Hocus Pocus!

The Invisible 250th Coin Toss

Photo by Diana Bondarenko on Unsplash

Empty your pockets. Are you missing any coins? No? Check again.

If you’ve ever watched a magician hold a coin high overhead between two fingers, you probably were amazed when the coin suddenly disappeared. You can learn how to perform this trick, called the Coin Vanish or French Drop, by watching a three-step tutorial on YouTube. You’ll probably need to practice it to be convincing.

But U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent performed this sleight of hand without ever practicing. Most Americans won’t ever know any of their coins are missing.

We’re seeing the roll-out of America’s 250th commemorative birthday coins beginning this year. But here’s what we won’t see: five disappeared coin designs depicting significant chapters of America’s inspiring history.

The U.S. Mint was authorized in 2021 to produce special coins to celebrate America’s 250th year. Focus groups were conducted, and public input was solicited.

The 11-member Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, a bipartisan group mandated by Congress, met for three years with the federal Commission of Fine Arts, and eventually recommended five designs to celebrate the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, and showcase American mileposts toward achieving “a more perfect union,” including the:

· Abolition of slavery. The image of Frederick Douglass was on the obverse, with shackled and unshackled hands on the reverse.

· Passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution giving women the right to vote. A World War I-era protester carrying a “Votes for Women” flag was depicted.

· Overturning of school desegregation in 1960, a crowning achievement of the civil rights movement. Six-year-old Ruby Bridges, immortalized in Norman Rockwell’s 1964 painting with her books in hand, was on the obverse. On the reverse were the words, “We shall overcome.”

But when the unveiling ceremony took place on December 11, the original designs for the quarters had disappeared. The new quarters now in circulation feature:

· A Pilgrim man and woman, with the Mayflower ship on the reverse side

· The Revolutionary War, with George Washington on the obverse, and a Continental Army soldier at Valley Forge on the reverse

· The Gettysburg Address, with Abraham Lincoln on the obverse, and on the reverse, a pair of interlocking hands (minus their shackles)

· The Declaration of Independence, with Thomas Jefferson on the obverse, and the Liberty Bell on the reverse

· The U.S. Constitution, featuring James Madison on the front, and Independence Hall in Philadelphia on the back

Other commemorative coins include a dime with the face of “Lady Liberty” a nickel featuring Thomas Jefferson, with a 1776-2026 inscription, a Statue of Liberty half dollar, and a 1776-2026 1-cent coin. The penny and half-dollar will not be circulated.

Treasury Secretary Bessent was authorized by law to make the final decisions for the commemorative coins. However, members of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee boycotted the coin kick-off in Philadelphia.

Erasing History

The simultaneous disappearance of five coins into thin air surely would be world-class entertainment. But it was performed out of sight – behind the curtains. The law required that one of the five quarter designs portray women’s contributions “to the birth of the Nation or the Declaration of Independence, or any other monumental American moment.” The image of a Pilgrim woman in the protective embrace of a man apparently fits the bill, if you traffic in illusions.

In fact, it sets the stage for another familiar magician’s trick: a male magician invites his woman assistant to lie down in a box, with only her head and feet visible. He proceeds to saw the box in half; then he miraculously reassembles her unharmed. What’s the hidden message? Only a man can make a woman complete? Or, someone needs to cut women down to size?

Photo by Safal Karki on Unsplash

Clearly, the women’s suffrage movement is too woke to recognize as a chapter in our 250 year history. But 49.85% of the U.S. population is too woke? Isn’t it magical thinking to bring down the curtain on the contributions of American woman after the first act of Colonial America? How about women who served in World War I or World War 2, or held down men’s jobs on the home front? What about Invisible Figures, the 2016 movie profiling the Black women mathematicians at NASA who played a pivotal role in John Glenn’s launch into orbit?

No people of color merited an image on these newly minted coins, including the native Americans and Blacks who fought during the Revolutionary War (see Ken Burns’s documentary The American Revolution) Their stories often remain untold. What about Captain Robert Smalls, profiled in a new book by Rep. Jim Clyburn: The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation. Born into enslavement in South Carolina, Smalls became the captain of the steamer ship “CSS Planter,” and successfully sailed to freedom, taking his Black crew members and their families with him. He later won several significant battles in the Civil War as a Union captain. He also served in the state legislature and Congress. He was only one of eight profiled in Clyburn’s book.

Arriving at the Destination without the Journey

The intent of the commemorative coins is to “depict the story of America’s journey toward a ‘more perfect union’ and to celebrate America’s defining ideals of liberty,” according to a press release from the U.S. Mint.

But a precedent was set when the committee’s selections were discarded. It doesn’t project the message of unity this administration is trying so hard to achieve, does it? E pluribus unum, out of many, one – apparently the one is named Scott Bessent. Or maybe Donald Trump. It’s infusing partisan politics into what should be a nonpartisan celebration of 250 years of U. S. history.

As Ken Burns pointed out in his recent documentary, the authors of the Declaration of Independence did not have black people or women in mind when they wrote, “All men are created equal.” It required hundreds of years and a Civil War to move our country in a direction more consistent with our ideals and aspirations. America’s history may have begun with the Pilgrims and the Revolution, but it certainly didn’t begin AND end there. Shining a spotlight on how the U.S. maintained its democracy despite struggles and conflicts over inequities and individual rights would have added a glossy patina to the commemorative coins.

No More Kings

To add insult to injury, the U.S. Mint has sent up a trial balloon of a $1 commemorative coin featuring Donald Trump. The U.S. never has placed the likeness of a living president on a coin or bill. George Washington rejected it as a remnant of the monarchy, arguing that Americans fought the Revolution to end the reign of kings. His image wasn’t on any coin until 1932.

The Senate introduced a bill in December to prohibit “the likeness of a living or sitting president” from appearing on U.S. currency. Yet a proposed design featuring Trump has been posted on the U.S. Mint’s website. The advisory committee has not reviewed it. The reverse side displays a raised fist with the words, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT. Now that’s a unifying Sesquicentennial message, if I ever heard one.

Have to see it to be it

“The Trump administration is dedicated to fostering prosperity and patriotism,” said U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, an election denier and backer of the Trump coin. However, the images on these coins raise the question: for whom?

Commemorative coins are more than a means of exchange, or a collector’s treasure trove. They reflect the history and values that define us as Americans. These coins will signify to future generations what it meant to be an American at the crossroads of 250 years of history. Removing engraved images of women and people of color sends an overt message of exclusion. “You have to see it to be it,” Billie Jean King argued for passage of Title IX.

The 250th commemorative coins are a visible act by powerful Masters of Illusion to change the narrative of who we are as a country, including the new Founders Museum inside the Eisenhower Executive office Building, with its sanitized AI-generated materials, and school videos and mobile museums developed by PragerU, a nonprofit promoting patriotic education.

The reality that America has struggled as a country to live up to its ideals isn’t embarrassing or shameful. It’s admirable that Americans have chosen to persevere despite our differences.

On September 17, 1787, the final day of the Constitutional Convention, standing outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Benjamin Franklin, “Which will it be: a republic or monarchy?” He replied, “A republic, if we can keep it.”

As the coins begin to circulate, Americans must carry new historical tokens of the country’s 250th anniversary securely in our pockets. It’s up to us to keep this republic, unlike the original 250th coins, from slipping through our fingers.

Abracadabra! The real hoax is the sleight of hand performed to make part of our history disappear right before our eyes.

Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash

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