Harriet Tubman $5, $1 and Half-Dollar Coins Are Coming in 2024 — But How Much Will You Pay for Them?
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Vance Cariaga
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Nicholas Morine
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A new series of Harriet Tubman coins is set to launch in 2024 to commemorate the 200th birthday of the 19th century abolitionist and social activist, and you can expect collectors, historians and Tubman admirers to make a mad dash to buy them. If you want one, be prepared to pay a surcharge well above the dollar value of the coins themselves.
Under the 2022 Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Commemorative Coin Act (Public Law 117-163), the U.S. Mint was directed to issue $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins and half-dollar clad coins as part of the program, according to the Mint website. “Clad” coins are those made of multiple metals such as nickel, copper and zinc.
The three coins are designed to follow the three periods of Tubman’s life and work. Her birthdate is uncertain, though historians put it sometime around 1820-1822. She died in 1913.
The silver dollar designs reflect Tubman’s work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad before the Civil War, when she helped slaves escape to freedom. The half-dollar clad designs represent her work during the Civil War as a nurse for the Union Army. The $5 gold coin represents Tubman’s life after the Civil War in Auburn, New York, when she became a civil rights and women’s suffrage activist.
Surcharges To Be Applied on Newly Minted Tubman Coins
According to the U.S. Mint, coin prices include surcharges of $35 for each $5 gold coin, $10 for each silver dollar and $5 for each clad half dollar. The Public Law authorizes the surcharges to be paid to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Harriet Tubman Home, Inc., in Auburn, New York to advance their missions.
The U.S. Mint began the process of finalizing the coin designs this year, Auburnpub.com reported. Several proposals were considered, with final designs selected in July. The coins were designed by members of the U.S. Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program, while sculpting was handed by the Mint’s Medallic Artists. The front of the coins feature Tubman’s likeness. The reverse sides recognize her work.
The new coins are being produced separate from the U.S. Treasury’s plans to make Tubman the new face of the $20 bill, replacing former President Andrew Jackson. The redesigned $20 bill isn’t expected to be released until 2030.
The decision to put Tubman on the $20 bill was part of an effort to bring more diversity to U.S. currency, according to a 2022 blog on TheGrio website. That effort included producing quarters featuring poet Maya Angelou.
“We know that putting Dr. Angelou on the quarter is just the beginning of the work ahead to make our currency and coinage reflect the totality of the diversity of this country, including placing Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a note to her department.
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