The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee Sept. 27 recommended a proposed design for the reverse of the 2024 American Innovation dollar for Maine, but rejected the entire reverse design portfolio submitted for the 2024 American Innovation dollar for Missouri.

The 11-member panel returned all seven of the proposed Missouri dollar reverse designs to the Mint, requesting that the submitted designs be reworked, as well as requesting new reverse designs.

The rejected designs are all thematic of the contributions of scientist and inventor Dr. George Washington Carver, whose research at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama is considered instrumental in changing Southern approaches to agriculture.

Carver’s interest in “chemurgy,” a branch of applied chemistry that involves finding industrial uses for agricultural raw materials, was driven by his desire to identify new uses for non-cotton Southern crops.

According to the Mint’s design narrative, Carver “developed his crop rotation method, which alternated nitrate-producing legumes such as peanuts and peas with cotton, which depletes soil of its nutrients. Dr. Carver’s methods restored nitrogen to the soil, improved crop yields, and was more cost-effective than using commercial fertilizer.”

The recommended reverse design for the Maine dollar was selected from among 11 proposed designs submitted by the Mint that recognize Lithuanian-American cardiologist Dr. Bernard Lown, the original developer of the direct current defibrillator, also known as a cardioverter, for cardiac resuscitation and correcting rapid disordered heart rhythms.

The recommended Maine reverse design presents a profile portrait of Dr. Lown with his direct current defibrillator in operation below.

The design is flanked by the inscriptions DR. BERNARD LOWN and DIRECT CURRENT DEFIBRILLATOR.

The CCAC recommended that Dr. Lown’s name be inscribed in the design as BERNARD LOWN, MD.

All proposed designs were created by either AIP designers or Mint medallic artists.

Regardless of whose designs are approved by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, a Mint medallic artist will be tasked with the design sculpting.

Approved reverse designs will be paired with the common obverse design for the American Innovation dollar series created by AIP designer Justin Kunz and sculpted by Mint Medallic Artist Phebe Hemphill.