2000-2023 Native American Dollars

Though circulating “Indian” coins have been struck by the U.S. Mint for more than a century, most were interpretations of Lady Liberty wearing a feathered headdress. The Sacagawea Dollar, first struck in 2000, was the first time that the U.S. Mint struck a coin for circulation featuring a Native American woman. A strikingly beautiful coin, it honors Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the Pacific Ocean. The coin was brilliantly designed by Glenna Goodacre, who used Randy’L He-dow Teton – herself a member of the Shoshone tribe – as her model. 

This is a complete year-date collection that brings together all 24 dates of the Sacagawea Dollar from 2000 to 2023. In it is the very first coin issued in 2000 and the run from 2009 to 2023 that features 15 one-year-only reverse designs. 

From 2000 to 2008, the reverse remained constant, but from 2009 on the U.S. Mint has used the opportunity to release these inspiring designs showing various Native American themes. They include: 

2009 depicts a Native American woman planting seeds in a field populated with corn, beans and squash – the so-called “Three Sisters of Agriculture” central to Native Americans. 

2010 shows the Hiawatha belt surrounding five stone-tipped arrows. The subject of the design is the “Great Tree of Peace.” 

2011 features the hands of the Supreme Sachem Ousamequin and Plymouth Colony Governor John Carver holding a ceremonial pipe, to represent treaties with tribal nations. 

2012 commemorates the trade Routes of the 17th Century and depicts the profile of a Native American and a horse in the foreground and a group of galloping horses in the background 

2013 pays tribute to the Treaty with the Lenape in 1778, the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe. The coin depicts a turkey, a howling wolf, and a turtle – all symbols of the Lenape.

2014 shows a Native American extending a ceremonial pipe while his wife holds a plate of food, including fish, corn, roots and gourds. In the background is a compass, displaying “NW” for “northwest.” 

2015 depicts Mohawk ironworkers in honor of the Kahnawake and Akwesasne Mohawk ironworkers who contributed to the building of New York City skyscrapers. 

2016 commemorates Native American Code talkers from World Wars I and II. It shows the Brodie helmet of WWI and the M1 helmet of WWII along with two feathers which combine to forming a symbolic “V for victory” sign. 

2017 features a portrait of Sequoyah, a Cherokee scholar who in 1821 created an alphabet that, once adopted by his people, allowed them to surpass the literacy rate of their European-American neighbors. 

2018 honors legendary athlete Jim Thorpe. A child of Sac and Fox and Potawatomi Indian bloodlines Thorpe is one of America’s greatest athletes, winning gold medals in both the pentathlon and the decathlon at the 1912 Olympics. 

2019 pays tribute to “American Indians in the space program.” It depicts Mary G. Ross, the first Native American female aerospace engineer and John Herrington the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to fly in space. 

The theme of the 2020 Native American $1 Coin design is Elizabeth Peratrovich and Alaska’s Anti-Discrimination Law. It features a portrait of Elizabeth Peratrovich, whose advocacy was considered a deciding factor in the passage of the 1945 Anti-Discrimination Law in the Alaskan Territorial Government. The foreground features a symbol of the Tlingit Raven moiety, of which she was a member. 

The 2021 design honoring Native Americans in the U.S. Military features eagle feathers, which were traditionally earned in battle or by performing a brave deed. Eagle feathers are revered and respected, receiving the utmost care and handling, and are to be displayed proudly in homes. Stars representing five branches of the U.S. military are in the foreground, while a circle provides an additional reference to Native Americans. 

The 2022 Native American $1 Coin honors Ely Samuel Parker and features Ely Samuel Parker, depicted in Army uniform. A quill pen and book, along with a likeness of his graceful signature, are symbols of his experience as an expert communicator. The inscriptions “TONAWANDA SENECA” and “HA-SA-NO-AN-DA” recognize his tribe and the name given to him at birth.

The theme of the 2023 Native American $1 Coin is:  Maria Tallchief and American Indians in Ballet. The design features Maria Tallchief in balletic pose. A nod to the “Five Moons” is presented in the lunar motif, while the four ballerinas in the background are symbolic of both Tallchief’s American Indian ballerina contemporaries and the generations of dancers they inspired. 

Each coin in this comprehensive collection comes in original Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) condition as fresh and crisp as the day they left the mint. In addition, the entire collection will come beautifully housed in a custom presentation case.