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Gold Coins: First Spouse Series

Blog May 2, 2012

The US mint has received a strong response on the sale of the proof version of the James Buchanan’s First Spouse Gold Coins. The stronger sales of this coin series is attributable to the classic depiction of the Liberty used on the obverse side. These coins are highly demanded by collectors for their historical significance and uniqueness. The coin was offered for sale on September 2, 2010 and was sold out in less than five months. The obverse of the coin features a reproduction of the Liberty Head Quarter Eagle designed by Christian Gobrecht. The reverse of the coin depicts a young James Buchanan working as a bookkeeper in his family’s store. The US mint has issued Gold Coins featuring Eliza Johnson, Julia Grant, Lucy Hayes and Lucretia Garfield in 2011.

Gold Coins: Honoring the First Ladies of US
These gold coins are part of a broader series that is intended to honor the First Ladies or the spouses of former presidents of the United States.  The US Congress authorized the issue of First Spouse Gold Coins with the passage of the Presidential $1 Coin Act, which also authorized a series of circulating dollar coins honoring the Presidents themselves. The two series of coins are issues on nearly the same schedule with four Presidents honored each year and their associate spouse coins issued the same year. In case a President had more than one spouse while in office, both are to be honored by issuing separate coins. But if the President served without a spouse, an image of Liberty will be shown instead.

Thus the coins issued for President Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren and James Buchanan carry an image of Liberty on the obverse side since all these Presidents served without a spouse. Another feature of these four coins is that the image of Liberty on them is emblematic of the concept of Liberty as represented on a US coin issued during the service of the President. Below is the list of four Gold Coins that depict the concept of Liberty on their reverse side:
•    The 2007 Thomas Jefferson’s Gold Coin- The image of Liberty in this case has been taken from the 1800 -1808 Draped Bust Half Cent designed by Robert Scot.
•    The 2008 Andrew Jackson’s Gold Coin- The image is taken from the 1807 to 1836 Capped Bust Lettered Edge Half Dollar designed by John Reich.
•    The 2008 Martin Van Buren’s- The Liberty image on this coin has been taken from the 1837 to 1891 Liberty Seated Dime designed by Christian Gobrecht.
•    The 2010 James Buchanan’s Gold Coin- The image has been taken from the 1840 to 1907 Liberty Gold Quarter Eagle designed by Christian Gobrecht.

Features of the Gold Coins Honoring the First Spouses
These coins are struck from half ounce of 24-Karat gold at the US mint’s facility at West Point. Some salient features of these coins are:
•    They have been produced in both proof and uncirculated conditions.
•    These coins have a diameter of 1.043 inches and thickness of 0.074 inches.
•    The obverse side of these coins includes inscriptions of the honored President’s name, his years of service, the year of minting and the motto “In God We Trust” and Liberty.
•    The reverse side of the coin shows either a scene from the life of the spouse, or in the case of the coins, a scene emblematic of the President themselves.

Finally, the reverse side has the inscription THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, $10,1/2 OZ and .9999 FINE GOLD on these gold coins.

Thumbnail Photo We believe that everyone deserves a properly developed strategy for financial safety.

Lynette Zang

Chief Market Analyst, ITM Trading

Sources & References In This Article

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