Scott Detrow

There are presidents on our coins.

Abraham Lincoln is on the penny, Thomas Jefferson on the nickel, Franklin D. Roosevelt on the dime, George Washington on the quarter.

And now the Commission of Fine Arts has approved a design featuring a portrait of Donald Trump.

Perhaps it's not surprising since the president fired all the commissioners last year and installed his own slate.

Also unsurprising, the collectible coin will be made of 24-carat gold.

To talk about where this coin fits in the history of U.S.

currency and about the message it is sending, I spoke with Caroline Turco.

She's a curator at the Money Museum run by the American Numismatic Association.

Welcome to All Things Considered.

Thanks for having me.

Let's start here.

What's the best way to think about this?

How unusual is it for a living U.S.

president to appear on a coin?

So the Trump administration, I should say, has has argued that it's found legal loopholes to do this.

But I think the broader point that you and many other experts have said is this just goes widely against 250 years of norms in this country.

For people who haven't seen this design, can you describe the coin and what you make of it just as a coin, the image they're presenting, what you think this is trying to say?

And am I right that it's not just living presidents?

There has been a precedent of don't put living people on the coin.

It's just a very clear cut.