A Rarity Is Born: The 2024 American Liberty Gold Coin

While most of the coin world was sleeping, the United States Mint unknowingly created a truly rare gold coin. This particular coin was groundbreaking in a variety of ways. This was the first time in history that the United States Mint and the British Royal Mint had jointly collaborated on creating a design. It was also the first time that the Mints of both nations offered their unique versions of the coins in this program to their respective customers.

The 2024 Liberty & Britannia $100 One Troy Ounce Gold coin was the very first coin that was co-designed by the U.S. Mint’s Chief Engraver, Joseph Menna, and by the Royal Mint’s Chief Designer, Gordon Summers. Both the U.S. Mint and the Royal Mint would strike slightly different versions of this same coin. The symbolism intended on this coin is to illustrate the strong bond between these two nations and our long friendship.

On the U.S. Mint’s version, an allegorical representation of Miss Liberty holds a torch in her hand, and she is adorned with 7 five-pointed stars. Rotating the obverse 180 degrees, now one sees an allegorical representation of Britannia, wearing a Corinthian helmet and holding a trident. On the American version, the outer periphery of the coin contains the word “LIBERTY” and the date “2024.”

The reverse of this coin depicts the sun rising over the Atlantic Ocean which separates two distinct shorelines. An American Bristlecone Pine tree is displayed on the western shore while an English Yew is depicted on the eastern shore.

In the center are the mottoes, “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “LIBERTY AND BRITANNIA,” “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” “AU 24 1 OZ.,” “IN GOD WE TRUST,” and the denomination of “$100.” The “W” mintmark, signifying the striking of this coin occurred at the West Point minting facility also appears on the reverse.

Because this coin was jointly designed by both the U.S. Mint and the Royal Mint, and because Miss Liberty and Britannia appear together on this coin, the creation of this coin received a great deal of fanfare in the numismatic press.

The U.S. Mint also created a One Troy Ounce silver medal of the exact same design. With an overall mintage maximum of 75,000 pieces, these medals are still available at the U.S. Mint’s website.

The British Counterparts

The British Royal Mint took an entirely different approach. They used the same obverse design for their gold coins but instead of striking a single One Troy Ounce gold coin, they did something different. They struck three different size and weight gold coins. They struck a One-Fortieth Troy Ounce gold piece, which is very affordable but awfully small. The reverse design on these British coins is totally different from the U.S. design. The British coins all use the latest effigy of King Charles III on them. The Royal Mint anticipated low sales and limited the mintage to only 1,776 coins. They are still for sale on their website.

Next, the Royal Mint also added a larger One-Quarter Troy Ounce gold, 25 Pounds denomination with a mintage of 750 coins and, again, it was completely sold out.

Then, the Royal Mint struck a One Troy Ounce Gold 100 Pounds denomination, and completely sold it out. But the mintage was only 800 pieces and not the 10,000 coins maximum that the U.S. Mint offered.

In Silver the Royal Mint struck a One Troy Ounce Proof coin, as opposed to a medal that the U.S. Mint created. This coin has a 2 Pounds denomination and uses the obverse of Liberty and Britannia as designed. The reverse has, as expected, the effigy of King Charles III. The total mintage on this silver 2 Pound coin is 12,300 and they are no longer for sale on the Royal Mint’s website.

The Royal Mint also offered a One Troy Ounce Silver coin in bullion quality, and they are still available on the Royal Mint’s website.

The British Royal Mint also offered a Two Troy Ounce, 5 Pounds silver version of the same coin and all 1,500 coins that were authorized were completely sold out.

Additionally, the Royal Mint struck a Five Troy Ounce, 10 Pounds silver Proof, with a maximum mintage of 500 coins and a One Kilo, 500 Pounds, Silver Proof coin with a maximum mintage of only 75 coins and that has completely sold out as well.

Finally, the Royal Mint added a 3-coin silver set comprised of their Two Troy Ounce Silver coin, a circulated United States Peace Silver Dollar, and a circulated British 2 Shillings (Florin) silver coin as well and this set is still available.

Back at the United States Mint

However, what no one seemed to pay much attention to were the actual mintage figures of coins ordered and struck. While the maximum authorized mintage allowable was 10,000 coins, only 5,525 coins were actually struck. There was a 30 day period in which these coins could be ordered (February 8, 2024 to March 8, 2024), and during that period orders totaling 5,525 were received.

This is the absolute lowest mintage of all of the coins struck in the entire American Liberty High Relief Series. One Troy Ounce Gold coins were struck by the U.S. Mint in this series in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 and the exact mintages for each year can be found in the chart below:

Until this 2024-dated coin was issued, the 2023-dated coins held the previous record for the lowest mintage coin at 12,135 coins. When you compare that to the 2024 dated coin, you will quickly notice that that the 2024 coin’s mintage is less than half of that!

In fact, the 5,525 coins that were struck represents only 3.8% of all gold coins struck in this High Relief series.

The Background on the American Liberty Coin Program

Since 1793, the United States Mint has depicted an allegorical representation of Liberty on many of our coins. Her appearance changed as time transpired, but Liberty’s values have not changed. In 2015, the Mint began a program to strike coinage that represents modern day interpretations of our American Liberty. Thus the American Liberty Coin Program was born. Typically, these coins have been struck in Proof format, struck every two years, and are comprised of .9999 fine gold. Additionally, to further enhance these coins, they are struck in high relief.

In order to add variety to the program a bit and to draw in more collectors, in 2018 the U.S. Mint chose to strike a more affordable version of the 2017 American Liberty High Relief. In addition to striking a One Troy Ounce gold coin, the Mint struck a One-Tenth Troy Ounce gold coin but permitted this smaller coin to be struck in High Relief. In order to attempt to draw even more customers, in 2024, the U.S. Mint did this collaboration with the Royal Mint.

So why were American sales so lax? Was it the design? Was it the steady drumbeat of coins and medals that the U.S. Mint was producing?

The Weekly Sales of the Liberty and Britannia One Troy Ounce Gold Coin
These coins were offered by the United States Mint on their website for the stated 30-day period. Disappointingly, the sales were as follows:

At a grand total of only 5,525 coins having been struck, this coin was an obvious disappointment to the United States Mint. Both Mints even cooperated in stories and marketing about this great collaboration.

Now these coins are suddenly being discovered as modern day rarities with the total mintage so small. No further coins can be struck, and none are for sale in the Mint’s website.

Whatever the reason that so few of these coins sold, the demand for this modern gold coin rarity should be at fever pitch, if and when you can locate them in the secondary market.