The United States Treasury has confirmed that the US Mint would begin striking a $1 coin carrying the image of President Donald Trump to mark 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled a rendering of the design on July 15 in a post on X, presenting it as part of the country’s semiquincentennial commemorations.
The coin would honour “the enduring legacy of liberty and a lasting symbol of patriotism”, he wrote. Bessent added that it celebrated American values and the promise of a nation dedicated to preserving freedom.
The front shows Trump’s portrait beside the words “In God we trust”, ringed by “Liberty” and the dates 1776-2026. The reverse carries an eagle shield design taken from the presidential seal, with the number 250 at its centre.
The piece has a gold-like finish though is made of non-precious metal. It is being struck in Philadelphia, in the eastern state of Pennsylvania, and the Treasury said it would go on sale in the autumn.
American law generally bars the likeness of a living person from currency. The administration says the design is allowed under the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020, signed by Trump in his first term, which lets the treasury secretary issue anniversary dollar coins during 2026.
That act bars any portrait of a living person from the reverse, which the final design avoids. An earlier draft released last year had featured Trump on both faces.
Bessent has pointed to a precedent from the 150th anniversary in 1926, when a half-dollar depicted then-president Calvin Coolidge behind a bust of George Washington.
Democratic congressman Jerry Nadler dismissed the coin as a “golden vanity project”. Republican representative Thomas Massie, a frequent Trump critic, was equally scathing.
The coin joins a run of anniversary projects bearing the president’s mark, among them a limited-edition “Patriot Passport” carrying his portrait, paper currency printed this year carrying his signature above Bessent’s, and a promised triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery.
