NEW YORK — The 2010 Native American $1 coin officially debuted last week at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center in Manhattan’s financial district.Ed Moy, director of the United States Mint, and John Haworth, Heye Center director, introduced the newest $1 coin at the event and passed out newly minted coins to the children in attendance.“The beautiful 2010 Native American $1 coin reverse design honors the Iroquois Confederacy — five tribal Nations joined by a single constitution in the 1400s in upstate New York,” Moy said at the event. “The design is an acknowledgement of the confederation’s influence on Western political thought, including concepts of equality and democratic self-government that existed on the North American continent long before the founding of the United States.”This year’s Native American $1 coin design, with the theme “Government — The Great Tree of Peace,” depicts the Hiawatha Belt and five arrows bound together, with the inscriptions “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “$1,” “Haudenosaunee” and “Great Law of Peace.” The Hiawatha Belt is a visual record of the creation of the Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy, with five symbols representing the five original Nations.Five $1 coins are planned for release each year: four Presidential $1 coins and one Native American $1 coin. Under the Native American $1 Coin Act, the Mint is minting and issuing the $1 coins to recognize Native Americans for their contributions to the development and history of the United States.
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