2019 American Innovation $1 Coin Designs Selected

The United States Mint unveiled the official designs for the four 2019 American Innovation dollars honoring innovations or innovators from Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Georgia.

Dollar reverses (tails side) change for each innovation or innovator honored in the multi-year series, with four released every year from 2019 to 2032. Last Wednesday, Aug. 14, the Mint unveiled the final 2019 $1 designs at the ANA’s World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont, Illinois.

Images of the 2019 Innovation $1 Coin Designs

Artists in the U.S. Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) created the 2019 designs, which were sculpted by U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engravers. Mint-published line art images and descriptions for them follow.

2019 American Innovation Dollar for Delaware

Designer: Donna Weaver
Sculptor-Engraver: Joseph Menna

The Delaware $1 Coin recognizes astronomer Annie Jump Cannon who developed a system for classifying the stars that is still used today. This design features a silhouette of Ms. Cannon against the night sky, with a number of stars visible. The inscriptions are "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA," "ANNIE JUMP CANNON," "CLASSIFYING THE STARS," and "DELAWARE."

2019 American Innovation Dollar for Pennsylvania

Designer: Richard Masters
Sculptor-Engraver: Joseph Menna

The Pennsylvania $1 Coin recognizes the creation of a vaccine to prevent polio. This design depicts an artist’s conception of the poliovirus at three different levels of magnification along with the silhouette of a period microscope, representing the extensive research that was conducted to develop a cure for polio. The inscriptions are "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA," "POLIO VACCINE," "1953," and "PENNSYLVANIA."

2019 American Innovation Dollar for New Jersey

Designer: Paul C. Balan
Sculptor-Engraver: Phebe Hemphill

The New Jersey $1 Coin honors the development of a light bulb with a filament that could last 1,200 hours. This design features an Edison bulb against an ornate background. The inscriptions are "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and "NEW JERSEY."

2019 American Innovation Dollar for Georgia

Designer: Emily Damstra
Sculptor-Engraver: Michael Gaudioso

The Georgia $1 Coin recognizes the Trustees’ Garden, established in the 1730s. It was the first agricultural experimental garden in America. This coin’s design depicts a hand planting seeds in the inscription "TRUSTEES’ GARDEN," from which grows a variety of species representing the variety of plants grown in the garden: an orange tree seedling, sassafras, grapes, white mulberry, flax, peaches, olive, and a young shoot too small to be identified. The additional inscriptions are "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and "GEORGIA."

Shared Obverse Design

The obverse design is common across every dollar in the series.

It features a representation of the Statue of Liberty in profile with the inscriptions "IN GOD WE TRUST" and "$1."

Incused Edge Inscriptions

Edges of all $1 coins are incused with their year of minting, a mint mark, and "E PLURIBUS UNUM."

American Innovation Series Length

The 57-coin series was introduced in 2018 and by 2032 will have celebrated an innovation or innovator in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the 5 U. S. territories. The U.S. Mint will issue them in the order each State ratified the Constitution of the United States or was admitted into the Union. (See Mint information about the series and their release order.)

These dollars will be minted alongside the Mint’s older series of $1 coins honoring Native American tribes and individuals.

Dollar coins have not been released into circulation since 2011. The U.S. Mint produces them solely for its numismatic products.