Shopping Cart
A collectible dollar in which the familiar figure of Sacagawea opens a fresh theme each year. The theme of this issue is "Mohawk Ironworkers".
Obverse
The obverse shows a portrait of Sacagawea — a young Shoshone woman, guide of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, carrying her infant son Jean-Baptiste on her back. Flanking it are LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST. It is the most recognizable image of the series, unchanged since 2000. The inscription and portrait set a solemn, recognizable tone for the whole series.
Reverse
The 2015 reverse is a miniature of its own: it depicts a Mohawk ironworker on a steel beam high above the city — a tribute to the Kahnawake and Akwesasne Mohawk builders who raised New York’s skyscrapers. Around the rim are UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the denomination $1, while the year and the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM are lettered on the edge. The relief catches the light as the coin is turned.
Historical context
The series-wide obverse depicts Sacagawea — a young Lemhi Shoshone woman born around 1788 in what is now Idaho. Captured by a rival tribe as a girl, she later became the wife of the trader Toussaint Charbonneau and, already pregnant, joined the Lewis and Clark Expedition in February 1805. Carrying her infant son Jean-Baptiste on her back, she took on the roles of interpreter, guide and peacemaker, without whom the party could hardly have reached the Pacific. Sacagawea became one of the most honored women in U.S. history — with more monuments dedicated to her than to any other American woman.
The 2015 reverse honors the Mohawk ironworkers of the Kahnawake and Akwesasne communities who raised New York’s skyscrapers. The coin shows a worker on a steel beam high above the city — a symbol of fearlessness turned into a profession. The Mohawk became famous for working at dizzying heights and helped shape the skyline of modern Manhattan. This "high steel" turned an old warrior’s courage into a contribution to building modern America. Equally suited to a beginning collector and a seasoned numismatist.