Joint Liberty-Britannia coin design gets first review
- Published: Feb 24, 2023, 8 AM
The United States Mint is planning to produce a gold $100 coin and a silver medal dated 2024 as part of a joint Liberty and Britannia numismatic project in conjunction with Britain’s Royal Mint.
On Feb. 16, the Commission of Fine Arts recommended obverse and reverse designs, from among 10 proposed for consideration, that will jointly appear on coins and medals produced by both government Mints.
The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee is slated to consider the same proposed designs in with their two-day meeting set for Feb. 28 and March 1.
The CFA considered obverse and reverse designs for the coins and medals that combine design elements of allegorical renditions of Liberty and Britannia.
The 2024 Liberty and Britannia pure gold coin and silver medal program is the first original design collaboration between two of the largest mints in the world.
The 2024 program will feature a design jointly created by the chief engraver of the United States Mint, Joseph F. Menna, and the chief engraver of the British Royal Mint, Gordon Summers.
The joint design features allegorical Liberty and Britannia, both iconic emblems of their respective nations.
On Jan. 25, 2023, representatives of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts joined the Royal Mint Advisory Committee to review candidate options for the joint design.
The result of that review was be shared at the CFA’s Feb. 16 public meeting for discussion and ratification of the recommendation.
Each Mint will produce coins and medals using the joint design and incorporating its own required inscriptions.
The joint design will be used by the Royal Mint as a reverse, opposite an obverse bearing the portrait of King Charles III.
The United States Mint will use the joint design as an obverse. Menna executed the reverse candidate designs submitted for review, to complement the exploration of the connection between the two countries, while further reflecting the American ideal of Liberty.
The U.S. secretary of the Treasury will consider the recommendations and comments from both the CCAC and the CFA and make the final selections for obverse and reverse designs in the United States Mint’s program.
The joint design “invites both comparison and contrast by featuring profile portraits of allegorical Liberty and Britannia presented as complementary and balancing elements suggestive of the faces on a playing card,” according to the U.S. Mint’s design narrative. “Each figure holds their respective symbols; Britannia, her trident, and Liberty, her torch.”
The recommended reverse for the U.S. gold coin design references the United States’ 2023 American Liberty gold coin by pairing a bristlecone pine on the left with an English yew tree on the right. They are separated by the Atlantic Ocean with a sun rising above it, heralding new possibilities for both nations.”
In the field between the two trees on the design for the U.S. gold coin’s reverse is inscribed in eight lines, UNITED STATES OF AMERICAN / LIBERTY AND BRITANNIA / E PLURIBUS UNUM / AU 1OZ. / IN GOD / WE / TRUST / $100.
The silver medal reverse appears with the same design elements as the gold coins but without any coin or precious metal references.
The U.S. Mint has not disclosed mintages for the gold coin and silver medal to be produced by the U.S. Mint, nor are pricing or surface finish plans revealed.
Amy James, communications director for the Royal Mint, informed Coin World via email Feb. 19 that the Royal Mint was not ready to disclose any details for the Royal Mint’s contributions to the Liberty and Britannia numismatic initiative.
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