There really is a law again using living people on our coinage. Congress regulates coinage and when they put Eunice Kennedy Shriver on he Special Olympics commemorative Coin Congress has to give permission to use her likeness. Check your commemoratives. Since 1954 she is the only person who was alive at the time she appeared on a coin produced at a US Mint including commemorative coins.
A general law, no there isn't. Congress has specified in some specific coin authorizations that no living person is to be depicted, but there is no law in the US code that forbids the appearance of a living person on the coinage. If Nancy Reagan had lived a few more months she would have become the sixth living person to appear on a US coin. The Presidential dollar legislation specifically required the President to have been deceased for two years before they could appear but no restriction was placed on the possibility of living first spouses. On the other hand there IS a specific law that forbids living persons to appear on the paper currency.
I'm still holding out for the NGC signed labels featuring Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus. You know that's coming sometime in the next 5 years. And who doesn't want a Kim Kardashian signed slab?
Or a Katy Perry Fireworks Liberty would be cute... Wouldn't the Kim Kardashian's be suspect of being counterfeit though? And personally, I think McFarland is kinda cute...
Go to https://www.thespruce.com/only-dead-presidents-on-coins-768852 to see the explanation on why only dead people are on our coins.
Nice article, but it is still incorrect about there being a law that forbids living persons appearing on the coinage. The 1866 law that everyone like to claim outlaws living persons on coins only refers to paper money. Text from the law. Provided, That no portrait or likeness of any living person hereafter engraved, shall be placed upon any of the bonds, securities, notes,fractional or postal currency of the United States. Source: Statutes at Large, volume 14 39th Congress Sess I Ch 28 Ch 29 page 25. (Page 57 of the PDF file from the Library of Congress.) Other than the specific restrictions in the authorizing legislations of the state quarter, ATB quarters, and President dollars I know of no other legislation that forbids living persons on the coinage.
Two Classic Commems come to mind. The (Robinson) Arkansas Centennial (1936) and The Sesquicentennial of American Independence (1926).
I said modern commemoratives Take a look at this tread that was on Coin Talk. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ev...ad-presidents-people-are-on-u-s-coins.261976/
With all due respect, you're quoting a thread by someone who often just regurgitates misinformation from the web. @Conder101 above is 100% correct. Read his post. There is absolutely no blanket restriction on alive persons on coinage.
I give up. No more- I know there is a law and I was trying to avoid giving incorrect information to newbies who monitor this forum. Believe what you want and I'll believe what I know. By the way, only Eunice Kennedy Shiver (and Nancy Reagan before she passed away and made the point mote) were given congressional approval to appear on a coin. No other living person has appeared on modern US coinage.
Cite the law stating as such then, not just misinformed posts by previous keyboard warriors on the internet. That's how you convince people...evidence.
There is actually a law! By an 1866 Act of Congress, no living person can be portrayed on U.S. coins or currency. But this law has been violated a number of times. The law has not been amended or changed since it was enacted.
As @Conder101 already pointed out, the law from April 7, 1866 does NOT apply to coinage. It does apply to paper currency. So, where is the law you're talking about now that we have cleared up the 1866 law does NOT apply to coinage? Provided, That no portrait or likeness of any living person hereafter engraved, shall be placed upon any of the bonds, securities, notes, fractional or postal currency of the United States. Source: Statutes at Large, volume 14 39th Congress Sess I Ch 28 page 25.
I should have nominated this for Best Answer due to all the color - if only you would have added a few emoji's!
According to my research, that law has been interpreted to apply to coinage also. If you're going to restrict currency to dead people, doesn' t it make sense to also restrict coinage? Again, I sight the lack of living people on our modern coins.
Not by the courts, only by writers. In the laws written about US currency and coins they have always been careful to keep the laws relating to currency separate from those relating to the coinage. In many cases you will find essentially the exact same laws in both sections, one specifying currency and the other specifying coinage. For those laws that do apply to both typically both are specifically mentioned. Would it make sense to also have the same restriction for coinage? Yes it would, but they never specifically did so. And you say that there was specific congressional approval for Shriver and Reagan to appear on their coins, I know of no such congressional approval (which would not have been needed) and there is none in the authorizing legislation. If you can provide a link to such authorization I'd love to see it.