November 11

Gratitude, struck in silver.

There is no single Veterans Day coin. There is a run of dollars the United States Mint struck so a memorial could be built, a war remembered, and a name touched twice — once in granite, once in metal.

Obverse. They stood up for us · Liberty · In God We Trust · 2010

2010

American Veterans Disabled for Life

The obverse stops at the knees. Three veterans stand in boots; one rests on a cane. Don Everhart, a Mint sculptor-engraver, designed and cut it. Along the upper rim the coin says THEY STOOD UP FOR US.

The reverse sets a forget-me-not under oak. The flower had marked disabled soldiers since the First World War; oak stands for strength. A ten-dollar surcharge on each piece went to the Disabled Veterans’ LIFE Memorial Foundation, toward the memorial near the Capitol, dedicated in 2014.

Both finishes were struck at West Point in 90 percent silver. Orders opened on February 25, 2010.

Artists: Obverse by Don Everhart. Reverse designed by Thomas Cleveland and sculpted by Joseph Menna.
Mint: West Point, mint mark W. Proof and uncirculated.
Mintage: 281,071 struck of 350,000 authorized — 202,770 proof, 78,301 uncirculated.
Law: Public Law 110-277

The reliefs are studio studies made for this cabinet, after the published designs. They are not photographs of the Mint’s strikes, and they leave off legends that would only be guessed. The words beside each coin are the issued inscriptions.

The same blank

Every silver dollar here is one size of gratitude.

Modern commemorative silver dollars share a blank. Proofs are struck more than once, so the devices come up frosted against a mirror field. Uncirculated pieces are a softer satin. The edge is reeded. At 90 percent silver, 26.73 grams holds about 0.773 troy ounce of pure metal.

Weight: 26.73 g
Diameter: 38.1 mm
Alloy: 90% silver
Pure silver: 0.773 oz

A useful distinction

Two objects people call a Veterans Day coin.

One is money, authorized by Congress. The other is a challenge coin: a military custom, carried in a pocket. In the familiar coin check, the person who cannot produce a coin buys the round. Origin stories for that ritual are folk history more than archive. A challenge coin can mean a great deal. It is still not a Mint dollar.

Commemorative dollarChallenge coin

What it is

Commemorative dollarLegal tender. A one-dollar coin from the United States Mint.

Challenge coinA token. Not money, even when it is round and heavy.

Who makes it

Commemorative dollarThe Mint, under a law that sets the design, the mintage, and usually a surcharge.

Challenge coinA unit, a reunion, or a private medallist. Anyone can order one.

What it paid for

Commemorative dollarOften a memorial. The 2010 dollar carried a ten-dollar surcharge for that purpose.

Challenge coinNothing public. It is a gift, a purchase, or a piece of belonging.

How you know

Commemorative dollarIt says a denomination, United States of America, and carries a mint mark.

Challenge coinA crest, a unit name, a motto. No face value.

A short chronology

From the Armistice to the latest dies.

1918
The Armistice takes effect at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Armistice Day will become a legal holiday in 1938.
1954
Congress renames the day Veterans Day, so it honors everyone who served, not only the generation of the First World War.
1978
After a brief move to a Monday in October, the holiday returns to November 11 and stays there, weekday or not.
1994
Three silver dollars — the Wall, prisoners of war, and women in service — go on sale under one veterans program.
2010
The Disabled for Life dollar is issued. Its memorial in Washington is dedicated four years later.
2018
The World War I American Veterans Centennial dollar is struck at Philadelphia, a hundred years after the Armistice.
2019
An American Veterans medal, an eagle and five stars, is issued with the American Legion centennial. A bronze version stays in the Mint’s medal catalog. The reverse is a field of stars with one star set apart, for those who did not come home.
2022
On Veterans Day the Mint unveils the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor coins: a half dollar, a silver dollar, and a five-dollar gold piece.

The day itself

November 11 is not Memorial Day.

Memorial Day, in May, is for the dead of the wars. The flag is at half-staff until noon. Veterans Day is for everyone who served — those living, and those not. Fly the flag at full staff all day.

If you meet a veteran, thanks is enough. You do not need their combat story. If you want a longer observance, learn one of these coins, or visit the memorial its surcharge helped to build.