Mint unveils 2015 March of Dimes silver dollar designs

Approved designs for the 2015 March of Dimes 75th Anniversary silver dollar were unveiled Oct. 30 by the U.S. Mint and March of Dimes Foundation.

Images courtesy of U.S. Mint.

Designs approved for the 2015 March of Dimes 75th Anniversary commemorative silver dollar were unveiled Oct. 30 by the United States Mint and the March of Dimes Foundation.

The unveiling coincides with the foundation’s observance of Prematurity Awareness Month. Deputy Treasury Secretary Susan Bloom Raskin officially approved the obverse and reverse designs July 21, according to U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White.

Public Law 112-209, the 2015 March of Dimes Commemorative Coin Act of 2012, authorizes the Mint to strike and issue .900 fine silver dollars in recognition and celebration of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the March of Dimes. The act calls for the bureau to strike no more than 500,000 coins combined in Proof and Uncirculated versions.

The coin’s designs are emblematic of the March of Dimes’ mission and programs, and its distinguished record of generating Americans' support to protect our children's health, according to the Mint.

The obverse design depicts conjoined profiles of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dr. Jonas Salk. U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program artist Paul C. Balan designed the obverse, and U.S. Mint Medallic Sculptor Michael Guardioso will sculpt it.

President Roosevelt’s personal struggle with polio led to the establishment of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, eventually renamed the March of Dimes. As part of the foundation’s fundraising efforts, every member of the public was encouraged to send in a dime to the foundation. By the time of Roosevelt’s death on April 12, 1945, the foundation was already popularly known as the March of Dimes.

The Roosevelt dime was released to the public on Jan. 30, 1946

The approved reverse design features a baby sleeping peacefully in the hand of its parent. U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Donald Everhart II designed and will sculpt the reverse.

The approved designs were recommended May 19 by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

The Commission of Fine Arts recommended two different designs. In its recommendations, the CFA opted for designs depicting the Roosevelt dime. The CFA’s recommended obverse featured the Roosevelt dime, Dr. Salk, and a dime board. The panel’s recommended reverse featuresd two fingers and a thumb grasping the edge of a 1946 Roosevelt dime to place it in a March of Dimes donation card, and a pair of empty children’s polio braces.

Pricing for the 2015 March of Dimes silver dollars will include a surcharge of $10 per coin, which the act authorizes the Mint to pay to the March of Dimes to help finance research, education, and services aimed at improving the health of women, infants, and children.

Pricing information for the coins will be announced prior to the coin’s release in 2015.


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