Finance Minister Scott Bessent unveiled the design of a new $1 coin: Trump in a suit, fists on the desk, stern gaze. At the top — "LIBERTY", at the bottom — "IN GOD WE TRUST", on the reverse — an eagle in flight. The coin is being minted in Philadelphia, expected in fall 2025.
But beneath the smooth presentation lie several inconvenient details that the administration is not publicizing.
What exactly is being violated — and how they're getting around it
U.S. federal law directly prohibits depicting living people on coins. 31 U.S. Code § 5112 states: no coin may contain an image of a current or living former president. The 2005 Presidential Dollar Act allows $1 coins only in honor of deceased presidents. The 2020 Coin Update Law prohibits portraits of living persons on the reverse.
The Trump administration found a legal loophole: the same 2020 law contains an exception for coins "symbolic of the 250th anniversary of the United States". This exception is what the Finance Ministry is using to justify the issuance. A court rejected a lawsuit against the coin — but not on the grounds of legality, but because the plaintiff lacked personal injury.
"Monarchs and dictators mint their faces on coins, not leaders of democratic countries. This is another attempt to distort the meaning of America's 250th anniversary".
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley
Precedent: Coolidge in 1926 — and how it ended
Bessent himself cites a precedent: in 1926, for the 150th anniversary of the United States, Calvin Coolidge appeared on a half-dollar coin alongside George Washington. According to Bessent, this proves: "living people can be depicted on a coin".
What he does not add: the 1926 issuance provoked such outrage that most coins were recalled and melted down. Since then, no living president has appeared on an American coin — until today.
47 coins worth $90,000: collectors, not citizens
The coin nominally costs $1, but in reality — quite a different story. According to Newsweek, only 47 specimens will be issued, each with gold content valued at approximately $90,000. The coin is not intended for circulation — it is aimed at collectors and numismatists. The Commission of Fine Arts, composed exclusively of Trump appointees, unanimously approved the design without objection.
Commission member Chamberlain Harris — simultaneously a White House advisor — explained the decision as follows:
"There is no profile more iconic for a coin than the profile of the sitting president who is leading the country in the year of its 250th anniversary".
Chamberlain Harris, member of the Commission of Fine Arts and White House advisor
Broader context: the coin as a symbol of strategy
As Axios notes, Trump's interest in reformatting American currency reflects a broader strategy — to cement his name on federal symbols and institutions in his second term: from government programs to currency. Renaming objects, changing the composition of federal commissions, now — a coin.
The Coolidge precedent lasted exactly one year and ended in melting. If the new coin becomes part of permanent circulation or its series expands — this will no longer be an exception for an anniversary, but a new norm.
