Is Randy’L He-Dow Teton the only living person on a US Coin?

CoinZip

We recently had the opertunity to meet Randy’L He-Dow Teton at the 2017 Blue Ridge Numismatic Association Coin Show in Dalton Georgia. My daughter and her friend (both 13) really enjoyed attending the educational seminar, getting to meet Randy’L He-Dow Teton and even getting a photo with her.

The BRNA YN program is awesome, if you have a YN and can attend this event, I highly recommend it.

These girls had a great time at the show, in addition to helping out with the CoinZip table they also worked as porters for the BRNA.

ricko

Great pictures and a great experience for the girls....Thanks for showing us...Cheers, RickO

Zoins

Looks like a great show and a great time, especially for the girls. Thanks to the BRNA and Randy'L for putting on such a nice YN program.

Is Randy’L He-Dow Teton the only living person on a US Coin?

Randy'L is the model for the golden dollar and I'm sure there are other ones. Nolan Ryan comes to mind. There's no law saying the model cannot be living.

oih82w8

Nice post and images. I am not sure about persons living at the present time, but there have been a few who were alive at the time of coin & paper money production, not necessarily U.S. money.

George Washington (patterns)
Thomas E. Kilby was the first living person, as such, to appear on an American coin.
Calvin Coolidge on the 1926 sesquicentennial half dollar
Sen. Carter Glass, a former Treasury secretary, on the Lynchburg, Va
Sen. Joseph Robinson on the Arkansas commemorative
Eunice Kennedy Shriver (1995)

I did not go through the entire article;

http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=27486

@Zoins said:

Randy'L is the model for the golden dollar and I'm sure there are other ones. Nolan Ryan comes to mind. There's no law saying the model cannot be living.

Controversial at best;

"The Numismatic News article went on to note that if the design were in fact a specific representation of a single player, it would be in violation of a federal law that prohibits using a likeness of a living person on a U.S. coin, although living people have been depicted on earlier issues (President Coolidge on the 1926 Sesquicentennial half dollar, Senator Joseph Robinson on a 1936 half dollar, etc.)."

https://www.pcgs.com/books/silver-dollars/Chapter24Listings-023.aspx

ColonelJessup

I think the still-living Alabama Governor Kirby was on his states's commem. the first to break this "tradition". IIRC it may have been a law that was ignored. I usually check Google before I respond, but your disappointment will fade........

messydesk

@Zoins said:

Randy'L is the model for the golden dollar and I'm sure there are other ones. Nolan Ryan comes to mind. There's no law saying the model cannot be living.

I was thinking of Nolan Ryan, as well, although he was more of an unwitting model for the coin. Are there other known people who have actually modeled, not simply had a previous photograph repurposed, for the design of a modern coin?

GRANDAM

I was going to say EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER but I just googled her and she passed August 11, 2009

ScarsdaleCoin

There is actually a law! By an 1866 Act of Congress, no living person can be portrayed on U.S. coins or currency.

Gov Kilby 1921 Alabama centennial
and Ryan Dollar was Nolan

TommyType

Is it worth having a discussion of the DIFFERENCE between modeling for a coin, and actually "being on a coin"? Some touched on it above....

But I would contend that Ms. Teton is NOT on a US coin. Sacagawea is, however, memorialized on a US Coin.

Teton modeled for the likeness, no doubt. But there was no intent to memorialize Randy’L He-Dow Teton.

I know....6 of one, half dozen of the others. But I think that it's important since all of those depictions of Liberty of the past probably had a model of some sort....but that doesn't mean those models were "on a US coin" in the sense that they were the INTENDED persons being represented.

MWallace

Randy’L He-Dow Teton is not on a coin. She was the model for the Sacajawea dollar. Some might think this is splitting hairs, but I don't think so. She MAY be the only living model for a US coin. I'm not sure about that.

LindeDad

It is called a Sacajawea for a reason not a Randy'l.

WinLoseWin

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The question can be broken into two very different issues.

-1. Are there any living people who were used as models for a US coin.?

-2. Are there any living people who were honored on a US coin?

For the second, I am not aware of anyone currently living who is honored on a US coin. Nolan Ryan would not count as he did not intentionally model for the generic pitcher image (it appears to have been likely copied without permission). He also was not specifically honored on the coin. Eunice Kennedy Shriver was the last honored on a coin.

For the first, I am not aware of details regarding all the modern designs on commems, state quarters, Sac dollar reverses, etc. Have not heard of any other living models. Unless someone else has, the answer to the original poster's question may well be yes, Randy’L He-Dow Teton is the only living person (model or honored) on a US coin.

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Zoins

I count Nolan Ryan. His image was selected and used. This isn't very different from how the Mint selected a plaster image of Randy'L submitted by Goodacre. Many people even call his coin the Nolan Ryan dollar. Check out the following by PCGS/PSA:

brg5658

There's a thread going over on CoinTalk discussing this very topic.

In short, it is NOT a law that coins cannot bear the image of a living person. The oft-cited law from April 1866 applies to paper currency, not to coins.

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, 39th Congress, Sess I, Ch 28, page 25 (April 7, 1866).

ScarsdaleCoin

Brandon, "securities" would be coins

WillieBoyd2

Randy is a model.

Are the models who appeared on the Morgan and Peace dollars illegal?

brg5658

@ScarsdaleCoin said:
Brandon, "securities" would be coins

Not true. Look it up in a legal dictionary.

CaptHenway

The point is well taken that models are not the people depicted on the coins they modeled for, and that Randy L'Teton is not shown on the Sacagawea dollar. Sacagawea is.

Nancy Reagan almost made it. She died 3-6-16, and her First Spouse gold coin came out July 1, 2016.

JBK

And another thing....

Assuming there is a law that no living person can appear on a coin, a subsequent law can supersede or suspend that provision for a particular issue.

In any case, I agree tha5 the Sac dollar shows Sacagawea. Randy'L was the model.

Another example that I don't think was mentioned: the Olympic issues from the 1990s used real Olympic athletes as models for the torso sculptures on one of the coins.

BackroadJunkie

And personally, I'd rather have them use a live person as a model than a dead one.

Perhaps after the zombie apocalypse...

TommyType

@BackroadJunkie said:
And personally, I'd rather have them use a live person as a model than a dead one.

Perhaps after the zombie apocalypse...

Reminds me of the place that used to be by LAX, with a big neon sign, "Live Nude Girls".

Guess that's better than the alternative....