Learning nothing from its past failures, in 2007, Congress once again attempted to introduce a small dollar coin into circulation with the launch of the Presidential Dollar series. It also set out to reboot the Sacagawea Dollar series by mandating no less than 20% of the annual dollar-coin issue be struck with the Glenna Goodacre obverse design and an annual refresh of the reverse to honor the many contributions of Native Americans to American life. This was authorized by Public Law 110-82 (PDF link), the Native American $1 Coin Act, signed by President George W. Bush on September 20, 2007.
The 2009-P Native American Dollar, the first coin in the Native American Dollar series, was released on January 17, 2009, at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Indian Festival. In attendance were several VIPs, including United States Mint Director Edmund "Ed" Moy and Museum Director Kevin Grover. The first reverse design in the program honors the "Three Sisters" of Native American agriculture: the planting of maize (corn), beans, and squash in close proximity for mutual benefit. The cornstalks provide a structure for the bean tendrils to climb, and the broad leaves of the squash plants trap moisture at the base and help prevent weeds from crowding out the crops. The beans also fix nitrogen in the soil, providing nutrients for all. This method of planting increases crop yields by about 30% and probably dates to the domestication of corn in Mexico around 9,000 years ago.
As an ultramodern issue, the secondary market for the 2000-P Native American Dollar is far from settled. Out of a mintage of 39,200,000 pieces, PCGS has certified 1,275 examples and NGC has certified 425 (CAC only recently began its full-service grading operation and has yet to certify any as of September 2024). This means that population numbers have the potential to change radically, and with them, prices. Closer to the coin's release, outstanding examples sold for over $1,000.
For now, certified specimens in the (current) top pop grade of MS68 tend to fall loosely between $300 and $400 at public auction. A grade lower, and
MS67 examples are selling for between roughly $10 and $30.
*The PCGS population data combines coins the grading service has designated Position A and Position B. While an explanation is offered in the Design section below, we have not observed collectors paying a distinct premium for one or the other and ignore it here.
Per Treasury Department guidelines, the obverse design of the small golden dollar portrays Sacagawea, a member of the Lemhi Shoshone tribe who acted as the guide for the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805-6. While her bust is facing right in a classic three-quarter profile, Sacagawea looks directly at the viewer and carries her infant son Jean-Baptiste on her back. Since the design guidelines requested that all submissions "be sensitive to cultural authenticity and try to avoid creating a representation of a classical European face in Native American headdress," Sacagawea is depicted in a naturalistic style. Designer Glenna Goodacre used a modern-day Shoshone woman named Randy'L He-dow Teton as her model.
Dressed in a long, fringed dress and moccasins, a Native American woman plants seeds next to three tall corn stalks. Bean tendrils have begun to climb up the stalks, and squash gourds are present at their bases. Wrapping clockwise around the top of the central design is the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA in a stylized font. The denomination $1 is at the bottom. The initials NEN for reverse designer Norman E. Nemeth are below the second and third corn stalks.
On some edges, the inscriptions are upside-down when looking at the obverse from above; PCGS designates this lettering style as "Position A". It follows that PCGS designates those dollars where the edge lettering is right side up as "Position B".