2018-02-13 Tue

The window for placing orders for the circulating-quality 2018 Native American dollars opened on 15th February. The coins are available in bags, rolls, and boxes. Coins struck at the Denver Mint are packaged and offered separately from those that are struck at the Philadelphia Mint. Though the coins are struck in circulation quality, they are not issued for general circulation. Since dollar coins were stocked up in Federal Reserve vaults, the distribution of these coins was suspended from December 2011 for an infinite period.

100-coin bags are priced at $111.95 per bag; 250-coin boxes will be available for $275.95 and 40-coin rolls can be bought for $32.95 per roll. The coins will also be issued with a satiny finish which will be a part of an annual Uncirculated Mint sets. Proof finish versions will be struck at the San Francisco Mint and these will be a part of the 2018-S Proof set, Silver Proof set and other special collector sets.

The reverse design features a Native American athlete and Olympic gold medallist Jim Thorpe. The design also shows Thorpe playing football and participating in track and field events for the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Olympics, for which he won gold medals. Thorpe is the first Native American to win a gold medal for the US and was a member of the Sac and Fox Nation

When Thorpe started being a part of professional baseball in 1909 and 1910, the Amateur Athletic Union withdrew Thorpe’s amateur status in 1913. The International Olympic Committee stripped of his Olympic gold medals. Thorpe kept playing professional baseball for several years and was a part of New York Giants initially. For the rest of his life, he tried but failed to maintain non-sports-related employment. 65-year-old Thorpe died on 28th March 1953 due to a heart attack.