump before submitting the proposal to the commission. Trump, he said, has approved the photo. The coin will have a denomination, though it hasn’t been chosen yet, Sullivan said.
Commissioners recommended minor changes, including adding wood grain to the Resolute Desk and proposing a coin size of about 3 inches in diameter, the largest coin the agency could produce.
“Don’t sell out. The bigger the better,” said James C. McCrery, the commission’s vice chairman and the primary architect of Trump’s proposed White House ballroom project.
The coin is expected to join a slate of special coins and medals the Treasury will issue in the nation’s centennial year, including Trump’s $1 coin approved by the commission of Fine Arts in January.
However, neither the $1 coin nor the gold coin has received approval from the Citizens Coinage Advisory Council, a nonpartisan group created by Congress to advise the Treasury Department on coin design. That committee refused to review both coins, arguing that they were against the country’s founding principles.
Donald Scarinci, chairman of the CCAC, described the two proposals as “abhorrent to the Declaration of Independence” and said it was “a big irony” to celebrate the country’s exit from British rule with presidential coins.
“If you issue a coin with the image of a sitting president, that will send the message that the sitting president is a king,” said Scarinci.
George Washington refused to have his portrait printed on money during his lifetime, believing it “belonged to a king.” Only one American president – Calvin Coolidge – had their likeness printed on a coin during their lifetime. He was featured alongside Washington on the 1926 Sesquicentennial half dollar. The coin was not popular, and many pieces were melted down by the Mint.
If created, the Trump coins will join a growing list of buildings and objects bearing the president’s name and image, including national park passes, banners outside government buildings and the recently renamed Trump-Kennedy Center for the Arts.
Are Coins Legal?
Unlike the $1 coin, which will circulate as currency, the gold coin is designed to be collectible only. A 1935 law prohibits gold currency from being used for US trade
Because it will not circulate, the gold coin is also less legally binding than the $1 coin.
Congress must approve the creation of the new currency, but since the commemorative coins are gold, the agency does not need approval, said Scarinci, who has served on the CCAC since 2005.
The Treasury Department has disputed its authority for the $1 coin from a 2020 law that allows for the pressing of 250 commemorative pieces.
But the lawmakers of the Democratic Alliance, led by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, earlier this year asked the agency to stop creating the $1 coin. They suspect it is illegal.
At issue, they say, is past law, including an 1886 act that mandates “only the likeness of a deceased person” from money and securities.
The Mint did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the status of the $1 coin. Cortez Masto’s office said the Treasury seems intent on continuing the work.
“The White House’s decision to move forward with a gold coin featuring President Trump is disgraceful and contrary to our country’s founding principles,” the senator said in a statement.
This article first appeared in USA TODAY: Design approved for Trump’s 24k gold coin by US Mint, despite opposition.
Reporting by Karissa Waddick, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
