The U.S. Mint’s offering of the Proof 2022-W American Eagle platinum $100 coin begins at noon Eastern Time March 3. The coin’s design celebrates the theme First Amendment to the United States Constitution – Freedom of Speech.

The numismatic coin is restricted to a mintage of 15,000 pieces. Pricing will be announced closer to the coin’s release date.

Pricing is subject to weekly review, with change possible based on the value of the spot price of the 1 troy ounce of platinum each coin contains in a .9995 fine alloy.

The product will have no household order limits.

The Proof 2021-W Freedom of Religion platinum coin was still available for sale as of Feb. 8 at $1,595 per coin. Sales as of the Feb. 6 sales report totaled 9,614 out of 15,000 authorized maximum.

The obverse of the 2022-W issue was designed by Donna Weaver — a member of the U.S. Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program cadre of outside artists and a retired Mint sculptor-engraver — and sculpted by U.S. Mint Chief Engraver Joseph F. Menna.

Weaver’s design features a small oak branch with catkins, framed by the inscription WITH FREEDOM OF SPEECH / LIBERTY BLOSSOMS.

The 2022 coin is the second in a five-year series recognizing the five freedoms addressed in the First Amendment: Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Freedom to Peaceably Assemble and Freedom to Petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

According to the Mint’s narrative for the series, “This series uses the life cycle of the oak tree from seedling to a mighty oak as a metaphor for our country’s growth as a Nation that values freedom. Liberty grows to a thing of strength and beauty from a seed — our Bill of Rights. Each of the freedoms enumerated in the First Amendment contributes to the growth and development of the Nation.”

Weaver designed all of the obverses for the series with Menna sculpting all of the renderings. Both artists’ initials appear.

The common reverse features an eagle, wings unfurled, as it clutches an olive branch in its talons. The reverse was rendered by AIP designer Patricia Lucas-Morris and sculpted by now retired U.S. Mint lead Sculptor-Engraver Donald Everhart II.

Departure from the past

Starting in 1998 and continuing through 2016, the reverse design of the Proof American Eagle platinum coins was changed annually. Various themes were explored, with themes generally requiring multiple years to complete.

For the 20th anniversary of the American Eagle platinum program in 2017, all versions of the coins bore the original designs from 1997.

Redesigning the Proof coin’s reverse annually ended in 2018 with the introduction of a new three-year series of Proof American Eagle platinum coins bearing obverse designs reflecting the American core principles of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness espoused in the Declaration of Independence. Since that program was introduced, the obverse designs have been changed each year, instead of the reverse.

Both obverse and reverse of the bullion version, in years when it has been offered, have been static, with the reverse retaining Thomas D. Rogers Sr.’s Soaring Eagle design first introduced in 1997, paired with Mercanti’s obverse design. Both Mercanti and Rogers were sculptor-engravers at the U.S. Mint when the American Eagle platinum coins were introduced in 1997.

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