It has been a while since we have seen a release from the American Innovation $1 Coin Program that was officially introduced by the United States Mint in 2018. The multi-year series kicked off with the first four designs of the series in 2019 featuring Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia. While the unknowns of the Mint’s production schedule for the better part of 2020 have been present, they have started to announce and release more products as the production facilities have been able to get back to business full-time.
On June 30th, 2020, the Mint officially announced four more designs to be released in 2020. Appearing on the reverse of the coin with the obverse featuring the same design of the Statue of Liberty throughout the series, the coins will be honoring innovations and innovators from the great states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, and South Carolina.
Connecticut
Designed by Artistic Infusion Program designer Richard Masters and engraved by Mint Medallic artist Renata Gordon, the reverse design on Connecticut’s $1 coin features the Gerber Variable Scale. The scale is seen in the design being used to “increase a geometric shape by 200 percent” as that shape simulates the state of Connecticut. The inscriptions of the reverse feature the words “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “GERBER VARIABLE SCALE,” and “CONNECTICUT.”
Massachusetts
With AIP designer Emily Damstra in the design seat and Sculptor-Engraver Eric David Custer as the Mint engraver, Massachusetts honors the invention and creation of the telephone. The design itself depicts a dial of an early rotary phone. The reverse features the inscriptions “MASSACHUSETTS,” “TELE-PHONE,” and “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”
Maryland
Mint Chief Engraver Joseph Menna is the designer and engraver behind the $1 coin for Maryland. The coin honors the Hubble Space Telescope and features a telescope orbiting the earth. The design is surrounded by stars as inscriptions featured read “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE,” and “MARYLAND.”
South Carolina
The final design for 2020 will honor South Carolina’s educator and Civil Rights activist Septima Poinsette Clark. Justin Kunz, AIP designer, and engraver Phebe Hemphill, help depict Ms. Clark marching along with three young African American students. The students are carrying books and an American flag, both of which represent the notion that “education and literacy among oppressed people are necessary for empowerment and enjoyment of civil rights.” Inscriptions on the reverse design read “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “SEPTIMA CLARK,” and “SOUTH CAROLINA.”
The first American Innovation $1 Coin program product to be released appears to be, right now at least, the San Francisco Reverse Proof $1 Coin in Original Government Packaging from Connecticut. It is set to release on July 21st according to the United States Mint’s production schedule.