Proposed designs for a three-coin commemorative coin program for 2024 recognizing Civil War abolitionist, spy, scout and nurse Harriet Tubman were recommended April 18 by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

The Tubman coins are expected to be the first of the two commemorative coin programs for calendar year 2024. Three coins are mandated in each program.

The commemorative coin program authorized under provisions of Public Law 117-163 calls for production and release by the U.S. Mint, in Proof and Uncirculated versions combined, of up to 50,000 .900 fine gold $5 coins, 400,000 .999 fine silver dollars and 750,000 copper-nickel clad half dollars.

President Biden signed the authorizing legislation into law on Aug. 3, 2022.

The CCAC considered 37 proposed designs: six obverses and six reverses for the $5 coin; six obverses and six reverses for the dollar coin; and seven obverses and six reverses for the half dollar.

Gold $5 designs

From the six obverse design sketches considered for the Proof and Uncirculated 2024-W $5 coins, the CCAC recommended an obverse illustrating Harriet Tubman in her years after the Civil War.

The panel’s recommended reverse depicts a two-handed gesture symbolizing Harriet Tubman’s efforts throughout her life to help and care for people. Emblematic of her life’s work, wording in the proposed design “includes Harriet Tubman’s seven core values, passed down from generation to generation. Those are FAITH, FREEDOM, FAMILY, COMMUNITY, SELF-DETERMINATION, SOCIAL JUSTICE, and EQUALITY.”

Silver dollars

For the Proof and Uncirculated 2023 Harriet Tubman dollar, the CCAC considered six proposed obverse designs and six proposed reverse sketches.

The recommended obverse illustrates “Tubman offering her hand to the viewer,” according to the U.S. Mint’s design narrative. “Harriet’s serious and searching expression, with concerted eye contact, challenges the viewer to seize the opportunity for freedom.”

The recommended reverse “features silhouettes travelling across a bridge created by a pair of clasping arms. In the sky above, the Big Dipper constellation points to the North Star, which forms the ‘O’ in ‘OF.’ ”

Copper-nickel clad half dollars

For the Proof and Uncirculated 2024 Tubman half dollars, the CCAC considered seven proposed obverse designs and six proposed reverse sketches.

The recommended half dollar obverse depicts Tubman from the waist up. Also, “In the background, two Civil War-era boats represent the Combahee River Raid. Tubman distinguished herself as the first woman to lead an armed expedition in the Civil War, the Combahee River Raid, resulting in more than 700 enslaved persons in South Carolina being freed.”

The recommended reverse depicts “Tubman holding a spyglass, symbolic of her work as a scout and a spy for the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War. Additional inscriptions include CIVIL WAR, NURSE, SCOUT, SPY, and COMBAHEE RIVER RAID LEADER.” A row of Civil War-era tents lines the horizon.

The retail purchase price of each gold coin will include a $35 surcharge, each silver dollar purchase will include a $10 surcharge, and each copper-nickel clad half dollar will carry a $5 surcharge.

Net surcharges, after the U.S. Mint recoups all of its production and related costs, are to be evenly distributed between the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and The Harriet-Tubman Home Inc. in Auburn, New York, “for the purpose of accomplishing and advancing their missions.”

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