Options for gold $10 Reagan First Spouse

Nancy Reagan, widow of Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, will be featured on a First Spouse $10 gold coin in 2016.

She will be the first living person depicted on a U.S. coin since Eunice Shriver was honored in 1995 on the Special Olympics World Games silver dollar.

Designs for that coin were considered when the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee and Commission of Fine Arts met separately in late June.

A forward-looking face design preferred by Mrs. Reagan was endorsed for the obverse by both the CCAC and CFA. It is design No. 1.

As the founder of the “Just Say No” campaign against drug use, Mrs. Reagan and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation asked that this be the focus of the coin’s reverse, according to CCAC Chairman Mary Lannin.

When presented with the potential designs, Mrs. Reagan and the Foundation asked if additional designs centered on the “Just Say No” theme could be created, Lannin said.

As a result, the Mint engravers quickly created two similar designs, No. 8 that shows Mrs. Reagan standing with her arm around a child who wears a T-shirt with the words “Just Say No” on it, and No. 9 that shows a partially concealed adult with her hands on the shoulders of a child who wears a “Just Say No” T-shirt.

CFA Secretary Thomas Luebke said commission members liked the overall theme of design No. 9, but felt it did not need to literally depict her. The design could present an abstraction of the interest and guidance of adults in helping young people avoid drugs, he said.

Lannin said the CCAC liked both designs No. 8 and No. 9 and asked that the Mint engravers review them and resubmit designs for consideration at its August meeting.