Earlier today, I was honored
to join Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin to
unveil designs for the 2017 American Liberty Gold Coin.
The unveiling not only
marked a historic milestone for the allegorical Lady Liberty, who has been
featured on American coinage since the late 1790s, but also served to kick-off
the Mint’s 225th anniversary—a year-long public awareness campaign
about its mission, facilities and employees.
I am very proud of the fact
that the United States Mint is rooted in the Constitution. Our founding fathers
realized the critical need for our fledgling nation to have a respected
monetary system, and over the last 225 years, the Mint has never failed in its
mission to enable America’s growth and stability by protecting assets entrusted
to us and manufacturing coins and medals to facilitate national commerce.
We have chosen “Remembering our Past, Embracing
the Future” as the Mint’s theme for our 225th Anniversary year. This beautiful coin truly embodies that
theme. The coin demonstrates our roots
in the past through such traditional elements as the inscriptions United States
of America, Liberty, E Pluribus Unum and In God We Trust. We boldly look to the future by casting
Liberty in a new light, as an African-American woman wearing a crown of stars, looking
forward to ever brighter chapters in our Nation’s history book. The 2017
American Liberty Gold Coin is the first in a series of 24-karat gold coins the
United States Mint will issue biennially. These coins will feature designs that
depict an allegorical Liberty in a variety of contemporary forms including
designs representing Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Indian-Americans
among others to reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of the United States.
2017 American Liberty Gold Coin obverse
(left) and reverse (right). (United States Mint Photos)
Rhett Jeppson is the Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Mint.