Art pieces executed by sculptor Glenna Goodacre in her development for the obverse of the Sacagawea dollar will be offered at auction April 6 by Scottsdale Art Auction in Arizona.

Goodacre has officially closed her studio.

The 114-lot session includes preliminary sketches, bronze casts, and even one of the “burnished” 2000-P Sacagawea dollars from among the 5,000 with which she was compensated for her adopted coin design.

The offering also includes numerous cast bronze pieces representing multiple themes.

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Goodacre learned in 1998 that the U.S. Mint was going to conduct a design competition among U.S. Mint sculptor-engravers and private artists for a new golden-colored dollar coin to replace the failed Anthony dollar.

The coin was supposed to portray a Liberty figure based on Sacagawea, in honor of the Lewis and Clark Expedition from 1804 to 1806.

Goodacre, as a private artist, solicited the Mint for an artist’s entry packet.

Goodacre received her entry packet from the Mint on Sept. 9, 1998, and by Oct. 23 had produced seven different designs. The Mint received 123 total entries combined from all the competing artists.

Six final designs were chosen for further review, and five of them were submissions from Goodacre.

Randy L’ Teton, a Shoshone-Bannock college student, was Goodacre’s model for the figure of Sacagawea on the coin.

Goodacre’s winning Sacagawea design was paired with the Soaring Eagle reverse design rendered by then U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Thomas D. Rogers Sr.

Here are some of the auction highlights:

Sacagawea drawing

An estimate of $1,500 to $2,500 is placed on a 14-inch by 11-inch graphite drawing of Sacagawea, with her infant son, Jean-Baptiste, on her back.

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It is identified as a preliminary drawing for the final design for the Sacagawea dollar. The design was approved in 1999 and the coin was first officially issued in circulation in January 2000.

The sketch is signed GGOODACRE in the lower right and dated 1998.

Shoshone Mother

A bronze cast statue of Sacagawea and Jean-Baptiste titled Shoshone Mother is the 25th made of 40 produced, and is numbered as such.

Goodacre has signed the 25-inch-tall statue and dated it 1999.

The statue carries an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000.

Burnished 2000-P dollar

The auction offers an example of one of the 5,000 “Goodacre dollars,” the specially burnished 2000-P Sacagawea dollars with which Goodacre was paid for winning the design contest.

The contest had promised the winner a $5,000 fee, and Goodacre requested her payment in dollar coins. Mint officials chose to give the bulk of the coins delivered to her a special treatment that included burnishing. The finish on the “Goodacre dollars,” as they are generally known, is distinct from other finishes found on 2000-P Sacagawea dollars.

The 5,000 Sacagawea dollars Goodacre received were delivered to the artist by then U.S. Mint Director Philip N. Diehl, accompanied by U.S. Mint Police.

All 5,000 coins were encapsulated by Independent Coin Graders, and Goodacre later sold quantities of these encapsulated coins for $200 each, during the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in 2000 in Philadelphia.

The ICG-encapsulated 2000-P Sacagawea dollar in the auction carries an estimate of $1,000 to $1,500.

Goodacre’s Sacagawea portrait was used for the obverse of the Sacagawea dollar from 2000 to 2008, then carried over beginning in 2009 for the obverse of the Native American dollar.

Shoshone Mother study

An 11-inch-high cast bronze “study” of Sacagawea from the shoulders up with Jean-Baptiste is the 85th example of 99 cast.

The piece carries an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000.

The Offering

Signed by the artist and dated 1999, The Offering depicts Sacagawea with Jean-Baptiste on her back and a 2000-P Sacagawea dollar presented as an offering in her outstretched hands.

The dollar is an actual coin, and is removable.

The cast bronze statue measures 6.5 inches high and is numbered as the 259th of 260 pieces made.

The estimate is $1,000 to $1,500.

Dollar coin design

Goodacre also rendered bronze casts, measuring 8 inches in diameter, of the Sacagawea dollar obverse design. The sales offers one numbered as 94th of 100 made, with an estimate of $2,000 to $3,000. 

The piece is signed by Goodacre and dated 2000.

Terracotta coin

Goodacre’s also copied her Sacagawea dollar obverse design in terracotta, creating a plaque measuring 7 inches in diameter. The plaque is dated 1999 and signed by the artist.

The piece is framed with a card bearing Goodacre’s full signature.

The terracotta plaque carries an estimate of $500 to $1,000.

Sacagawea relief

A 7.5-inch rectangular bronze relief also depicts a rendition of the dollar’s obverse portrait.

With an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000, the relief study is signed by the artist, bears the date 1998 and the cast registration A.P.P.III as being an “artist’s proof.”

Sacagawea and Jean-Baptiste

One of the lots with the highest estimate is an 83-inch-high cast bronze statue of Sacagawea and her son, titled Sacagawea and Jean-Baptiste.

Signed by Goodacre and dated 2001, the statue is marked as the 5th of 15 authorized. Only 12 of the maximum 15 were actually cast, according to the auction lot description. The auction estimate is $90,000 to $120,000.

Circle of Friends

Among the sale’s offering of Goodacre’s non-Sacagawea pieces is a cast bronze plaque measuring 9 inches in diameter.

The piece depicts four children joyfully dancing in a circle.

It is numbered as the fifth of 15 total examples produced.

The estimate is $1,500 to $2,500.

Vietnam Women’s Memorial Maquette

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial, another famous work sculptured by Goodacre, was unveiled on Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, 1993, at the Vietnam Wall on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. .

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial pays tribute to the 11,000 American women who served in the military during the Vietnam War. 

The memorial depicts three uniformed women with a wounded male soldier. It is part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Offered in the April 6 auction is a bronze maquette of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial.

A maquette is defined as a small scale preliminary model or rough draft of a sculpture, usually created before the full-size version is completed.

The offered maquette of the memorial is the first of 24 cast. It measures 24.25 inches high, 25 inches wide and is 14 inches deep.

The auctioneer estimates the piece will sell for between $15,000 and $20,000.