Money Research Collective’s editorial team solely created this content. Opinions are their own, but compensation and in-depth research determine where and how companies may appear. Many featured companies advertise with us. How we make money.
U.S. Treasury Starts Selling $1 Gold-Colored Trump Coins… for More Than $1
By Martha C. White MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
The Mint’s new Trump $1 coin sold out online within hours. Here’s what it costs, why collectors want it and why it’s controversial.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Mint began selling commemorative $1 coins with President Donald J. Trump’s portrait on them — for collectors willing to pay a pretty penny.
Sold for roughly 150% to 250% of their nominal value, the coins feature Trump’s face on the obverse or “heads” side, and the presidential seal on the reverse or “tails” side. Both sides of the coin have inscriptions that commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary this year. Despite the gold hue, there isn’t any real gold in them; they’re primarily copper with small amounts of zinc, manganese and nickel.
Must Read
- 10 Smart Ways Seniors Are Earning Extra Money
- Your Social Security Number Isn’t 'Suspended' — That Phone Call Is Probably a Scam
- Silver Is Up 70% Since This Time Last Year — and These Gold IRA Companies are Handing Out Up to $25,000 of It
Although legal tender for $1, the Mint’s website sold the coins in rolls or bags of 25 for $61 or 100 for $154.50. That’s $2.44 or $1.55 per coin, respectively. That’s a relative bargain compared to the $5 price per coin at vending machines in the Mint’s Washington, D.C., store, according to The Washington Post.
Collectors didn’t seem to mind the markup, though: On Thursday, the coins were “currently unavailable” online, mere hours after going on sale, with no indication if or when they might be restocked.
Must Read
- Retirees Are Doing These 10 Things to Add to Their Monthly Income
- Your Social Security Number Isn’t 'Suspended' — That Phone Call Is Probably a Scam
- Warren Buffett on Market Volatility — and 3 Ways You Can Take Advantage
Making ‘cents’ of the legal controversy
Perhaps that’s because the gold Trump $1 coin breaks with historical — if not legal — precedent. Legislation dating from the 19th century prohibits the depiction of living people — presidents included — on U.S. currency, while 2005 legislation to produce commemorative $1 presidential coins stipulated that a former president could not appear on one until at least two years after death.
A bipartisan congressional committee that oversees coin designs did not approve a gold Trump coin. “If they make it without our review, it will be illegal,” committee member Donald Scarinci (D-N.Y.) told The Washington Post in June, in response to a proposal for a 24-karat gold coin bearing Trump’s image.
The Treasury Department, however, said the coin was legal under a 2020 law regulating semiquincentennial commemorative coins. Officials argued that the Trump coin falls under the law’s permitted depiction of “designs emblematic of the United States Semiquincentennial.”
In an interview with Fox News in July, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said there was precedent for putting a sitting president on a coin. For the nation’s 150th anniversary, a commemorative half-dollar coin depicting Calvin Coolidge and George Washington was produced, although most of the 1 million minted were returned to the Mint and melted down.
The country’s 250th anniversary has been a bonanza for coin collectors, with the Mint rolling out a number of commemorative designs. These included a noncirculating, special-edition penny, notable for being produced after the Mint stopped making pennies for general circulation last year.
A longtime Money contributor, Martha C. White has written about a variety of personal finance topics such as careers, credit cards, insurance, retirement and shopping, and has edited Money’s Best Credit Cards rankings. She also writes stories about business and the economy for NBC News and The New York Times.