Trump gold coin combines his love for gold and things named after him

• The U.S. Treasury took a big step forward in its plan to make a 24-karat gold commemorative coin featuring Donald Trump's portrait.
• The coin is part of a series for the nation's semiquincentennial and joins other items named for Trump.

The U.S. Department of Treasury is planning to move forward with a 24-karat gold commemorative coin with Trump's portrait on it.

The Commission of Fine Arts on March 19 approved the general design of the coin etched with Trump leaning over the Resolute Desk, a photograph that is on display in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

The commission, an advisory board whose members were handpicked by Trump, had a couple of small suggested changes to the design, though, including making it as big as possible at about 3 inches in diameter.

The coin is expected to join a slate of special-edition currencies and medals the treasury is releasing for the nation's semiquincentennial year, including the separate $1 Trump coin the Fine Arts commission approved in January.

But neither the $1 coin or the gold coin has received approval from the Citizens Coinage Advisory Council, a nonpartisan group created by Congress to advise the treasury on coin design. That committee declined to review both coins and argued that depicting a sitting president on currency runs counter to the country's founding principles. Also, federal law prohibits putting a living person on U.S. currency.

If created, the Trump coins will join a growing list of buildings, bills and other items to commemorate the president. And fittingly for the commemorative coin, it's in Trump's apparent favorite color: gold.

Gold tweezers, gold sneakers and a gold guy in the White House

It is no secret Trump has a tendency to brand items and businesses in his name. In 2004, "Saturday Night Live" made a fake advertisement for "Donald Trump's House of Wings" with singing chicks in eggs dancing around the now-president.

His love for gold appears to go back just as far. Here is a look at some of his golden adornments throughout the years:

• In 2006, Trump met porn star Stormy Daniels at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, as she testified during his hush money trial in 2024. She said that she saw a set of apparently golden manicure items like tweezers in his hotel suite. (Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records at that trial.)
• As a presidential hopeful, he updated his private plane in 2011 to a Boeing 757 and outfitted it with gold-leafed seatbelts and faucets, according to the New York Post.
• Trump declared his candidacy in 2015 when he famously rode down the golden escalator in Trump Tower.
• During his campaign for a second term, Trump sold gold sneakers for $399 and a limited-edition gold watch for $100,000.
• The Trump Organization sells several gold tchotchkes under the "Golden Age of America" collection, including chocolate bars, ornaments, coin banks and playing cards that are fashioned like gold bars with Trump's name on them.
• Trump has brought in his "gold guy" from South Florida to adorn the Oval Office in the style of his Mar-A-Lago estate, according to the Wall Street Journal. Side-by-side photos of the Oval Office now compared to years ago show a significant increase in gold decor.
• Amid widespread immigration crackdowns and the return of a controversial travel ban, Trump announced a "gold card" visa that offers applicants residency and a path to U.S. citizenship for $5 million paid to the U.S. government. In December, the price dropped to $1 million.

Trump has had these things named after him

The coin is not the first thing that the U.S. federal government has put Trump's name or face on. Here are some others:

• A big banner of Trump's glaring face was installed on the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Feb, 19.
• In December, a Trump-picked board of directors added his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, now dubbed the "Trump-Kennedy Center" for short.
• The Trump administration renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace after Trump. The State Department posted a picture on Dec. 3 showing the building with "Donald J. Trump" in silver lettering above the engraved "United States Institute of Peace."
• Some of the National Park Service's 2026 annual "America the Beautiful" pass designs include Trump's portrait next to George Washington's.
• Trump announced on Dec. 22 the construction of two new "Trump-class" battleships that would be the first in a "Golden Fleet" of Navy ships.
• Trump accounts - As part of the Republicans' tax plan passed in July, babies born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, will receive a $1,000 contribution to a savings account that will grow with the stock market. The program was once known as the "MAGA accounts" but was renamed to "Trump accounts" during the legislative process.

Contributing: Karissa Waddick, Joey Garrison, Mary Walrath-Holdridge, Davis Winkie, Amanda Lee Myers, Cybele Mayes-Osterman, Mike Snider, Marc Ramirez, Andrew Marra, USA TODAY Network

Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on X (Twitter), Threads, Bluesky and TikTok.