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https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/03/business/trump-coin...

It’s against US law to display the image of a sitting president or living former president. A president may be featured on a coin no sooner than two years following the president’s death.

“No coin issued under this subsection may bear the image of a living former or current President, or of any deceased former President during the 2-year period following the date of the death of that President,” according to the US code governing coin design.

In anticipation of America’s 250th anniversary, Congress passed the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act, which allows the US Treasury to mint special $1 coins to celebrate the event. The act states that the Treasury secretary may “mint for issuance during the one-year period beginning January 1, 2026, $1 dollar coins with designs emblematic of the United States semiquincentennial.”

That law also states, “No head and shoulders portrait or bust of any person, living or dead, and no portrait of a living person may be included in the design on the reverse of specified coins.”

The side portrait of Trump is featured on the front side of the coin, not the reverse, appearing to get around the law. The reverse still features Trump, but it’s unclear if the image would be a violation of the law. The reverse side still features Trump, but the Butler image falls outside of the direct language “head and shoulders portrait or bust.”

A portrait of President Donald Trump may be featured on a commemorative $1 coin issued by the United States Mint in honor of America’s 250th birthday in 2026, according to first drafts of the images confirmed by the US Treasury.

“No fake news here,” US Treasurer Brandon Beach post on X in response to images of the coin on X. “These first drafts honoring America’s 250th Birthday and @POTUS are real. Looking forward to sharing more soon, once the obstructionist shutdown of the United States government is over.”

The draft images show Trump’s side profile on the front with “Liberty” at the top, “In God we Trust” on the bottom and the dates 1776 and 2026. On the reverse is the famous image of Trump raising his fist after the Bulter, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt, with the words “FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT” at the top and an American flag billowing behind his head.

Jeff's sense of the future: The $1 coin will be clad in a .01mm layer of genuine 8k gold and will be sold in limited "numbered" commemorative boxes for $5,000 each - with the difference between the selling price and the face value designated to finance the Trump Presidential Library (or other associated expenses by the Trump family). The coin will retain the legal tender value of $1 US dollar.

Jeff

It’s against US law to display the image of a sitting president or living former president. A president may be featured on a coin no sooner than two years following the president’s death.

This gives me optimism.

Perhaps it’s proof that he died two years ago, and what I’m experiencing is just the remnants of a very bad dream.

I'll hazard being flamed again, to suggest there are positive aspects to a new $1 coin.

Coins are more durable than paper bills. Coins work more reliably in vending machines than paper bills. When I worked at the Office Depot warehouse in Plymouth, in the late 90s, the vending machines in the lunch room took Susan Bs. Put a five or ten dollar bill in the bill changer, and it spat out Susan Bs. The owner of that vending company apparently found it beneficial to him to create a Susan B ecosystem in that lunch room.

What have been the big pushbacks against $1 coins?

-no space for them in retailer's cash drawers. The President has ordered the end of production of pennies, which will open up a space in retailer's cash drawers.

-they're different. I would like to see a Venn diagram between opponents of $1 coins, the promoters of conspiracy theories about the peach colored $10 bills, when they came out, and support for the current administration. I would not be surprised to see a high degree of overlap. If that is the case, putting the picture of the current POTUS on the coins could squelch opposition, so the $1 coin program could get going.

Recall, Tim, on the Fool board, talked about how Canada made the shift: they simply quit making $1 bills, so people had no choice but use the $1 and $2 coins. The current administration has ordered an end to penny production, without provoking massive protests. We might be able to stop making $1 bills, and switch to a coin in this window of opportunity.

Steve

OK - a Sanity check to Steve's rant :-)

Back in the mists of time, the US discontinued 1/2 pennies and standardized on the 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 cent and $1 pieces of coinage (I'll ignore gold coinage). People were paid less than a dollar an hour on average (Wage-earning men made an average $11.16 per 60 hour week in 1905 or $.19 per hour. Wage-earning women made an average $6.17 per week in 1905.) Today, the average salary is about $32 an hour or 150X more, simplistically reflecting a cumulative inflation of 15,000%.

In that context, not only the penny, but at a minimum, the nickel and dime should also be eliminated as essentially worthless. For all pragmatic purposes, the half-dollar is extinct and the $1 coinage has never become popular. This dates back to when, after the silver dollar bit the dust, the government came out with a similarly sized slug known as the Eisenhower dollar. These were uniquely awkward. while at lease the silver dollar's size had the excuse that it contained about an ounce of silver, the Eisenhower coin was just a pocket filler. Their next attempt was the Susan B. Anthony dollar which, while technically hexangular, was the same color and about the same size as a $.25 cent piece and easily confused. The solution of the subsequent attempt was simply to use a bronze-ish color for the coin, but few tended to use it. (My personal opinion is that the Brits had the right idea when they made the 1 pound coin about the size of three US nickels glued together which, as a relatively small slug could be easily distinguished in the dark of your pocket).

If the only coinage we had was a $.25 and a $1, life would be simpler and we would do just fine. To save money, it would even pay to issue a $5 coin as well.

Jeff

OK - a Sanity check to Steve's rant :-)

That wasn't a rant. A rant turns the sarcasm up to 11. :^)

If the only coinage we had was a $.25 and a $1, life would be simpler and we would do just fine. To save money, it would even pay to issue a $5 coin as well.

Oh boy, are you in trouble. Now you get the full "Plan Steve" for coinage.

Everyone else, before you flame me, it's all Jeff's fault.

The USD today, has about a tenth the buying power it did in 1960.

That gives me an idea:

Have all the cash registers/POS systems, round to one decimal point, instead of two. That facilitates the elimination of the penny, *and* the nickle. iirc, it costs more than 5 cents to make a nickle. You can't make change for a quarter without pennies and nickles, so the quarter has to go too. So, "Plan Steve" for coinage, going forward is the dime we have now, which has the buying power of a penny in 1960, a half dollar coin, about the size of a current nickle (buying power of a 1960 nickle), and a dollar coin, about the size of a quarter/Susan B (buying power of a 1960 dime). The new half and dollar would either be gold, or a two piece coin, like the Canadian $2, so people don't mistake the old nickles and quarters for the new coins.

When people start rioting in the streets over being "cheated" by registers rounding to one decimal point, instead of two, try to explain inflation and how they aren't being cheated any more than when registers rounded to two decimal points in 1960, because that fraction of a cent rounding in 60, represents the same value as rounding a fraction of a dime now. When you give up in exasperation, tell them what my DM at RS said "that's the way it is, shut up" (ok, that's sarcasm, but I guarantee you some people will insist they are being cheated, and they will howl even louder if you try to round to a quarter, instead of to a dime.)

Steve...has actually given this some thought, for some time, but will anyone appreciate it?

I remember when, in 1973, gasoline pumps in the US had to be modified so that they would display prices of more than $9.99 to fill up a tank.

Jeff

I remember when, in 1973, gasoline pumps in the US had to be modified so that they would display prices of more than $9.99 to fill up a tank.

Here's another "worthless dollar" data point.

I remember this Mickey D's ad, from 71. The guy gets two burgers, fries, drink, and change back, from $1. If you mosey into Wendy's right now, you can get 2 Jr bacon cheesburgers, medium fries, and medium drink, for $8, and that is a smoking hot deal, for Wendy's, now.

McDonald's 'Change Back' Commercial (1971)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcLzn3feBsE

Steve...remembers when a new car cost about $1 per pound

<< I remember when, in 1973, gasoline pumps in the US had to be modified
so that they would display prices of more than $9.99 to fill up a tank.>>

That brings back old memories of odd/even days when you were restricted
based on the last digit of your license plate. I guess Russia is going
through something similar now.

A few years ago I was in rural Alabama and stopped at one of the
few remaining gas stations that was still using analog pumps. They
simply posted a sign on the pumps explaining that the actual prices
was "x2" the displayed price.

-Rubic

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