The Louis Braille Bicentennial - Braille Literacy Commemorative Coin Act authorized no more than 400,000 coins across all options.
All images from my collection 
Obverse: Designer:
Joel Iskowitz -- Sculptor:
Phebe Hemphill Reverse: Designer:
Susan Gamble -- Sculptor:
Joseph MennaA search of the CCF archives re: the Braille Commemorative, provides a June 2008 press release post from CCF member " US Mint"
LINK detailing the coin's design features, noting it would be the first US coin issued with
readable Braille, adding:
Quote:
Previously, the Alabama commemorative quarter-dollar, one of the coins in the United States Mint's popular 50 State Quarters® Program, used Braille in the image honoring Helen Keller, but the Braille was too small to be readable by the blind. Also, the 1995 and 1996 Paralympics Silver Dollar featured Braille, but the code was too small to be readable.
Eight days before the March 26, 2009, Product Launch ceremony held at the Baltimore headquarters of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), a USM Press Release included pricing, mintage limits, and an announcement that a "special set" -- containing an uncirculated coin-- would be available later in the year:
LINK.
The introductory and regular pricing were:
Proof Silver Dollar : $37.95 / $41.95
Unc Silver Dollar: $31.95 / $33.95
Unc Silver Dollar in Easy Open Capsule: $31.95 / $33.95.
Congress authorized a $10.00 surcharge from each coin to support NFB's comprehensive Braille literacy program, "Braille Readers Are Leaders."
At the Launch Ceremony, Dr. Joyce Winterton, the Assistant Administrator for NASA Education, announced plans to carry a 2009 Braille Dollar aboard a future space shuttle flight. On May 11, 2009, Space Shuttle Atlantis Mission STS-125, the final servicing mission to the Hubble Telescope, took two Braille Dollars (one proof and one uncirculated) to space. NASA officials presented the coins to NFB representatives on July 31, 2009, at a ceremony held at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C. .
The "special set", released October 8, 2009, was the Braille Education Set, a tri-fold binder containing one uncirculated 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar, educational material and readable Braille, priced at $44.95 plus $4.95 S/H.
Due to size constraints, the Education Set Images are
HERE.
Efforts to support sales of the Braille commemorative coins came from the NFB's flagship publication,
The Braille Monitor which published an Editor's Note encouraging ". . .every affiliate, division, chapter, and individual member to join our national initiative in earnest to sell the Louis Braille coin. When people purchase one or more of these handsome coins featuring readable Braille, they become part of the solution to the national Braille literacy crisis. Participating in this historic drive to increase Braille literacy in America by simply buying this commemorative coin is a compelling opportunity." The entire piece, which includes marketing talking points can be accessed here:
NFB Archive The NFB's revenue ambitions were not fully realized; Final USM
reported sales of Braille Dollars totalled 221,709 across all product options as detailed below:
136,048 - Proof
50,504 - Standard Uncirculated
23,746 - Easy Open Uncirculated
11,411 - Education Set Uncirculated
Because the program achieved net profitabilty and matching fund requirements were satisfied, the NFB received surcharge disbursements totalling $2,2170,090.
The Braille coins' sales may have been diminished by the lack of pomp and ceremony when President Bush signed the legislation into law. They were also competing for collectors' attention --and budgets --with the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commemorative Silver Dollars which launched February 12, 2009, Lincoln's 200th birthday.
See
LINK for the Braille Act's legislative journey.
" Even a clock that's stopped is right twice a day. "
Posted Today 1H 56M ago
