2016-11-24 Thu

The 300th Birth Anniversary of scientist and inventor Benjamin Franklin was celebrated with the issue of a pair of commemorative dollars in 2006. Franklin lived almost throughout the 18th century when he made various contributions to American life. One coin depicted the younger Benjamin as a patriot and the second one honours his later years along with his contributions to developing coins and paper money.

The first coin called the Benjamin Franklin, Scientist dollar features an athletic Franklin performing his kite experiment in which he proved the electrical nature of lightning. The reverse features Franklin’s famous cartoon of a severed snake above the caption “Join, or Die”. Franklin theorised his kite experiment at the age of 46 and made the cartoon when he was 48.

The second coin called the Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father dollar features a three-quarters profile of Franklin inspired by Jean Antoine Houdon’s 1778 bust of Franklin. The reverse shows a 1776 Continental Currency dollar, a model for early American coinage based on Franklin’s designs. The mintage limit of 250,000 was set for of each Proof and Uncirculated coin.