US 1st Spouse - Madison - Museum Gallery

October 2024

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Dolly Madison
The following is a description of this coin posted in the MINT NEWS BLOG by Dennis Tucker:
The fourth and final First Spouse coin of 2007 returned to real-life portraiture with a gently smiling visage of Dolley Madison on the obverse, and an artful full-body standing portrait on the reverse. The latter captures the First Lady in the midst of saving the executive mansion’s Cabinet papers and the famous Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington from seizure by advancing British troops in August 1814. Collectors remarked on the attractiveness of the reverse tableau.
As the First Spouse series and other U.S. Mint programs continued, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee increasingly pushed for symbolic rather than pictorial coinage designs. The idea was to move away from “pictures or photographs on coins” and into the realm of artistic allegory. Even though Joel Iskowitz’s reverse design is in the “picture on a coin” category, it succeeds not least of all because of the rich, wonderful texture and sculptural depth imparted in Don Everhart’s engraving. Dolley Madison’s hair, her clothing, the painting of George Washington—Everhart captured every detail. The nuances are particularly visible in the Uncirculated version of the coin.