A 24-karat gold commemorative coin bearing President Donald Trump’s likeness will not be ready in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary on July Fourth, the U.S. Mint disclosed in a federal court filing that also confirmed that only 47 of the coins are planned.

April Stafford, director of the Mint’s Office of Design Management, wrote that the agency is still in the design stage of the coin and there is no official on-sale date.

While the coin will be struck in connection with the Semiquincentennial, that date “is not the target date for issuance,” she said in the May 18 filing. Stafford added that the Treasury Department remains in consultations on the design and that changes may still be requested.

Once a final design is approved, the Mint estimates that six to eight weeks will elapse before striking begins, and production will then take several months. Each of the 47 coins is expected to contain roughly $90,000 worth of gold.

The filing came in response to a lawsuit brought by James M. Rickher, a retired Portland lawyer and coin collector who is representing himself.

Rickher petitioned the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon on March 24 to block the coin, arguing it would violate 31 U.S.C. Section 5114, which permits only the portrait of a deceased person on U.S. currency.

The government counters that the statute does not bar the project, pointing to a 1926 coin issued for the nation’s 150th anniversary that depicted then-President Calvin Coolidge, as well as a 1995 commemorative coin tied to the Special Olympics World Games.

The administration also maintains that congressional approval is not required.

The 1926 Sesquicentennial half dollar, which paired George Washington with Coolidge, then the sitting president, remains the only U.S. coin to depict a president in his lifetime.

The Mint authorized 1 million coins, but demand fell short, and 859,408 were returned and melted.

From 2007 to 2016, the Mint also ran a Presidential $1 Coin Program honoring deceased former presidents, and high-grade error and variety pieces from that series have become the most valuable.

A 2008-P James Monroe Position A dollar in MS65 sold for $20,400 at Heritage Auctions on Aug. 18, 2024, the program’s auction record.

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose current members were appointed by Trump, cleared the final design for the new gold coin on March 19.

Megan Sullivan, the Mint’s acting chief of design management, told the panel that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had selected the image from a series of options shown to the president.

Federal law generally bars living presidents from appearing on U.S. currency, but Treasury officials have argued that Bessent has separate authority over 24-karat gold commemorative coins.

The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut.

The court has not ruled on Rickher’s request for a preliminary injunction.