The United States Mint released a commemorative gold coin struck in honor of the 192nd birthday of Mary Todd Lincoln.
Her birthday is celebrated Monday.
The Mint released the commemorative gold coin in early December. Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries, which has been in business in Lexington for more than 20 years, has donated one of the half ounce 24-karat gold coins to the Mary Todd Lincoln House.
The coin's obverse (heads side) features a portrait of Lincoln and is inscribed MARY TODD LINCOLN, IN GOD WE TRUST, LIBERTY, 2010, 16th and 1861-1865, the years during which she was the spouse of the President.
The coin's reverse (tails side), portrays Mary Todd Lincoln bringing wounded Union soldiers flowers and books, with the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM.
The childhood home of Mary Todd Lincoln was restored and opened to the public in 1977. The Mary Todd Lincoln House is the first historic site in America to honor a former First Lady and continues to be maintained and operated by Kentucky Mansions Preservation Foundation.
The foundation was also instrumental in the renovation of the Governor's Mansion in the 1960s, the restoration of White Hall, former home of abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay, and the preservation of the law office of statesman Henry Clay. The foundation is a private, nonprofit organization, founded in 1968 to protect and promote the historic properties of the Bluegrass State.
