2020 Women’s Suffrage Centennial Silver Dollar and Medal Designs Unveiled

The United States Mint unveiled designs this week for the silver dollar and silver medal commemorating the 100th anniversary in 2020 of the ratification of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing American women the right to vote.

Authorized under Public Law 116-71, up to 400,000 Women’s Suffrage Centennial Silver Dollars will be produced and sold this year by the U.S. Mint.

"This coin pays homage to the 19th Amendment’s adoption, and also honors the many pioneers, activists, and foot soldiers in the movement who fought bravely and tenaciously for decades to make the amendment a reality," said U.S. Mint Director David J. Ryder.

Recommended by U.S. Mint officials and limited to 10,000, the companion Women’s Suffrage Centennial Silver Medal was authorized under the authority of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

"The United States Mint is honored to celebrate this historic (centennial) milestone with this medal," Ryder said.

The silver dollars and medal will share major specifications, including a composition of .999 fine silver, a weight of 26.73 grams, a diameter of 1.5 inches, and production at the U.S. Mint facility in Philadelphia.

The silver dollar will be available in collector qualities of proof and uncirculated. The silver medal, noted the Mint, will "only be available in the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Proof Silver Dollar and Medal Set, with a limited production of 10,000 sets."

A bronze version of the medal will also produced by the Mint and offered for sale sometime in 2021.

U.S. Mint line art images of the designs with their descriptions follow.

2020 Women’s Suffrage Centennial Silver Dollar Designs

Artistic Infusion Program artist Christina Hess designed both the obverse (heads) and reverse (tails) of the coin, which were both sculpted by United States Mint Medallic Artist Phebe Hemphill. The obverse of the coin features overlapping profiles of three distinct women. Each woman is wearing a different type of hat to symbolize the many decades the suffrage movement spanned. The figure in the foreground is wearing a cloche hat with an art deco pattern and a button with the year of the 19th Amendment’s ratification.

The inscriptions "LIBERTY," "$1," and "E PLURIBUS UNUM" encircle the design.

The reverse design shows "2020" being dropped into a ballot box, styled with art deco elements to indicate the artistic style of the era.

"VOTES FOR WOMEN" is inscribed inside a circle on the front of the box. The inscriptions "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and "IN GOD WE TRUST" are on the ballot box.

2020 Women’s Suffrage Centennial Silver Medal Designs

The obverse of the medal, designed by Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) artist Beth Zaiken and sculpted by United States Mint Medallic Artist Renata Gordon, features a child’s reaching hand, amid adult women’s hands and arms holding up a heavy weight — a kind of "foundation" of stone.

Women’s suffrage was a struggle that continued across generations, with countless hands turned to the task. "WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE CENTENNIAL" is inscribed.

The reverse of the medal, designed by AIP artist Patricia Lucas-Morris and sculpted by United States Mint Medallic Artist Renata Gordon, honors the Women’s Suffrage Movement by juxtaposing the text of the 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, with the flag of the United States. "1920" is inscribed.

A surcharge of $10 for each silver dollar sold is authorized to be paid to the Smithsonian Institution’s American Women’s History Initiative.

"The Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission extends its gratitude to Congress and to the U.S. Mint for their hard work to make this vision a reality," said Susan Combs, Chairwoman of the commission.

The 19th Amendment was ratified Aug. 18, 1920.