2010-D Great Law of Peace

Denver struck 32,060,000 Sacagawea dollars in 2010 carrying the Great Law of Peace reverse, the second design in the rotating Native American program authorized by Public Law 110-82. Output dropped from the 2009 Three Sisters launch (Denver 35,700,000) but stayed well above the 2.5 to 5 million plateau that ran from 2002 through 2008. Thomas Cleveland designed the reverse and Charles L. Vickers sculpted it, and the imagery is genuinely educational: the Hiawatha Belt depicts the original five nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca; Tuscarora joined later as the Sixth), and the bundle of five bound arrows reads as the Great Law's central metaphor for nations stronger together than apart. Edge lettering carries date, mintmark, and "E PLURIBUS UNUM", continuing the 2009 format change that moved those legends off the obverse.

For the 2010-D specifically, finish identification is simpler than for the 2005 through 2008 Denver entries because the Mint did not strike a Satin Finish dollar in 2010. Strike on the rotating-reverse Denver run is generally clean for the manganese-brass clad alloy: the wampum belt's individual figures should show separation rather than a smeared mass, and the bound arrows should each register as distinct shafts. Spotting (small dark dots that develop on improperly stored brass-clad coins) is the routine condition concern on long-held rolls, particularly for examples kept in non-archival flips. Edge lettering should read crisply; weak or partial edge legends are common on late-die-state pieces and downgrade an otherwise high-grade example.

The 2010-D is a Regular classification piece. Sacagawea collectors building the rotating-reverse subset (eighteen design pairs from 2009 forward) treat the 2010 Denver issue as easy supply through MS66, with MS67 thinning out at the Professional Coin Grading Service and Numismatic Guaranty Company and MS68 a genuine condition target. Original mint-sealed rolls and bags remain the most efficient acquisition path for raw collectors. For the legislative arc behind the rotating reverse program and the full design rotation list, see the Sacagawea Dollar series history.