Treasury-approved designs for the three-coin 2022 National Purple Heart Hall of Honor commemorative coin program were released Nov. 11, Veterans Day, by the United States Mint.

The coins will be offered for sale beginning Jan. 6.

Acting U.S. Mint Director Ventris C. Gibson was in New York City for the introduction of the coin designs, which received final approval from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

The commemorative coins are issued under provisions of the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor Commemorative Coin Act, Public Law 116-247, enacted Dec. 22, 2020.

The three-coin program calls for production and release, combined in Proof and Uncirculated versions, of up to 50,000 gold $5 coins, 400,000 silver dollars and 750,000 copper-nickel-clad half dollars.

The gold coins are scheduled to be struck at the West Point Mint, the silver dollars at the Philadelphia Mint, the Proof half dollars at the San Francisco Mint and Uncirculated half dollars at the Denver Mint.

Designs

The obverse of the gold $5 coin features a rendering of the Purple Heart executed by U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion program designer and retired U.S. Mint sculptor-engraver Donna Weaver and sculpted by Chief U.S. Mint Engraver Joseph F. Menna.

The reverse of the gold coin, designed by Weaver and sculpted by U.S. Mint Medallic Artist John P. McGraw, illustrates George Washington’s facsimile signature under the Badge of Military Merit and over a textured stripe.

The silver dollar’s obverse — designed by AIP designer and former Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee member Heidi Wastweet and sculpted by U.S. Mint Medallic Artist Eric D. Custer — depicts the Purple Heart medal, with the inscriptions COMBAT WOUNDED & KILLED IN ACTION, LIBERTY, 1932, 2022, and IN GOD WE TRUST. Five stars represent the branches of the military.

The silver coin’s reverse, by sculptor Wastweet and sculpted by U.S. Mint Medallic Artist Craig A. Campbell, shows a nurse in a World War I helmet as she bandages a wounded service member on a stretcher.

The half dollar’s obverse design, by AIP designer Beth Zaiken and sculpted by Campbell, is of a figure in military fatigues and combat boots using a pair of crutches. The left leg is amputated, from the thigh down. The negative space below shows the missing leg in silhouette. The Purple Heart medal appears behind the figure, and the inscription ALL GAVE SOME sits below the composition. The background field has a subtle flag motif.

The reverse design, by Zaiken sculpted by McGraw, features a young boy holding the dress cap of an enlisted Marine. The silhouette of a Marine in dress blues stands behind him in negative space, emphasizing the loss that affects the families of Purple Heart recipients. The inscription SOME GAVE ALL is featured in the negative space around the boy in the lower half. The obverse’s background field flag motif is repeated on the reverse.

Commemoration

The 2022 commemorative coins recognize the more than 1.8 million military personnel wounded or killed in combat from the American Civil War to the present.

The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor first opened its doors on Nov. 10, 2006, in New Windsor, New York. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is co-located with the New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site.

The purchase price of each $5 coin includes a $35 surcharge; each dollar, a $10 surcharge; and each half dollar, a $5 surcharge. Net surcharges, after the U.S. Mint recoups all of its production and associated costs, are to be forwarded to the National Purple Heart Honor Mission Inc., to support its mission, including capital improvements to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor facilities.

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