By Tim Reid
WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) – A federal arts panel comprised of members appointed by Donald Trump on Thursday unanimously approved a commemorative gold coin featuring his image, part of a series of coins the U.S. Mint is planning to produce to celebrate America’s 250th birthday this year.
The 24-carat gold coin is the latest effort by Trump and his allies to put the president’s name on buildings, government programs and U.S. currency since his second White House term began in January 2025.
During a presentation by a U.S. Mint official to the Commission of Fine Arts, discussion turned to what diameter the 24-carat coin should be, up to three inches (7.6 cm).
Chamberlain Harris, a White House aide whom Trump appointed to the commission this year, said the biggest possible coin would be Trump’s preference.
“The larger the better,” she said, shortly before the coin was approved by the entire panel.
The U.S. Mint will now produce final dimensions for the coin. Trump has already approved the design and it is expected that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will order the coin to be minted.
The coin would depict a stern-looking Trump leaning over a desk and staring forward. It is based on a photograph displayed in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.
The White House referred questions to the Treasury Department.
“As we approach our 250th birthday, we are thrilled to prepare coins that represent the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, and there is no profile more emblematic for the front of such coins than that of our serving President, Donald J. Trump,” U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said in a statement to Reuters.
The U.S. Mint did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump gold coin drew criticism from some Democrats and members of another federal arts committee.
“Monarchs and dictators put their faces on coins, not leaders of a democracy,” Jeff Merkley, a Democratic U.S. senator, told Reuters in a statement.
“Trump’s administration moving to put his face on a commemorative coin is his latest effort to distort the meaning of America’s 250th birthday.”
Donald Scarinci, a member of the bipartisan Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, a separate federal panel that refused to consider the gold coin proposal last month, acknowledged this is not the first time a sitting president’s image has been on a commemorative coin.
In 1926, 150 years after America’s colonies issued the 1776 Declaration of Independence from British rule, an image of Republican President Calvin Coolidge, in office at the time, appeared on a commemorative coin, although his profile was overlaid by an image of George Washington, America’s first president.
Scarinci said the Trump coin is different from the Coolidge coin because it will be much larger and will feature Trump alone.
The Trump administration has also proposed a different, $1 coin featuring Trump’s image that would go into circulation this year.
LEGAL LOOPHOLE AS GOLD COIN NOT CURRENCY
Scarinci said the $1 coin would be in clear breach of a law that prohibits the image of a sitting or former president being on a dollar coin until three years after their death.
There is a potential loophole, however, when it comes to the gold coin, because unlike the dollar coin, which would be in circulation, the gold coin is a non-circulating collector coin.
Scarinci said under law both his panel and the Commission of Fine Arts are meant to approve any coins.
“But we still fully expect them to plough ahead and mint both coins,” Scarinci said.
Since he reentered the White House in January 2025, Trump has affixed his name to prominent Washington buildings, a planned class of Navy warships, a visa program for wealthy foreigners, a government-run prescription drug website and federal savings accounts for children.
(Reporting by Tim Reid in Washington; Editing by Ross Colvin, Daniel Wallis and Lincoln Feast.)
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