United States Mint Lead Sculptor Don Everhart To Retire At End Of July

US Mint - Acting Deputy Director David Motl today announced that Don Everhart, Lead Sculptor at the United States Mint in Philadelphia, will retire at the end of July.

Since joining the Mint in 2004, Everhart has created designs for numerous coins and medals, notably the 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coins (selected 2016 Coin of the Year), designing the reverse and sculpting both sides of the first curved coins produced by the U.S. Mint.

He designed and sculpted the common reverse for the Presidential $1 Coin and 14 obverse portraits in the series. His designs appear on three of the 50 State Quarters coins honoring Nevada, New Mexico, and Hawaii and he sculpted three others, celebrating Idaho, Montana, and California. He also sculpted the design of the 2009 quarter that honored the District of Columbia.

Four of the designs in the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program are his, including Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas; Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming; Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial in Ohio, and Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado.

Other circulating coin designs by Everhart include the 2005 Westward Journey Nickel obverse bearing the profile of Thomas Jefferson and the "Professional Life in Illinois" reverse of the four-coin 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial One-Cent Coin series.

Among the many commemorative designs he has created are the 2016 National Park Service 100th Anniversary gold $5 (both sides) the 2015 March of Dimes Commemorative Silver Dollar reverse (selected the Most Inspirational in the 2017 Coin of the Year awards), the 2010 American Veterans Disabled for Life Silver Dollar reverse; and the 2006 Benjamin Franklin Commemorative Silver Dollar "Founding Father" reverse.

Everhart has also designed many Congressional Gold Medals, including the 2005 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King medal obverse; the 2005 Dalai Lama medal obverse, both sides of the 2006 Dr. Michael E. DeBakey medal; both sides of the 2008 Constantino Brumidi medal, and both sides of the 2007 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi medal.

He designed and sculpted the 2014 Shimon Peres medal obverse; the 2015 Jack Nicklaus obverse; the 2014 American Fighter Aces reverse, and 11 of the 2007 and 2008 Code Talkers series of Congressional Gold Medals honoring Native Americans for their military service. In 2016 he designed and sculpted both sides of the Barack Obama Second Term Presidential Medal and the reverse of the First Term medal.

Don began his professional career at The Franklin Mint, where he worked as a sculptor from 1975 to 1980. From 1980 to 2004, he worked as a freelance artist, designing figurines, plates, coins, and medals for Walt Disney, Tiffany, the Royal Norwegian Mint and the British Royal Mint. His work resides in the permanent collections of The Smithsonian Institute, The British museum, and The American Numismatic Society. He is also a Fellow Member of the National Sculpture Society.