As part of thePresidential One Dollar Coin Act, the First Spouse Gold Coin program was authorized as a non-circulating series to present ancillary historic information about the presidency. With a portrait on the obverse and a reverse presenting a narrative from the spouse’s life, the challenge was often to find source material for the image or biographical information on the subjects. Examples include Julia Tyler (2009) shown at a White House ball, and Frances Cleveland (2012) campaigning with her husband from a train; more successful is the stylized cherry blossom design representing Helen Taft’s efforts to introduce the now-iconic Japanese tree into Washington’s monumental landscape (2013). The CFA most recently reviewed a coin in this series in September 2015.
(Image credit: United States Mint)