Who was the youngest designer of a United States coin in the 1976 Bicentennial coin competition?

Dennis R. Williams was the youngest designer of a United States coin in the 1976 Bicentennial coin competition. He was 21 when his design for the Bicentennial dollar was selected.

Williams was an art student who had originally created the winning Liberty Bell-and-Moon concept as a class assignment. His design became the reverse of the Eisenhower dollar, one of three circulating coins temporarily redesigned for the anniversary.

The other competition winners were Jack L. Ahr, whose colonial drummer appeared on the quarter, and Seth G. Huntington, whose Independence Hall design appeared on the half dollar. The Mint’s chief engraver, Frank Gasparro, made minor production adjustments to all three designs.

The competition was open to American citizens and sought designs emblematic of the Bicentennial. Williams’s age made the result especially notable: the program did not merely honor established coin artists but also elevated a young art student into the history of United States numismatics.