Trump $1 coins debut at premium prices despite face-value denomination

For the first time in the nation's history, a sitting American president's face has appeared on circulating currency, as the U.S. Mint began selling gold-colored $1 coins bearing Donald Trump's portrait in early September 2026, timed to the country's 250th anniversary. A 2020 law created a narrow legal exception to the longstanding prohibition against living figures on money, opening a commemorative window that the Trump administration moved to fill. The coins, priced well above their face value and seeded with rare privy-marked variants, blur the line between everyday legal tender and collect