Trump $1 Coin Sales Spark Rush at U.S. Mint
The new $1 gold coins bearing President Donald Trump’s face are temporarily unavailable, according to the U.S. Mint.
The coins were listed as “currently unavailable” on the Mint’s website Friday morning, Sept. 4, after going on sale at noon Eastern time Sept. 2. Multiple news outlets reported that the coins were no longer available a few hours after the sale began.
The coins make Trump the first living person featured on American currency in more than a century. According to the U.S. Mint, they were sold in these quantities and at these prices:
- 25-coin roll: $61
- 100-coin bag: $154.50
Dispersed among the bags and rolls are 250,000 coins pressed on the Fourth of July, with a “July 4” privy mark, the Treasury said in a news release. Featuring Trump’s official White House portrait, the coins were designed to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary.
The Treasury did not immediately respond to a USA TODAY request for more information about when the coins would be available again. According to CNN, the Mint website featured a notice on the afternoon of Sept. 2 for the 25-coin roll stating that the coins were “available to be ordered now, but it is not currently in stock.” The notice also said additional inventory was being made.
Coins Are First in Slate of Trump-Adorned Currency
The coins are the first released in a slate of Trump-adorned currency announced by the Treasury. The agency has also proposed a $250 bill and 24-karat gold commemorative coin with the president’s image.
Some Democrats and coin collectors have questioned the legality of the coins, pointing to a federal law allowing “only the portrait of a deceased individual” to appear on U.S. currency and securities.
The Treasury, however, has pointed to a 2020 law allowing it to mint a $1 coin honoring the nation’s semiquincentennial for one year.
George Washington refused to have his image printed on currency during his lifetime, believing it was “monarchical.”
President Calvin Coolidge was the last and only other sitting executive to appear on currency. In 1926, for the country’s 150th anniversary, the Treasury issued a half-dollar featuring Coolidge and George Washington.
Neither the $1 gold coin nor the 24-karat gold commemorative coin received approval from the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, a nonpartisan group created by Congress to advise the Treasury on coin designs. The committee declined to review both coins, arguing that putting a sitting president on currency was against the country’s founding principles.
Reporting by Gabe Hauari and Karissa Waddick, USA TODAY. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY.
