Sacagawea dollar in Encyclopedia

Originally, since there was no known portrait of Sacagawea, the committee that chose Sacagawea for the coin specified the figure as depicted as a Native American woman inspired by Sacagawea.^[2] This also helped sell the coin to committee members that preferred the traditional Liberty of older U.S. coins, especially since the Indian Head cent had also depicted Liberty as a Native American. However, the Liberty part of the concept faded during the design competition, as the most suitable designs (including Goodacre's winning design) focused on the story of Sacagawea.

The coins are made from pure copper with a manganese brass outer clad. Unlike most other coins in circulation, the selected outer alloy has a tendency to tarnish quite severely in circulation, as is the case with most brasses, resulting in a loss of the golden "patina".^[3] While some consider the blackening an undesired quality, the Mint suggests the uneven tarnishing effect gives the the coins an "antique finish" that "accentuate[s] the profile and add[s] a dimension of depth to the depiction of Sacagawea and her child".^[3]

History

Sacagawea dollars began being minted in 2000 in accordance with the United States $1 Coin Act of 1997. These coins were made to replace the unpopular Susan B. Anthony dollar coins which were often confused with quarters because of their similar size, similar reeded edge, and identical color. To remedy this problem, Sacagawea dollars were given a smooth outside edge (similar to the Nickel) and distinctive gold color which made it the only gold-colored coin in the United States that was circulating at the time.

The dollar is nearly identical in color, size, and thickness, but not shape, to the Canadian $1 loonie coin, first minted in 1987.

Despite a major promotional blitz by the United States government, these coins failed to gain popularity with the general public, and mintages of the coins declined sharply after the first year, just as mintages of the Susan B. Anthony dollar had done 21 years earlier.

Sacagawea dollars were released for general circulation only in 2000 and 2001. On March 31, 2002 production of the coins for circulation was halted due to low demand and the fact that inventories of the coins were filling up Government vaults^[4]. Since then, Sacagawea dollars are still being minted on a small scale for collectors and are available in uncirculated coin rolls, Mint Sets, Proof Sets, and Special Westward Journey Sets from the United States Mint. The coins, though widely available at banks and in change from automated vending machines, rarely are given as change from merchants and thus tend to return to the banks. The Sacagawea dollar is commonly found in circulation in Ecuador, which dollarized to the US dollar in 2000. While Ecuador issue their own coins for the lower denominations there is no Ecuadorian counterpart for the dollar coin. Both the dollar note and coin are commonly used.

Save the Greenback, an organization of Bureau of Engraving and Printing employees and paper and ink suppliers, lobbied against replacing the paper dollar with the dollar coin.^[5] Congress responded by including in the $1 Coin Act (Public Law 105-124) a provision that: Nonetheless, nothing in that section (or in any other law) prohibits the Federal Reserve System from phasing out the paper dollar in the future.

In 2000, the General Accounting Office estimated that "the $1 coin's advantage would be $522.2 million per year, once fully implemented".^[6] The GAO noted that in order for a dollar coin to be successful, the $1 note would have to be eliminated; a reasonable transition period would be needed; the $1 coin would have to be well designed and readily distinguishable from other coins; an adequate public awareness campaign would be needed; and sustained administrative and congressional support would be necessary to withstand an initial negative public reaction to eliminating the $1 note.

James C. Benfield, executive director of the Coin Coalition, commented on the reasons for why the Sacagawea dollar never became widely circulated. He denied that it was due to the public hoarding the coins, noting that the public also collects large quantities of Statehood Quarters, yet Statehood Quarters remain in wide circulation. Benfield claimed that banks could not be faulted, since few people get coins from the bank, except for rolls of quarters to feed parking meters or coin-operated laundry machines. Moreover, he denied that it was due to public rejection of the Sacagawea, explaining, "The key players in the circulation of any denomination are the store managers of chain restaurants, drugstores, grocery stores and convenience stores. All coins, and $1 and $5 bills, begin circulating in the economy from the cash drawers of these establishments. If the store manager doesn't stock $1 coins in the morning, then you won't get them as change in the afternoon.^[7]

Native American series

With the passage of the Native American $1 Coin Act^[8] on September 20, 2007, the U.S. Mint began designing a series of Sacagawea dollars with modified reverses to further commemorate "Native Americans and the important contributions made by Indian tribes and individual Native Americans to the development of the United States and the history of the United States." Four designs were to be minted, each for one year from 2009 to 2012. The first Native American series coin was released in January 2009 and had a reverse that depicted a Native American woman sowing seeds of the Three Sisters, symbolizing the Indian tribes' contributions to agriculture.

Like the Presidential Dollar, the year of issue, mint mark, and motto E Pluribus Unum are found on the edge of the coin instead of on the obverse or reverse, which allows for more room for the design^[9]. Unlike the Presidential $1 coins from before 2009, "In God We Trust" remains on the obverse and the vacant space on the edge lettering has been taken up by thirteen stars, symbolizing the Thirteen Colonies. The act passed by Congress requires that 20% of the total dollar coins minted in any year during the Presidential $1 Coin Program be Sacagawea dollars bearing the new design.^[8]

In January 2010, the second reverse design in the series was released which has the theme of "Government" and the "Great Tree of Peace". The 2010 Sacagawea reverse depicts the Hiawatha Belt and five arrows bound together representing unity with the inscription "Haudenosaunee", a synonym for the Iroquois Confederacy meaning "People of the Longhouse". Another inscription is found along the lower edge of the reverse spelling "Great Law of Peace", an English translation of Gayanashagowa, the Iroquois Confederacy constitution. According to some historians, the Great Law of Peace was used as a model for the Constitution of the United States. The four links on the belt are meant to symbolize four of the five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, namely the Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca Nations. The Eastern White Pine tree in the middle of the belt represents the fifth Nation, the Onondaga, and is a depiction of the Tree of Peace.

Mintage figures

Year	Philadelphia (P)	Denver (D)
2000	767,150,000	518,920,000^[10]
2001	62,470,000	70,940,000^[10]
2002	3,869,000	3,733,000^[10]
2003	3,080,002	3,080,002^[10]
2004	2,660,010	2,660,010^[10]
2005	2,525,000	2,525,000^[10]
2006	4,900,000	2,800,000^[10]
2007	3,640,000	3,920,000^[10]
2008	9,800,000	14,840,000^[10]
2009	37,380,000	33,880,000^[11]
2010	N/A	N/A

Truly golden dollars

In 2001, Coin World reported the revelation (via a FOIA document request) that the Mint had struck 39 examples of the 2000 Sacagawea dollar in gold in June 1999 at the West Point Mint. The planchets came from specially prepared troy-oz $25 American Gold Eagle Bullion Planchets. Why they were struck is not known; speculation is that this was an attempt by the mint to offer "Premium" collectibles in conjunction with the newly released Sacagawea dollar in 2000.

Twenty-seven were soon melted and the remaining 12 were on board Space Shuttle Columbia for the July 1999 STS-93 mission. Two examples then popped up at two separate events; one during a Private Congressional Dinner in August 1999, and another example at the Official First-Strike ceremonies in November. The coins remained at Mint Headquarters under lock and key until they were transferred in 2001 to Fort Knox. The strikes are considered to be illegal due to the Coinage regulations in place.

In 2007, the Mint announced^[12] it would for the first time publicly display the 12 space-flown gold dollars at the American Numismatic Association's World's Fair of Money in Milwaukee, WI.