The upcoming $1 coin featuring President Donald Trump, intended to commemorate the United States’ 250th anniversary, is poised to adopt a more traditional look. This change comes after initial designs from the Treasury Department, which featured more aggressive imagery, were reconsidered.
New proposals for the Trump coin, which has stirred controversy and opposition from Democrats seeking to halt its production, were presented to the Commission of Fine Arts. This independent body provides the federal government with guidance on design matters.
The proposed designs all prominently feature close-up images of Trump’s face, with the word “Liberty” positioned above and the years “1776-2026” inscribed below. Each design presents the president gazing in a different direction.
During a Thursday morning meeting, commission members voted in favor of recommending a side-profile version of Trump, contingent upon the president’s approval.
The decision was influenced by concerns over the depiction of Trump’s hair in the alternative designs.
They were concerned about the look of Trump’s hair in the other proposed designs.
‘The plate of hair up there is not accurate,’ said commission member, James C. McCrery, of the design where Trump is looking forward.
McCrery was the original pick to design Trump’s ballroom, but was replaced by Shalom Baranes, who has more experience handling major federal construction projects.
The Commission of Fine Arts voted Thursday to recommend this design to President Donald Trump for a controversial $1 coin to mark the country’s 250th birthday
The Treasury Department originally shared this design for the coin in October that showed President Donald Trump’s pose after surviving an assassination attempt
McCrery was among five new appointees to the Commission of Fine Arts, which is also reviewing the ballroom design, that Trump selected earlier this month after firing the former members in October.
Commission member Roger Kimball said the side-profile version of the coin ‘has a statesmen-like quality to the coif of the hair.’
The panel selected the coin back to have a classic eagle design, with members recommending cutting the Liberty Bell from the proposed sketch so that it looked less busy.
Democrats have been trying to push back on this effort, pointing to the historic precedent of never putting a living president’s face on U.S. currency.
In December, Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley and Catherine Cortez Masto co-sponsored a bill that would prevent a president from putting their visage on money.
‘President Trump’s self-celebrating maneuvers are authoritarian actions worthy of dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, not the United States of America,’ Merkley said in a statement at the time of the bill’s release.
He referred to the coins as an ‘abuse of taxpayer dollars’ that turned the United States into a ‘strongman state.’
‘While monarchs put their faces on coins, America has never had and never will have a king,’ Cortez Masto chimed in. ‘Our legislation would codify this country’s long-standing tradition of not putting living Presidents on American coins.’
The Commission of Fine Arts members rejected these two $1 Trump coin designs due to the look of the president’s hair
The Commission of Fine Arts members selected this design to be the back of the Trump $1 coin, but without the Liberty Bell image
With a Republican majority in Congress, the bill is unlikely to pass before the coins are minted later this year.
At the meeting Thursday morning, commission members were told that only three people had provided public comment – and they were all against putting Trump’s face on a $1 coin.
The representative from the US Mint, Megan Sullivan, a senior design specialist according to her LinkedIn, was asked about the legality of putting Trump’s face on it.
She answered that she could only speak in ‘generalities,’ as she’s not an attorney, but said the legal research has been done by the Mint and the Treasury Department.
‘And they have determined that this does not violate any laws, that this is perfectly legal,’ she said, pointing to a piece of legislation that allowed for commemorative coins to be made for the U.S.’s Semiquincentennial.
The coin design will also be examined by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.
The final decision will technically need to be made by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
It’s unclear when that decision will be made and the ultimate decider – Trump – hasn’t publicly weighed in with a preference.
