First Spouse Gold Coins
The United States Mint has launched a new series of one-half ounce 24 karat gold coins to honor the Nation’s First Ladies. Typically, four or five different First Spouse Gold Coins are released each year in the order of the Presidencies.
The first year of the series was 2007 when coins were issued for Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson’s Liberty, and Dolley Madison. The series will continue in 2011 with coins honoring Eliza Johnson, Julia Grant, Lucy Hayes, and Lucretia Garfield.
First Spouse Gold Coin Program
The program was authorized under Public Law 109-145 The Presidential $1 Coin Act. In addition to authorizing the Presidential Dollars series, which features the former Presidents in the order served, the law also provided for the issuance of gold coins featuring the President’s spouses.
The order of release for the First Spouse coins will follow that of the circulating dollar series, with some modifications. For President’s who had a first and second wife, two gold coins would be issued for the Presidency. For any President who served in office without a spouse, a depiction of Liberty would be presented on the obverse of the coin.
First Spouse Gold Coins each contain one half ounce of .9999 fine gold. The coins are considered numismatic items and have a nominal face value of $10. The gold used to mint the coins must be obtained from newly mined domestic sources.
First Spouse Coin Designs
The obverse of each First Spouse coin features a portrait of the spouse being honored. Inscriptions include the name of the spouse, the years served, the order of the Presidency, date and mint mark, the motto “In God We Trust”, and “Liberty.”
The reverse design of each coin contains images emblematic of the spouse being honored. Some of the reverse designs so far have included memorable scenes from the spouse’s life, or images representative of their major contributions or accomplishments. The required inscriptions on the reverse include “United States of America,” “E Pluribus Unum,” the denomination, and the weight and purity of the gold content.
Release Dates and Mintages
The First Spouse Gold Coins have been issued following the circulation release date of the corresponding Presidential Dollar. The order of release for the entire series has been established, but specific release dates for each coin are usually not provided until the year of issue. The coins have been sold directly by the United States Mint to the public, available until the maximum mintage has been sold or for approximately one year.
For the first three years of the series, the United States Mint established maximum authorized mintages of 40,000 coins for each design. Although the first three releases attained the maximum mintage, subsequent releases did not, prompting the maximum mintage to be lowered starting in 2010. Several of the coins issued in 2009 have enticingly low mintages compared to other US Mint issued gold coins.
