The High Relief Liberty series is not Congress driven. It was program recommended by CCAC and adapted by the Mint as is allowed in the Mint parameters.

That seems to be common notion that there was some kind of directive saying we were told to do an African American Liberty, or that Obama pushed this agenda or that it is an attempt at radical political correctness. (I’ve been reading the online comments). The truth is much simpler - We members of the CCAC wanted a new medal series to stimulate artistic freedom and creativity and therefore create more interest in collecting.

We looked at how the Australians have the ongoing Kookaburras that come out with a new design every year, as does the Chinese Panda. In the US we issue the same Walking Liberty every year with just a different year on it. We thought it would be great to have a new Liberty every year. It is within the Mint’s charter to issue none monetary metals at will. (I may not be wording with legal accuracy but you get the idea). So in discussing how this Liberty series would play out we believed we should not endlessly imitate the past masters, because no one can do it better than they did already. Instead, we wanted a series that would rival world coins and medals and represent our modern country while attracting new collectors.

How can we do THAT? We felt the best way to do that is to give freedom to the artists to be creative and reflect the diversity of today’s citizens. Last year we chose a standing Liberty that was not distinctly caucasian but not specifically any particular race. It was just a solid beautiful design. This year we had many submissions again as you saw and this is the one that got the most votes. There was no direction to chose a black liberty. The CCAC and the CFA thought this was simply the most intriguing design of the group.

We also asked the Mint to save all the designs that received 10 or more points and add those to the submissions for next year. That group includes another African American face, an Asian face and several more caucasian or non-distinct nationalities. I hope that people will come to look at this series as a whole … a beautiful diverse series.

On July 30 the Mint will launch the $100 high relief gold American Liberty coin, which could eventually become one of the most important issues of the modern era in U.S. coins if it is a success. That is because it will be both the first modern, high relief coin with a new design, and the first to portray a modern version of Lady Liberty, which is symbolically significant.

This coin is largely the brainchild of Gary Marks, who recently completed his term as chairman of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, and the CCAC under his tutelage. Marks has been a strong advocate of the argument that American coins should not just reuse the classic designs of the past, and that they should push the envelope of medallic art by depicting a modern representation of Liberty which reflects the diversity of our country.

The new coin is intended to continue the vision that former U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy began with the very popular 2009 ultra high relief double eagle to promote a renaissance in American coin design. But that coin was released when gold was much less expensive and had an initial issue price of $1,189. It was made to demand and over the course of a year 114,427 of them were sold.

The cancellation of the companion silver medal of the same design is also unfortunate, as many buyers either wanted to pair them up, or planned to buy the silver medal because they are not able to purchase the gold coin. Hopefully the medal will be issued next year.

It would also help if the coin were the first in a new series as originally intended, but the Mint cancelled the plan to do that, and no rationale for doing so was provided when I asked them about it. Collectors tend to be wary of expensive one-off coins, which they see as a risky choice.