Obverse. Photo © United States Mint
  • 1 Dollar 2019, KM# 708, United States of America (USA), American Innovation $1 Coin Program, New Jersey
  • 1 Dollar 2019, KM# 708, United States of America (USA), American Innovation $1 Coin Program, New Jersey
Description

The 56-coin American Innovation $1 Coin Program started in 2018. The program mandates that the Mint will issue four noncirculating dollar coins annually for 14 years.

One coin will be issued for each of the 50 states in the order in which each state ratified the U.S. Constitution or entered the Union. Following the states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories in order, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands all would also present an innovator from their area.

This coin representing New Jersey recognizes the invention of the light bulb.

Obverse

Depicts the Statue of Liberty in profile with the inscriptions “IN GOD WE TRUST” and “$1.” In 2019, a privy mark was added under "WE TRUST".

The Statue of Liberty, a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York City, in the United States. The Statue is the work of sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, who enlisted the assistance of engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, designer of the Eiffel Tower.

The Statue of Liberty was completed in 1884 in France and shipped to the United States in June 1885, having been disassembled into 350 individual pieces that were packed in over 200 crates for the transatlantic voyage. In four months’ time, it was re-assembled in New York Harbor, standing just over 151 feet from the top of the statue’s base to the tip of the torch her right hand holds high above the waters of New York Harbor.

Originally intended as a gift to celebrate the American Centennial in 1876, the Statue of Liberty was given to the United States as a symbol of the friendship forged between the new American government and the government of France during the American Revolutionary War.

Artist: Justin Kunz
Engraver: Phebe Hemphill

$1
IN GOD
WE TRUST
PH
JK

Reverse

Depicts an Edison bulb against an ornate background.

Early work on electric light bulbs began in the 1830s, but these early ones had very short lifespans, used too much energy, or were simply too expensive to produce. It wasn’t until the innovations of Thomas Edison and his researchers that light bulbs were made available to the public. By 1879, the team had managed to produce a bulb with a filament that could last 14.5 hours. With continued work, they managed to improve to a filament with a lifetime of 1,200 hours.

They also developed a better vacuum pump to remove air from the bulb and developed the Edison screw, which remains the standard socket fitting for light bulbs. This marked the beginning of commercially manufactured light bulbs, giving people easy control over light in homes and businesses.

Artist: Paul C. Balan
Engraver: Phebe Hemphill

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PCB PH
NEW JERSEY

Edge

Inscribed along the edge of the coin is the year of minting, the mint mark, and also the legend "E Pluribus Unum" (Latin for "Out of many, one").

2019 P ★★★ E PLURIBUS UNUM ★★★★★★★★★★

Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Non-circulating)
Material Manganese Brass
Weight 8.1 g
Diameter 26.5 mm
Thickness -
Shape round
Alignment Coin
Mints
Denver Mint (D)
Philadelphia Mint (P)
San Francisco Mint (S)

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