2026-D Iowa

Denver opened the 2026 American Innovation Dollar program on January 6 with the Iowa design honoring Dr. Norman Borlaug, the agronomist credited with sparking the Green Revolution. Iowa entered the Union on December 28, 1846, the twenty-ninth state, and is the twenty-ninth state design in the program's ratification-order rollout. The reverse, designed by Don Everhart of the Artistic Infusion Program and sculpted by Medallic Artist Eric David Custer, depicts Borlaug holding a sheaf of wheat, with inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IOWA, NORMAN BORLAUG, and FATHER OF THE GREEN REVOLUTION. It is the first Innovation Dollar to name its honoree directly on the reverse and append a personal title; most prior state designs depict an unnamed scene or carry only the innovation's name. Borlaug grew up on a farm near Cresco in northeast Iowa, took a doctorate in plant pathology at the University of Minnesota, and from 1944 onward developed semi-dwarf wheat varieties in Mexico that doubled and tripled yields across India, Pakistan, and Latin America. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.

The Denver issue distributes through 25-coin rolls and 100-coin bags from the U.S. Mint catalog, with no general circulation release. Almost every surviving 2026-D Iowa will go straight from a Mint roll into a collector holder, so the practical grade range starts at MS65 or MS66 and runs upward. Strike quality on the manganese-brass program is generally consistent year to year: a satin Statue of Liberty obverse by Justin Kunz, paired with reasonably crisp definition on the wheat heads and Borlaug's coat, the design's most demanding details. PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company, populations on prior years drop sharply at MS68 with MS69 effectively a ceiling.

Final mintage will be reported after the U.S. Mint's year-end production figures publish. Classification stays Regular: the issue is widely available in original Mint rolls and pricing tracks roll-fresh availability rather than rarity. The 2026 obverse privy mark also incorporates a Liberty Bell and the inscription 250 to commemorate the United States Semiquincentennial, a year-only design touch worth catching in hand. For broader program context, see the American Innovation Dollar series history.