11/21/99 - U.S. Mint Begins Producing Sacagawea Dollar Coins
Nov. 19 (The Philadelphia Inquirer/KRTBN)--The nation's first "golden dollar" was struck at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia yesterday amid hoopla, pomp, and promises that the coin would not be a flop like its predecessor.
And this time the Mint is putting its money where its mouth is, with a massive public-relations campaign: $40 million worth of television and print advertising, and promotional gimmicks that include placing the dollars in -- yes, it's true -- boxes of Cheerios.
The Mint hopes to ensure that the coin -- depicting the young Native American woman who guided Lewis and Clark -- does not meet the same fate as the misunderstood, roundly criticized (though not quite round), often-mistaken-for-a-quarter Susan B. Anthony dollar.
Saying it learned from that mistake, the Mint this time around is making what it says is a more proper introduction.
America, meet Sacagawea.
Sacagawea -- chosen for the coin over Betsy Ross, Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks, among others -- was the 15-year-old Shoshone interpreter who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition from the Northern Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean and back.
Historians disagree on the spelling of her name, and on whether the coin depicts her carrying her infant son in the correct manner. But they say her bravery and diplomatic skills were instrumental in the expedition's success.
"She is now leading us on another journey ... to launch the first successful dollar coin in the country's history," the director of the U.S. Mint, Philip Diehl, said at a press conference yesterday. "Once again, she is taking us places skeptics said would not be possible."
After yesterday's ceremonial strikings by Diehl, the artists, and the Shoshone woman who modeled Sacagawea, machines on the Mint's bottom floor began pumping out the new coins at a rate of 13 per second.
The coins will not be available to the public until March, except through corporate promotions that are part of a very un-governmentlike marketing blitz.
To wit, the coin depicting the historical figure who has more statues in her honor than any other American woman will first become available inside boxes of Cheerios.
Sacagawea, meet Pokemon.
In addition to that promotion, in which 10 million boxes of Cheerios will be packaged with a new dollar coin in every 2000th box, and a certificate for 100 coins in every 4,400th box, the government is working with two "major retailers" it would not identify that are planning coin-related promotions.
The golden dollar will also be featured on a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
"We're taking a lot of steps that the government has never taken before," said Lee Allentuck of the U.S. Mint Dollar Coin Program. "We're doing market research, advertising and promotion, and treating this as a consumer product, as opposed to how the Susan B. Anthony was done. With that, it was more like: 'Here, take it and use it.' "
Those who did often did so erroneously. The Susan B. Anthony dollars -- 847.5 million of which were minted in 1979 and 1980, when production was halted -- were, though subtly 11-sided, frequently mistaken for quarters, and widely viewed as a boondoggle.
Mint officials said the new coin will be easily identifiable, and not just by its gold color. Tests have shown that people reaching into boxes and pockets can distinguish between the new golden dollar and other coins, Diehl said.
The new dollar coin, while the same size as the Susan B. Anthony, is rounded, has a smooth, non-reeded edge and a raised border. It is made from an alloy of manganese, brass and copper, and will be compatible with vending machines that accept Susan B. Anthony coins, as most do.
Its production was called for in the United States Dollar Coin Act of 1997, which required the Treasury to place into circulation a new and distinct one-dollar coin depicting a woman on one side and an eagle on the other.
The act was sparked by increased demand in recent years for dollar coins because of their expanded use for vending purchases in post offices, subways, and other coin-operated outlets.
(While paper money is less durable, and is often spit out by vending machines -- 20 percent of the time, according to the Mint's research -- Mint officials said there was no plan to do away with dollar bills.)
After the coin act was signed, the Dollar Coin Design Advisory Committee was created. It met in Philadelphia, receiving proposals on whose image should be on the front of the new coin. It decided on Sacagawea, and 23 artists were invited to submit designs. The finalists' designs were published on a Web site, leading to more than 120,000 comments from the American public.
The winning design of Sacagawea was by artist Glenna Goodacre, best known for her Vietnam Women's Memorial Project in Washington, and Thomas Rogers, an engraver at the Mint in Philadelphia. The coin is the first in America to feature its subject in a three-quarter view, as opposed to a profile.
While there was no controversy over putting a teenage mother on the coin (she was married, and the circumstances were not that unusual for the times), there was some over the way Sacagawea is carrying her infant son. On the coin -- the first to feature a baby -- the infant is facing forward, instead of backwards, which experts say was the Shoshone custom.
Nevertheless, as coins go, the Shoshone guide is expected to be far more successful than the suffragette, and perhaps even help the Mint live down that mistake, said Malin T. Jennings, a public relations consultant working for the Mint.
"The Susan B. Anthony," she said, "was the Lizzie Borden of American coins."
By John Woestendiek
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