The United States Mint announced the new design that Americans will see on the reverse (tails side) of Native American $1 Coins next year.

The design, based on the theme “Government – The Great Tree of Peace,” depicts the Hiawatha Belt with five arrows bound together, with the inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, $1, Haudenosaunee and Great Law of Peace. The United States Mint will commence issuing these coins in January 2010, and they will be available throughout 2010.

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. The central figure on the belt, the Great White Pine, represents the Onondaga Nation with the four square symbols representing the Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga and Seneca Nations. The bundle of arrows symbolizes strength in unity for the Iroquois Confederacy. The design is by Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Thomas Cleveland.

Featured on the obverse (heads side) of the 2010 Native American $1 Coin is the familiar “Sacagawea” design by sculptor Glenna Goodacre, first produced in 2000. Inscriptions on the obverse are LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST. Like the Presidential $1 Coins, the Native American $1 Coins are minted in the distinctive golden color with the year, mint mark and E PLURIBUS UNUM edge-lettered on the rim.

Authorized by the Native American $1 Coin Act (Act) (Public Law 110-82), the United States Mint is minting and issuing the $1 coins to recognize Native Americans for their contributions to the development and history of the United States. The agency will issue the coins to the maximum extent practicable, in the chronological order in which the Native Americans depicted lived or the events commemorated occurred, until the end of the Presidential $1 Coin Program.

At the end of the Presidential $1 Coin Program, the Native American $1 Coin Program will continue, featuring designs determined to be appropriate by the Secretary of the Treasury after consulting with the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, the Congressional Native American Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the National Congress of American Indians.

Generally, five distinct $1 coins will be issued each year – four Presidential $1 Coins and one Native American $1 Coin. The total number of $1 coins minted and issued into circulation by the United States Mint each year will be in quantities sufficient to meet the needs of the Nation. At least 20 percent of all $1 coins minted and issued in any given year will be Native American $1 Coins, as required by the Act.

The United States Mint was created by Congress in 1792. The agency is the Nation’s sole manufacturer of legal tender coinage. Its primary mission is to produce an adequate volume of circulating coinage for the Nation to conduct its trade and commerce. The United States Mint also produces proof, uncirculated, and commemorative coins; Congressional Gold Medals; and silver, gold and platinum bullion coins.

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