The 2025 Gold Sacagawea Dollar Will Confuse the Public
Gold finally meets the “Golden Dollar”—and the public will be baffled.
On July 31, the U.S. Mint will accept orders for the 2025 Half Ounce .9999 pure gold Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Dollar, which commemorates the debut of the Sacagawea “Golden Dollar” in 2000. Mintage is limited to 7,500 coins.
The design will be the same as the obverse and reverse of the 2000-2008 Sacagawea non-gold Golden Dollars, except for the 2025 date and the W mintmark for the coins being struck at the West Point, New York Mint.
Of course, even though they were marketed as “Golden Dollars,” the 2000-2008 Sacagawea Dollars, 2009-date Native American Dollars that still feature Sacagawea on the obverse, the Presidential Dollars that debuted in 2007, and the American Innovation Dollars that debuted in 2018 do not contain one speck of gold. Instead, their metal content is 88-1/2 percent copper, 6 percent zinc, 3-1/2 percent manganese, and 2 percent nickel.
The gold issues will have almost the same diameter as the non-gold Golden Dollars. The difference in color between the gold and the non-gold Golden Dollars will be so minimal that the general public is unlikely to be able to tell the difference.
Most people are aware that the Golden Dollars don’t really have any gold in them. But once the Mint advertises the sale of the 2025 Gold Sacagawea Dollar, which does have gold, I expect there will be significant public confusion. I anticipate a surge of people who will contact collectors and dealers, asking if any of their Golden Dollars from 2000 onward contain gold.
None of the 2000-2024 Golden Dollars has any gold content, nor do the 2025-dated Native American or American Innovation Golden Dollars. With the obverse of the 2025 Native American Dollar almost identical to that of the 2025 Gold Sacagawea Dollar, here are three differences that can easily tell the difference between the two.
First, the 2025 Gold Sacagawea Dollar has the date and mintmark on the coin’s obverse, while the non-gold 2025 Native American Dollar has the date and mintmark on the coin’s edge.
Second, the reverse of the 2025 Gold Sacagawea Dollar has an eagle on the reverse, while the non-gold 2025 Native American Dollar depicts Mary Kawena Pukui.
Third, because of the greater density of gold, the 2025 Gold Sacagawea Dollar weighs 15.55 grams, whereas the non-gold 2025 Native American Dollar weighs 8.1 grams.
Still, from conversations with some customers over the years, I’m certain that a number of people simply will not believe that the non-gold Golden Dollars they own do not have any actual gold content, no matter how many online or print references you can share with them.
The release of the 2025 Gold Sacagawea Dollar might spark the collecting bug in a few more people. But I’m concerned about the confusion and negative unintended consequences it will likely have with others.
Last column’s numismatic trivia question.
Last time I asked— How many U.S. presidents were depicted on U.S. coins before the debut of the U.S. Presidential Dollar series? A total of 13 presidents appeared on U.S. circulating and commemorative coins before the Presidential Dollars debuted in 2007. They include Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J. Q. Adams, Lincoln, Grant, McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Kennedy.
This week’s trivia question
Here is this week’s question. How many people have been depicted on U.S. coins while they were still alive? Who were they? Come back next week for the answer.
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