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3w ago

New U.S. Coins for America’s 250th Enter Circulation as Design Choices Draw Fire

Critics say the Treasury’s picks sideline civil-rights and women’s-suffrage milestones.

The headquarters of the United States Mint in Washington, D.C.
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The heads side of the Revolutionary War quarter. Last month, the U.S. Mint unveiled seven new coin designs in honor of America’s 250th anniversary, and this week, the first ones went into circulation.

Overview

  • The U.S. Mint began circulation on Jan. 5 with the Mayflower Compact quarter, the first of five 2026 quarter designs tied to founding-era themes.
  • Other circulating designs include a one-year Lady Liberty dime replacing Franklin D. Roosevelt, a refreshed Thomas Jefferson nickel, and a Statue of Liberty half dollar, all bearing the dual date “1776 ~ 2026.”
  • Advisory-panel recommendations to honor figures such as Frederick Douglass and Ruby Bridges and to highlight the 19th Amendment were not adopted after Treasury selected more traditional imagery.
  • The Mint has floated a $1 coin bearing President Donald Trump’s likeness, a move critics note conflicts with longstanding rules against depicting living people, and nine Democratic senators urged Treasury to reject it.
  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent holds final approval over circulating coin designs, and the Mint says the 2026 issues will be produced for one year, with a commemorative penny offered for sale after routine penny production ended.