One of the side notes that came out of yesterday’s Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) meeting was the notion of the US Mint producing a colorized coin. To date, no colorized coins have been produced by the Mint in the United States.
While the idea of colorized coins certainly has an appeal to some collectors, Director of the Mint’s Office of Design Management April Stafford emphasized that it is being considered but is not official. Extensive research to assure that the quality of the coloring still would need to take place.
All of this was driven out of the design considerations for the upcoming 2020 Basketball Hall of Fame commemorative coins. Should it be done for the coins, it would be only on the silver and clad designs being considered. In particular, the idea came about for these particular coins as having an orange tint or multi-color basketball as part of the Reverse design would given this commemorative striking appeal.
The United States Mint is one of the few government Mints in the world that does not have, nor has ever had, a colorized coin. Royal Canadian Mint, Royal Australian Mint, and The Perth Mint of Australia all have a long history of selling colorized coins.