The Hiawatha Belt with five arrows bound together will be featured on the reverse of the 2010 Native American $1 coins.
The design, based on the theme “Government – The Great Tree of Peace,” includes the inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, $1, Haudenosaunee and Great Law of Peace.
The United States Mint will issue these coins in January 2010, and they will be available throughout 2010, it announced Nov. 27.
The Hiawatha Belt is a visual record of the creation of the Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy, with five symbols representing the five original Nations. The central figure on the belt, the Great White Pine, represents the Onondaga Nation with the four square symbols representing the Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga and Seneca Nations. The bundle of arrows symbolizes strength in unity for the Iroquois Confederacy.
Featured on the obverse of the 2010 Native American $1 coin is the familiar “Sacagawea” design by sculptor Glenna Goodacre, first produced in 2000. Inscriptions on the obverse are LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST. Like the Presidential $1 coins, the Native American $1 coins are minted in the distinctive golden color with the year, mintmark and E PLURIBUS UNUM edge-lettered on the rim.
Beginning in 2009, the United States Mint began minting and issuing $1 coins featuring designs celebrating the important contributions made by Indian tribes and individual Native Americans to the history and development of the United States. This program was created by the Native American $1 Coin Act, Public Law 110-82.
In general, five distinct $1 coins will be issued each year – four Presidential $1 coins and one Native American $1 coin. The law requires that at least 20 percent of all such $1 coins minted and issued in any year be Native American $1 Coins.
After the completion of the Presidential $1 Coin Program, the Native American $1 Coin Program will continue.
