Designs for coins celebrating the 100th anniversary of Boys Town were unveiled Tuesday during a ceremony in Boys Town Music Hall, Nebraska.
The United States Mint will sell the commemorative coins next year in compositions of gold, silver and clad with options that include coin qualities of proof and uncirculated.
Rhett Jeppson, deputy director of the U.S. Mint, joined Boys Town officials and other dignitaries for the ceremonial unveiling.
"Each time a person looks at any one of these unique designs, it will spark an interest in learning about the history of Boys Town, acknowledging the extraordinary efforts made by this organization to give comfort and purpose to children in need, and recognizing the significant contributions of Father Flanagan," Jeppson said.
Founded on Dec. 12, 1917 by Father Edward Flanagan, Boys Town (www.boystown.org) serves underprivileged and at-risk children. The nonprofit helps more than 2 million children and families each year.
"This is such an exciting time at Boys Town as we release the designs of these symbolic coins," Father Steven Boes, Boys Town National Executive Director, said in a statement. "These coins will help us commemorate and celebrate the outstanding work that has been done by our organization over the last 100 years."
The coin designs are emblematic of the childcare organization and its mission. There are six in total, with an obverse and reverse design for each of the three metallic versions.
Gold coin obverses offer a portrait of Father Edward Flanagan. Their reverse shows a young oak tree growing from an acorn, which stands for the potential in each child helped by Boys Town to grow into a productive citizen.
Silver coin obverses depict a girl sitting alone and gazing upward into the branches of an oak tree looking for help. The coin’s reverse depicts an oak tree offering shelter and a sense of belonging to the family holding hands below it.
Clad half-dollar obverses feature an older brother holding the hand of his younger brother and walking towards Father Flanagan’s home in 1917. Their reverse depicts a present-day Boys Town neighborhood of homes where children are educated and nurtured by caring families.
Congress authorized the collectibles with the Boys Town Centennial Commemorative Coin Act (Public Law 114-30), which was enacted in July 2015. The law calls for up to 50,000 $5 gold coins, no more than 350,000 silver dollars, and a maximum of 300,000 clad half-dollars. Their prices will include surcharges paid to Boys Town to help carry out its mission.
The U.S. Mint will announce prices, a release date and additional information for the commemorative coins before their release in 2017.
All in all I think these are very nice looking coins. I had my doubts about how these would look, but I think these will go over extremely well.
I would say well done.
Yawn, no thanks…
Yeah, these don’t capture my attention at all…
All right all right…you cant please everyone but they could have been worse.
It was a good cause! I wasn’t aware until I read about it.
I guess it’s about making coins look good with low mintage.
Yawn. DOn;t they already get contributions of 1oo’s of million$ a year? Funny very few “boys”: depicted on this coin, more like an ad for PCness…..
The following design for all the commemorative coin are in touch with the viewing coin collector and the public and I look forward to seeing great sales for both!
They all should of looked like the clad half dollar