2024-D Maine

Denver struck 1,120,000 examples of the 2024 Maine American Innovation Dollar, the third of four state designs released that year and the twenty-third honored under the program's ratification-order rollout. Maine entered the Union on March 15, 1820, after separating from Massachusetts under the terms of the Missouri Compromise. The reverse, designed and sculpted by U.S. Mint medallic artist Phebe Hemphill, presents a profile portrait of Dr. Bernard Lown above his direct current defibrillator shown in operation below. Inscriptions read UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, BERNARD LOWN, M.D., DIRECT CURRENT DEFIBRILLATOR, and MAINE. Lown, who emigrated from Lithuania and settled in Lewiston with his family in 1935, graduated from the University of Maine before training as a cardiologist. The 1962 cardioverter he developed with engineer Baruch Berkovitz delivered a precisely timed direct-current shock and replaced the alternating-current devices that had dominated mid-century defibrillation, becoming the basis for nearly every hospital and external defibrillator built since.

The Denver issue ships the way every modern Innovation Dollar ships: 25-coin rolls and 100-coin bags through the U.S. Mint's catalog, with no general circulation release. Almost every surviving 2024-D went directly from a Mint roll into a collector's holder, so the practical grade range starts at MS65 and runs upward; circulated examples are genuinely scarce despite the seven-figure mintage. The reverse detail to look at is the Lown portrait itself: high-relief Mint Medallic work tends to soften first along the cheekbone and brow, and weaker Denver strikes can dull that line. PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company, populate this issue heavily at MS66 and MS67, with MS68 dropping sharply and MS69 the working ceiling.

For collectors building the American Innovation Dollar set by date and mintmark, the 2024-D Maine sits in the middle band of the program: above the 2023 mintages but below the early-state 2019 issues, consistent with the catalog-only demand pattern that has stabilized since 2022. The badge stays Regular, since original Mint rolls remain widely available and pricing tracks roll-fresh availability rather than any condition-rare scarcity below MS68. For broader program context, see the American Innovation Dollar series history.