The architect of the Declaration of Independence was born 275 years ago and Pobjoy celebrates with a new coin
The President of the United States from 1801 to 1809 and the third man to hold that office, Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. Of English ancestry, Jefferson worked for a large part of his adult life in service of the fledgling state – at times as Secretary of State, as United States Minister to France, as Vice President under John Adams, and eventually, as a two-term President.
An intelligent man, Jefferson drafted laws for religious freedoms, wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798–1799, organised the Louisiana Purchase, almost doubling the country’s territory, and signed the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves in 1807. Not without controversy – he was a slave owner – Jefferson nevertheless continued to contribute after retiring from public office, founding the University of Virginia. He is considered one of the best US Presidents and this year marks the 275th anniversary of his birth.
Pobjoy’s latest coin is one of their concave ultra-high relief designs. Issued for the British Virgin Islands and carrying the mints own custom effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse, it weighs in at two-ounces of fine silver. The high-relief limits diameter however, the coin sticking with the standard crown size of 38.6 mm, with the extra metal going towards making the relief and concave reverse face possible.
The reverse face depicts a view of the statue of the man that sits in the Jefferson Memorial, a neoclassical building in Washington D.C. built in 1943 to honour his memory. The bronze statue is almost six metres tall and weighs over four tons. It’s displayed in a domed room, which is reproduced in part on the coin. Only the denomination is inscribed on this face, with everything else required tucked away on the obverse. The coin does have a lot of potential appeal to US collectors in particular, but we’d like to see some actual coin images. The official images you see here almost certainly don’t do the coin justice and really should be better.
The packaging looks very well done. A fine-looking wooden box with a coloured certificate of authenticity, appear to be well up to the job. Just 650 of these coins will be struck and the Pobjoy website is already listing the coin as low stock. We’ll see if we can get some better images. Available now for £165.00 including tax.
MINTS DESCRIPTION
Born on 13th April 1743 in Virginia, Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence who subsequently became the third President of the United States of America.
Located in Washington DC, the Jefferson Memorial is a neoclassical building which was completed in 1943. The bronze statue of Jefferson was added to the interior of the domed memorial in 1947 and stands at 5.8 metres tall and weighs 4,336 kilos. It is this bronze statue which is the centrepiece of this stunning new coin which has been dished to give the impression of this amazing sculpture inside a dome.
This technically challenging coin is a fitting tribute to this American Founding Father and former President. The obverse of the coin features a portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II produced exclusively for Pobjoy Mint.
In the Memorial, the words “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man” are inscribed below the dome, part of which can be seen on the coin. This sentence is taken from a letter written by Jefferson in 1800. The panels of the walls, which are indicated on the coin, feature extracts from the Declaration of Independence.
Thomas Jefferson was an advocate of democracy, republicanism and individual rights. He produced constructive documents and decisions at both state and national level motivating American colonists to form a new nation.
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