Who was the youngest designer of the three 1976 United States Bicentennial circulating coins?
Answer
Dennis R. Williams
Dennis R. Williams was the youngest designer of the three 1976 United States Bicentennial circulating coins.
Williams designed the reverse of the Bicentennial dollar, showing the Liberty Bell superimposed against the Moon. He was 21 years old when the design was selected, making him the youngest person to design a United States coin.
His design originated as a class assignment while he was an art student. It won the national competition for the dollar reverse, alongside Jack L. Ahr’s colonial drummer design for the quarter and Seth Huntington’s Independence Hall design for the half dollar.
The three coins used temporary reverses while retaining the standard obverse portraits of George Washington, John F. Kennedy, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Their special designs were issued in 1975 and 1976.