Harriet Tubman Coin: Three Designs, Pricing, and Surcharge

The Harriet Tubman commemorative coin is actually a set of three legal-tender coins issued by the United States Mint in 2024 to mark the bicentennial of Tubman’s birth: a $5 gold coin, a silver dollar, and a clad half dollar, each depicting a different chapter of her life. Sales ran through 2024 and are now closed at the Mint, and surcharges built into every price were divided between the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati and the Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. in Auburn, New York.¹

The Three Coins and What They Show

Each denomination represents a distinct period of Tubman’s life, and the Mint developed the designs in collaboration with the two beneficiary organizations.²

Half Dollar: Civil War Service

The clad half dollar honors Tubman’s wartime work. The obverse depicts her leading the Combahee River Raid, with Civil War-era boats in the background. The reverse shows her holding a spyglass in front of military tents, inscribed with “Civil War,” “Nurse,” “Scout,” “Spy,” and “Combahee River Raid Leader.”³ The coin is 8.33% nickel with the balance copper, weighs 11.340 grams, measures 1.205 inches across, and carries the San Francisco mint mark.⁴

Silver Dollar: The Underground Railroad

The silver dollar represents Tubman as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. On the obverse, she extends her hand toward the viewer. The reverse shows silhouettes crossing a bridge formed by clasped hands, with the Big Dipper pointing toward the North Star.³

$5 Gold Coin: Post-Civil War Years

The gold coin covers Tubman’s later life. The obverse is a portrait of her looking toward the future. The reverse shows clasped arms symbolizing aid and care, ringed by seven of her core values: Faith, Freedom, Family, Community, Self-Determination, Social Justice, and Equality.³ It is 90% gold with 6% silver and the balance copper, weighs 0.243 troy ounces, measures 0.850 inches across, and was struck at the West Point Mint. Both proof and uncirculated versions were produced.⁵

Pricing, Mintage, and How Sales Went

Sales opened on January 4, 2024. At launch, the silver dollar proof carried an introductory price of $82 and the half-dollar proof an introductory price of $49.⁶ Gold prices climbed through the year, so the Mint adjusted the gold coin’s price accordingly: the proof gold coin rose from $718 to $894.50 by November 2024, and the three-coin proof set went from $836.25 to $1,007.75 over the same period.⁷

Congress authorized maximum mintages of 50,000 gold coins, 400,000 silver dollars, and 750,000 half dollars.⁸ Actual sales came in far below those ceilings, totaling 56,894 coins across all products.⁹ The final breakdown:

Gold proof: 1,658
Gold uncirculated: 1,290
Silver dollar proof: 21,409
Silver dollar uncirculated: 7,301
Half dollar proof: 13,824
Half dollar uncirculated: 6,970
Three-coin proof set: 4,442

Gold uptake was especially thin, with fewer than 3,000 pieces sold against a 50,000 cap. Because the Mint’s sales window has closed, the coins are now available only on the secondary market.

Where the Surcharge Money Goes

The law directs surcharges of $35 on each gold coin, $10 on each silver dollar, and $5 on each half dollar.¹⁰ Those surcharges are split equally between the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the Harriet Tubman Home, Inc.¹ Had the full authorized mintage sold, each organization stood to receive roughly $4.75 million; because actual sales were much lower, the real payouts will be a fraction of that projection.¹¹

Before any money reaches the recipients, the Treasury must first recover the costs of designing and issuing the coins. The law also contains a matching provision: if either organization raises less in private funding than its share of the surcharges, Treasury pays that share to the other recipient instead. Both organizations are subject to federal audits on how the funds are used.¹² The program itself operates at no cost to taxpayers.¹³

Why 2024 for a Bicentennial?

No birth certificate exists for Tubman, and historians have settled on 1822 as her most likely birth year based on an enslaver’s log entry from March 15, 1822, and an 1849 fugitive-slave advertisement describing her as “about 27 years old.”¹⁴ The National Park Service designated 2022 as the year to commemorate her 200th birthday, and the coin act was signed into law that same year, on August 3, 2022.¹⁵ The coins themselves were produced and released in 2024 to allow time for design development, review, and production.

Not the Same as the Tubman $20 Bill

The commemorative coin program is separate from the long-running effort to put Tubman on the $20 bill in place of Andrew Jackson. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced a plan in 2016 to unveil a Tubman $20 by 2020; the Trump administration shelved it, the Biden administration said in 2021 it would resume the work, and no redesigned bill has entered circulation. Senator Jeanne Shaheen introduced the Harriet Tubman Tribute Act of 2025 (S. 923) in March 2025, which would require $20 notes printed after December 31, 2030, to bear Tubman’s likeness, with up to a two-year delay allowed only for counterfeiting concerns. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing already has a $20 redesign scheduled for issuance in 2030 as part of a broader anti-counterfeiting effort, but that schedule does not by itself mean the new note will feature Tubman.¹⁶ The legislation remains pending in Congress.¹⁷

1
U.S. Mint. Harriet Tubman Commemorative Coins
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Numismatic News. CCAC Considers Coin Medal Designs
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U.S. Mint. United States Mint Announces Designs for the Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Commemorative Coin Program
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U.S. Mint. Harriet Tubman Commemorative Half Dollar
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U.S. Mint. Harriet Tubman Commemorative $5 Gold Coin
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CDN Publishing. United States Mint Opens Sales for 2024 Harriet Tubman Commemorative Coins
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Coin World. Sales Window Closing on 2024 Commemorative Programs
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Coin World. Designs Revealed for 2024 Tubman Commemorative Coins
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U.S. Mint. 2024 Harriet Tubman Commemorative Coin Program Sales Figures
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U.S. Mint. United States Mint Opens Sales for 2024 Harriet Tubman Commemorative Coins
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WSKG. Proceeds From Harriet Tubman Commemorative Coins Could Bring Millions to Auburn’s Harriet Tubman National Historical Park
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U.S. Government Publishing Office. Congressional Record – Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Commemorative Coin Act
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Office of Rep. Gregory W. Meeks. Rep. Gregory W. Meeks Statement on U.S. Mint Unveiling Designs for 2024 Harriet Tubman Commemorative Coins
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National Park Service. Determining Harriet Tubman’s Birth Year
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U.S. Government Publishing Office. Public Law 117-163
16
NPR. Harriet Tubman $20 Dollar Bill 2025
17
Congress.gov. S.923 – Harriet Tubman Tribute Act of 2025