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h i s m o n t h , I am fo-cused on the ANA’s up-coming National CoinWeek (NCW), slated for
April 17-23. This year’s theme,“Portraits of Liberty: Icon ofFreedom,” provides a wonderfulopportunity to explore the famedallegorical f igure’s depiction on coinage.From the establishment of the
U.S. Mint in 1792 until the intro-duction of the Franklin half dollarin 1948, images of Liberty were afixture on American currency. After ratification of the Constitu-tion in 1789, the United States began to consider a national coin-age. The original proposal was for pieces to feature busts of thepresidents with their names, plusnumbers indicating the order in which they served. When President George Washington saw a patterncoin with a proposed design bear-ing his likeness, he immediately ob-jected, and asked that the specimenand dies be destroyed. (He consid-ered any coin displaying an individ-ual portrait to be monarchical.)
European issues of the time depicted living kings and queens,and Washington was determinedthat America would be ruled bythe people and not by a dictator orking (although both positions hadbeen proposed to him). As such,the nation’s coinage would reflectthis ideal by featuring a femalerepresentation of Liberty, whichhad the advantage of being a sym-bol that everyone could supportregardless of political affiliation.Thus, the allegorical figure gracedU.S. coinage in many forms overthe next 150 years.The story of Liberty on cir -
culating currency began long be-fore 1792. The Founding Fathersadapted the idea from ancient his-tory, specifically from the RomanRepublic (509-27 B.C.), whichprovided inspiration for much ofour new nation’s structure. Oncoinage, the Romans were fond ofpersonifying abstract concepts asgoddesses. The earliest represen-tation of Liberty on Roman issueswas a denarius struck in 54 B.C. byMarcus Junius Brutus (85-42B.C.), one of Julius Caesar’s as-sassins in 44 B.C. The piece fea-tures a Liberty head and an imageof a Roman senator with his lictors
(ceremonial bodyguards). Libertyalso was used to represent thefreedom of the Roman people un-der the Republic.In the United States during the
18th century, the allegorical fig-ure was closely linked with thepileus (or “liberty cap”) worn byfreed slaves in ancient Rome. InAmerican iconography, the pileusrepresented the colonial strugglefor liberation from the oppres-sive Eng lish monarchy. It was as-sociated with Lady Liberty fromher earliest U.S. numismatic de-piction on the “Libertas Ameri-cana” medal produced by Frenchengraver Augustin Dupré in 1782(based on designs by inventor andstatesman Benjamin Franklin).Regular-issue American coins,
from half cents to silver dollars,began featuring Liberty in 1792.(Coins without the allegorical fig-ure included 3-cent “trimes” and2-cent pieces.) Featured on 1792and early 1793 issues was a “WildHair” design that generated quite
LADY LIBERTYThis year’s National Coin Week theme explores
the genesis of the famed allegorical figure on currency.
Money Museum Douglas Mudd ANA 3129522
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� PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTONfelt that coins displaying portraitswere reminiscent of a monarchy and wanted the nation’s currency torepresent a republic of the people.
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� THIS ROMAN DENARIUS issued byBrutus in 54 B.C. features a depictionof Liberty and a Roman senator withhis lictors. It is among the first coinsto depict a personification of the allegorical figure. Not Actual Size
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a bit of negative publicity, result-ing in the more coiffed FlowingHair type in 1793. After these initial issues, Lib-
erty’s rendering evolved to includethe Draped Bust and Capped Bustdesigns. The addition of theSeated Liberty types in the 1830sbegan a new series of variations,including the Indian Princess,Walking Liberty, Standing Libertyand Winged Head Liberty (or“Mercury”) versions.Sadly, the Walking
Liberty half dollar (re-placed by the Franklindesign in 1948) was thelast regular U.S. issue tofeature the allegoricalfigure as its primary ob-verse image (though theword “Liberty” has re-mained on our coins).The Presidential $1 coinseries, which began in2007, reintroduced the
figure on the reverse in the form ofthe Statue of Liberty. I hope this quick overview of
Liberty on coinage has sparkedyour interest. There is a lot moreto learn about the iconic figurethat personif ies the Americanpantheon. Visit www.nationalcoinweek.org for more articles aboutLiberty and to learn about thismonth’s NCW activities.
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� LIBERTY APPEARED in a variety of 19th- and20th-century coinage designs, including theBraided Hair (left) and Seated Liberty motifs.
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