American Innovation 2019 $1 Reverse Proof Coin - Pennsylvania

The United States Mint American Innovation® $1 Coin Program is a multi-year series to honor innovation and innovators with $1 coins from each State, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands.

The United States Mint is proud to celebrate innovation and honor the spirit of America with the American Innovation $1 Reverse Proof Coin from the State of Pennsylvania — the second in the series. It focuses on the extraordinary work of Dr. Jonas Salk and his team at the University of Pittsburgh in the discovery of the polio vaccine. This discovery changed the landscape of growing up and living in America. Prior to the vaccine, the Nation was gripped with fear about the ravages of polio. The vaccine’s discovery was hailed by the American Medical Association as “one of the greatest events in the history of medicine.”

The reverse design depicts an artist’s conception of the poliovirus at three different levels of magnification along with the silhouette of a period microscope, representing the extensive research that was conducted to develop a cure for polio. The inscriptions are “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “POLIO VACCINE,” “1953,” and “PENNSYLVANIA.”

The obverse design features a dramatic representation of the Statue of Liberty in profile with the inscriptions “IN GOD WE TRUST” and “$1.” The obverse also includes a privy mark of a stylized gear, representing industry and innovation.

The edge-incused inscriptions are “2019,” “S” mint mark, and “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”