Today at noon ET, the United States Mint started selling 2024 Illinois dollars, marking the first issue of the year from their American Innovation® $1 Coin Program.
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The dollar features a design that pays tribute to the innovative invention of the steel plow by John Lane. Lane, a blacksmith from Homer Township, Illinois, devised a solution to craft a plow using an old sawmill blade, meticulously polished to prevent soil from sticking to it.
"Illinois has been a center of innovation and creativity for hundreds of years. Thank you to the U.S. Mint for recognizing that legacy and celebrating John Lane Sr.’s creation, evolved versions of which still plow Illinois’ thousands of miles of essential farmlands each year," said Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.
Product options include 25-coin rolls for $34.50 or 100-coin bags for $117.50, each containing circulation-quality Illinois dollars produced at either the U.S. Mint’s facility in Philadelphia or Denver.
Design for the Illinois Innovation Dollar
On the reverse side of each new coin is a design depicting a large steel plow blade affixed to a right-handed beam and braces. Behind it lies a backdrop of Big Bluestem prairie grass and a field of soil.
Around the scene are inscriptions "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA," "STEEL PLOW" and "ILLINOIS." The design is the work of U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program Artist Beth Zaiken. It was sculpted by Medallic Artist Renata Gordon.
All coins in the series feature the same obverse (heads side) design, depicting the Statue of Liberty in profile. This design also incorporates a privy mark symbolizing industry and innovation with a stylized gear, which undergoes slight annual changes. The inscriptions on the coin include "IN GOD WE TRUST" and "$1." The obverse design was created by Artistic Infusion Program Artist Justin Kunz and sculpted by Medallic Artist Phebe Hemphill.
Edge incused inscriptions include "2024," "E PLURIBUS UNUM" and a mint mark ("P" or "D") denoting the coin’s place of production.
American Innovation Coin Program
The U.S. Mint’s Innovation Dollars program began in 2018 with the release of an introductory strike featuring the signature of the first U.S. President, George Washington, who signed the first U.S. Patent. Since then, the program has continued with the annual release of four new coins, each honoring a different invention or innovator.
The series is set to include dollars from each state, the District of Columbia, and the five U.S. territories, showcasing innovations from each of these locations. The program is scheduled to conclude in 2032.
The four Innovation dollars for 2024 include:
- Illinois $1 Coin – this release depicting the steel plow
- Alabama $1 Coin – showcasing the Saturn V rocket
- Maine $1 Coin – depicting the direct current defibrillator
- Missouri $1 Coin – honoring George Washington Carver
Ordering and Product Limits
Visit the U.S. Mint’s online store for American Innovation products to purchase the new Illinois Innovation $1 Coin.
The U.S. Mint has set product limits as follows: 8,400 per Philadelphia roll, 7,350 per Denver roll, 3,150 per Philadelphia bag, and 2,950 per Denver bag, along with an initial household order limit of 10 per option.
According to Smithsonian dot org. John deere in 1837 used the broken blade to make the plow as steel was scarce. Much further down they list Lane as one the early inventors and put him at 1831. When I search steel plow, or inventor steel plow, deere almost always gets top billing. So which is correct? Since lane sooner, I suspect him, but story says sawmill blade used, and that is deere credited. Both used it maybe? Two blades from same building type a coincidence? At least both were Illinois. I guess Edison didn’t invent light bulb, he just perfected… Read more »
Where is updated list of top sellers? I’m sure the mint planned on tubman breaking top 6 for a couple weeks which they did make top 10. My spider sense says that the top 10 will have maybe 3 tubman listed. With Fani Willis travel certificates knocking off the other three.
Yes D&C, I too am interested in seeing the top sellers. Guess I’ll head over to Mint website and see if figures are posted.
I went to mint. Didn’t see it under production and sales. Typed tubman in search, page didn’t change. Went to cumulative sales link current, and got a error message. Guess that why coin news didn’t break it down like usual. Maybe it is on the underground internet, that’s why it is called dark web right?
Yep, I got the previous week’s numbers but not the current week D&C.
If the steel plow had not been invented til later, say 1900, would there have been such a movement to end manual labor (slavery). If war were to still break out, would Lincoln have done the same thing? I think without this item, food would have been more scarce or too expensive without cheap (free) labor to keep the fields going. Hunger causes people to do funny things, much like alcohol does. Had the dustbowl occurred around (1870s to early 1880s) would that have made food scarce or too expensive for people to voice their opinion and push for change?… Read more »
Too boring a design add more crap, crazy busy