Last updated on July 23rd, 2025 at 08:49 am
Last Updated on July 23, 2025 Posted by Colonial Acres Coins
The 2022 American Innovations $1 Coins
A spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship is a national point of pride for the United States. The U.S. Mint’s American Innovation dollar coin series honours that spirit throughout the country. Launched in 2018, the series involves the release of four coins per year until 2032, each depicting a significant innovation from one of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the five U.S. territories. The series introduces the coins in the order that each state was admitted to the Union. The four coins for 2022 represent Rhode Island, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
The Selection Process
The images that represent each state on US innovation dollars are chosen through a lengthy process. The U.S. Mint contacts the office of the governor or chief executive of each state, asking for the appointment of an official liaison to oversee the process. The liaison works on behalf of the governor or chief executive to consult with subject matter experts to produce one to three possible concepts for the coin’s design.
Selecting appropriate candidate designs is the responsibility of the Secretary of the Treasury or a designee thereof. The Mint consults with technical and historical experts to put together a design brief for artists. The Mint and the official liaison review design submissions, evaluating the following qualities:
- Accuracy
- Appropriateness
- Coinability
- Potential legal issues
The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee and the Commission for Fine Arts have the opportunity to review the candidate designs. Based on their recommendations, the Mint may make changes to the final designs before submitting them to the Treasury Secretary, who makes the final decision.
2022 American Innovation Dollar Coin Designs
The states represented by the 2022 coin designs are Rhode Island, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee, respectively the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th states to join the Union.
Rhode Island’s coin honours the work of naval architect Nathanael Greene Herreshoff. A native of Rhode Island born in 1848, Herreshoff received a degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1870. He designed steam-powered vessels for the military until 1888, at which point he went on to design yachts. Herreshoff’s company designed every America’s Cup winner from 1893 to 1934, including the 144-foot Reliance that appears on the reverse of the Rhode Island coin.
Snowboarding is a winter sport that combines elements of skiing, sledding, surfing, and skateboarding. The snowboard was not invented in Vermont, but it was a Vermont native, Jake Burton Carpenter, who designed bindings that connect the board to a rider’s feet, making it possible to execute aerial stunts as depicted on the coin.
Bluegrass music is related to blues, jazz, and dance tunes, as well as traditional ballads from Ireland, England, and Scotland. It developed in the United States Appalachian region, which includes Kentucky, in the 1940s. A band called Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys gave the emerging genre its name. Traditional bluegrass is played by an ensemble of acoustic string instruments of which one of the most iconic is the banjo as depicted on the back of the coin.
In the early 1930s, many farms and rural villages throughout the United States, particularly in Tennessee, did not have access to electric power. At the same time, many people were out of work due to the Great Depression. The Tennessee Valley Authority was created in 1933 as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. It would provide employment to workers who had lost their jobs due to the Depression in constructing transmission lines that would supply rural people with electricity, for which they would pay a reasonable rate, thus helping to solve two significant problems at the same time.
Find US Innovation Dollars at Colonial Acres
Thus far, 16 coins in this series have been released, with coins 17 through 20 due in 2023. An American Innovation dollar coin would make a great gift for anyone interested in coin collecting or history. Find the 2022 releases for sale at Colonial Acres.
