The United States Mint revealed over sixty potential designs for commemorative coins that recognize the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps in 2025. As directed by Public Law No: 118-10, the U.S. Mint will manufacture and sell $5 gold coins, silver dollars, and clad half dollars as a part of the anniversary celebration.
A total of 63 designs, comprising 35 obverse and 28 reverse designs, were presented for review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) on April 16 and the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) on April 18.
During the discussions, with passionate guidance from Marine Corps liaisons, including Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s President and CEO Major General James W. Lukeman USMC (Ret) and COO Jennifer M. Vanderveld, the parties narrowed down their recommendation to the same four: three unique designs for each coin’s obverse and one common or shared design across all three coins.
$5 Gold Coin Recommended Designs
For the gold coin, the recommended obverse design is G-O-09, with a suggestion to replace one of the color guards with a woman Marine, paired with reverse design S-R-05, depicting the Marine Corps Eagle, Globe, and Anchor emblem. Most recently, this emblem was also featured on the reverses of the U.S. Mint’s Armed Forces Marine Corps Silver Medals (1oz and 2.5oz) and bronze medal.
In the case of the reverse denomination inscription, for the gold coin it would be changed to "FIVE DOLLARS."
Silver Dollar Recommended Designs
For the silver dollar, the preferred obverse design is C-O-03, depicting the flag raising at Iwo Jima and originally intended for the half dollar, coupled with reverse design S-R-05.
Numismatists will notice that this pairing of designs is familiar, with the major elements also featured on the U.S. Mint’s Marine Corps 230th Anniversary Silver Dollar.
Half Dollar Recommended Designs
For the half dollar, the recommended obverse design is S-O-05B, depicting a modern Marine in the foreground with a Continental Marine in the background, paired with reverse design S-R-05. This obverse design was originally intended for the silver dollar. The denomination inscription on the reverse would be altered to read "HALF DOLLAR."
Displayed below are the U.S. Mint’s line art images of every candidate design presented, categorized by coin and their respective sides.
Obverse $5 Gold Coin Candidate Designs
Following are U.S. Mint images of all 9 obverse candidate designs for the $5 gold coin.
Reverse $5 Gold Coin Candidate Designs
Following are U.S. Mint images of all 8 reverse candidate designs for the $5 gold coin.
Obverse Silver Dollar Candidate Designs
Following are U.S. Mint images of all 18 obverse candidate designs for the silver dollar.
Reverse Silver Dollar Candidate Designs
Following are U.S. Mint images of all 11 reverse candidate designs for the silver dollar.
Obverse Half Dollar Candidate Designs
Following are U.S. Mint images of all 8 obverse candidate designs for the half dollar.
Reverse Half Dollar Candidate Designs
Following are U.S. Mint images of all 9 reverse candidate designs for the half dollar.
The U.S. Mint will strike the gold, silver, and clad commemorative coins in collector qualities of proof and uncirculated, totaling six unique coins. When the Mint offers them in 2025, the coin sales prices will include surcharges of $35 per gold coin, $10 per silver dollar, and $5 per half-dollar. If the commemoratives generate a profit, the collected funds will be paid to the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and used exclusively to support the mission of the Marine Corps Heritage Center.
Wow! So many great designs. This may take a while. Hopefully, they will do one for each branch of the military.
Agreed. For some reason, the military seems to translate well to modern coinage.
There are some nice designs IMO. I’d have to really take the time sit down and really look at all of them very closely in order to choose one. I do not purchase these coins but I do like many of these. I looked on PCGS’s website this morning looking to see where my 23 2021 Peace Dollars are at and they are in QA now!!! Grading, Imaging, Holdeing, etc has already happened. These should be shipping out to me in a few days! I’ll know how they graded by looking at my account so I won’t have to wait… Read more »
AKBob, Yes, agreed on the Designs with everyone. Iwo Jima is always a winner, seems like they did that one before? I think PCGS has that Image on a special WW2 label. But that’s all I’m going to say in regards to labels. That dead horse keeps getting beaten over & over, and I’m guilty as charged! E1 gave it a go with changing the subject, so✔️E1… KEITHSTER needs to chime in! You remind me of his sign off.. Very positive! Good luck with your coins! I’ve got one in the encapsulation stage today as well–Nothing special though–A Kennedy clad,… Read more »
Rick, thank you very much for the information on the 2015 Proof set NGC First Day of Issue- I appreciate it!
Yes, Iwo Jima used before- for the commemorative silver 230th
Great designs but what a Marines coin every 4 years….. metals needed a correction but….
Gold & silver getting beat down today. The Plunge Protection Team protecting the stock market? Where’s cag when we need him?
The beat down is certainly an expected event given the price level we are at!! We are at very serious resistance levels here and it’s going to take some mighty strong commitments to force the hand of the big banks who control through futures. Not impossible, but we haven’t escaped their gravitational pull yet. When it happens, we’ll either go into orbit or maybe even a moon shot!!! Expect a huge battle in this area. The big ascent was fast. Further progress will not be easy:-( I like the Marine designs except the angry drill Sargent is more cartoonish than… Read more »
I guess this means there will also be a gold Army 250th and a gold Navy 250th in 2025 as well? If I missed the article, my bad- but the Army was actually founded before the Marines if all going by the continental dates, so the Army should be the first one out of the gate rather than what happened with the Armed Forces medals. Speaking of which, perhaps the Mint jumped the gun by doing the 2.5 oz and 1 oz silver medals a few years too early? Oh, and let’s not forget the Continental Air Force 250th too… Read more »
Ok, I see now that the silver will be actual coins this time around- so no confusion with the medals…
Looks like we’ve got another left handed sharpshooter to add to the mix. There have been a few. Thank goodness for brass deflectors!
Cali, REVERAND, it’s a joke the ergonomics the modern mint desig;use. I am LEFT HANDED, Back I. The last Century Imsearched all over for a left handed 1903Springfield. They don’t apparently exist from the factory. Some conversions exist but pricey, WTF w all lefties. The WW1 was a 1903 Sp left handed, IMPOSSIBLE
So, apparently the CCAC went with, “Street Cred” for the silver medal obverse and the “Sunflower” for the gold. A little surprised by both choices. I loved sunflower seeds when I played baseball in my youth. Not a big fan of graffiti also know as tag art though as a whole. Although creative, spray painted street art “style” isn’t what I want to see on buildings, trains or coins/medals. Sorry, that’s just me… Paul Gilkes reviews the CCAC choices for Coin World: “American Liberty designs considered for coin and medal” https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/american-liberty-designs-considered-for-coin-and-medal PS Design the CCAC chose for the Ag medal… Read more »
I’m not really too sure about the Sunflower for the Gold coin. I actually really like Sunflowers but I’m not so sure it’s appropriate for this series and gold coin. Of course when the 2021 Rodeo/Cowboy/Mustang Gold coin came out I wasn’t too happy or impressed with it all, at that time. However, since it’s release, it has really grown on me and I now actually love it. I did purchase one after the release. Time will tell, it may actually look good but until I see it in gold I’ll reserve my like or dislike for it until then.… Read more »
Funny you mention your above comments on the designs. As you were writing yours I was writing mine in agreement, but my comments came with a couple of photo links. So of course it wont show up until tomorrow(Kennedy article)fyi.
Yep “KEITHSTER” is cool…When you say ‘Keister’, it reminds me of when you say “blow one’s skirt up” lolol !!
I have to agree with all you said Cali!! Thank you for ALL of your Posts and your dedication to keeping us ALL informed!!
Well, as always, Good Luck ALL!!
All options of the Alabama AI $1’s available again.
CaliSkier, the Mint’s quantity Add-To-Bag box is not always accurate. I was able to add 99 of the AI$ AL 100-coin P-mint bag this morning and go to pay (without any notice to reduce the quantity), even though the sales ending April 21 said 3146, and the limit is 3150– meaning only 4 were left.
Et ALL, I received my grades for the 23 – 2021 Peace Silver Dollar. I received 13 -MS70’s and 10 – MS69’s. That’s about 56-57 percent were 70’s. To me, that’s very bad. I’m very disappointed in the grades I received. It’s NOT PCGS’s fault, I fault the US Mint. I will definitely make some pretty good money on these but I could have made a lot more if it was more like 75%-80%. Maybe I’m too optimistic. That’s possible. Please let me know what you all think. So 13 out of 23 were MS70. Is that acceptable to You???… Read more »
My opinion, and not an educated one, is that you received a lower than expected % of -70’s…
With that being said, I believe that the Mint treated these coins, to a lesser degree of course, not a whole lot better than Bullion ASE’s,-Allowing them to ‘clink about’ with one another just a bit too much. I saw that first hand with all 3 of my 2021-D Morgans–All clink/contact marks with a reeded edge from another coin.. Again, an uneducated guess/opinion for you to consider…
Insiders get the 70s as needed….
Not surprising at all(¬_¬ )
Now, now, boys. No more conspiracy theories….this is a governmental agency. You can trust us. There is no favoritism here. Just look at our policies.
P.S. We also have a bridge to sell you.
I have often wondered if the Big Boyz get a little bit of special treatment. They are their (grading services) “bread & butter” after all. I’ve still got some 2021 D’s that I could send in. They aren’t First Strike eligible tho but I do like the PCGS Shield label like Rick does. I have to admit tho Rick, the Shield label has grown on me. The more I see it the more I like it. I have a couple extra American Liberty gold coins that aren’t First Strike eligible and when I send them in I’ll get that label.… Read more »