NJ Light Bulb

The Light Bulb coin was released in 2019. The reverse depicts an Edison bulb against an ornate background. The inscriptions are “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and “NEW JERSEY.”

The obverse design features a dramatic representation of the Statue of Liberty in profile with the inscriptions “IN GOD WE TRUST” and “$1.” The obverse also includes a privy mark of a stylized gear, representing industry and innovation.

The edge-incused inscriptions are “2019,” mint mark, and “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”

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Light Bulb Coin

The United States Mint American Innovation $1 Coin Program is a multi-year series honoring innovation and innovators with $1 coins from each State, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands.

The New Jersey Light Bulb coin is the third of four released in the first year. It features an electric light bulb, developed by Thomas Edison and his team of researchers in New Jersey. The advent of commercially manufactured light bulbs gave people easy control over light in homes and businesses, which drastically changed infrastructure, business, and society by allowing work and social activities to occur regardless of the time of day.

The American Innovation $1 Coin representing New Jersey recognizes the invention of the light bulb.

Early work on electric light bulbs began in the 1830s, but these early ones had very short lifespans, used too much energy, or were simply too expensive to produce. It wasn’t until the innovations of Thomas Edison and his researchers that light bulbs were made available to the public. By 1879, the team had managed to produce a bulb with a filament that could last 14.5 hours. With continued work, they managed to improve to a filament with a lifetime of 1,200 hours.

The reverse of this light bulb coin depicts an Edison bulb against an ornate background. The inscriptions are “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and “NEW JERSEY.”

The obverse design features a dramatic representation of the Statue of Liberty in profile with the inscriptions “IN GOD WE TRUST” and “$1.” The obverse also includes a privy mark of a stylized gear, representing industry and innovation.

The edge-incused inscriptions are “2019,” mint mark, and “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”