U.S. Mint releases new nickels, dimes, quarters, and half-dollar for 250th
The Mint also released a special penny, although the one-cent pieces are no longer in circulation.
Check your change: You might have one of the U.S. Mint’s special-edition coins celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday.
For one year only, circulating nickels, dimes, half-dollars, and quarters will feature new historical designs. Part of the U.S. Mint’s Semiquincentennial program, many of the coins entered circulation at the beginning of the year.
“The program is the most significant redesign of the nation’s circulating coins in the past century,” said Jill Westeyn, acting chief of public affairs at the U.S. Mint. “These coins commemorate 250 years of American Liberty by reflecting our country’s founding principles and honoring our nation’s history.”
What’s on the coins
The quarter is a star of the program, boasting five different designs that highlight pivotal moments in American history.
The Mayflower Compact, signed in 1620 as one of the New World’s earliest documents establishing self-government, inspired one of the quarter’s designs, which features the iconic ship.
Motifs from the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, and the U.S. Constitution appear on three of the other quarters. Images include Philadelphia landmarks like the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.
The fifth quarter honors President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Meant to highlight the Civil War-era speech’s commitment to equality, the quarter depicts Lincoln on one side and clasped hands on the other.
The quarters are scheduled for circulation in separate intervals throughout the year. So far, the Mayflower Compact Quarter, the Revolutionary War Quarter, and the Declaration of Independence Quarter have been released. The remaining two designs will enter circulation later in the year.
The dime and half-dollar feature Liberty, an American allegorical figure of a mythical goddess. The dime includes her cap, a symbol of freedom in Ancient Rome, and the half-dollar depicts Liberty gazing to her right, meant to convey looking toward the future.
The nickel may look familiar with its portrait of President Thomas Jefferson, but an addition of the dual date, “1776 ~ 2026,” updates the coin for the anniversary.
A collectible penny with the dual date is also available for purchase in annual sets sold on the Mint’s website. The Mint discontinued the copper cent in 2025 because it cost more to produce than it’s worth.
The bipartisan Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee had reportedly proposed designs for the 250th that will not see the light of day, including coins that would have commemorated the end of slavery, the women’s suffrage movement, and the Civil Rights movement. But Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, tasked with making the final design choices, did not pick any of those.
Other coins
President Donald Trump’s 24-karat gold coins, which feature his portrait and were also intended to highlight the country’s 250th anniversary, are not among the program. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts voted unanimously to approve the design in March, but the coins are not slated for production until after July 4.
The U.S. Mint has approximately 1,400 employees across four production facilities (one of which is in Philadelphia), a bullion depository, and its headquarters in Washington, D.C. It produced 8 billion coins during fiscal year 2025, per the organization’s annual report.