Connecting America through Coins
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Women on the Nation's Coins
With regard to the total number of real women ever portrayed on U.S. coins, our records show the following:
Circulating Coins:
- Sacagewea on the dollar coin: 1999 to present
- Susan B. Anthony on the dollar coin: 1979 to 1981 and 1999
- Helen Keller on the Alabama quarter: 2003
Commemorative Coins:
- Queen Isabella of Spain on the Columbian Exposition quarter dollar: 1893
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver on a commemorative silver dollar: 1995
- Virginia Dare, with her mother Eleonor Dare, on the Roanoke Island, North Carolina commemorative half dollar: 1937
Virginia Dare, the first person of English descent born on American soil, is mentioned by name on page 6 of the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint for FY 1937. Although the full-body images on the Roanoke coin don't fall into the classical "portrait" category, the image was clearly meant to represent real people.
Therefore, seven real women have been portrayed on U.S. coins, four of them as portraits, in the history of the U.S. Mint, before the advent of the First Spouse Program.
