2008 Set in Progress
$1 Sacagawea

Owner Comments:

The Sacagawea dollar, along with the Presidential Dollar series, is one of the two current United States dollar coins. This coin was first minted in 2000 and depicts the Shoshone woman Sacagawea, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, carrying her son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. Artist Glenna Goodacre used a 22-year-old Shoshone woman named Randy'L He-dow Teton as the model for the young Sacagawea.[1] The reverse side was designed by Thomas D. Rogers.

Originally, since there was no known portrait of Sacagawea, the committee that chose Sacagawea for the coin specified the figure as Liberty depicted as a Native American woman inspired by Sacagawea[2]. This also helped sell the coin to committee members that preferred the traditional Liberty of older U.S. coins, especially since the Indian Head cent had also depicted Liberty as a Native American. However, the "Liberty" part of the concept faded during the design competition, as the most suitable designs (including Goodacre's winning design) focused on the story of Sacagawea.