Washington State plans to issue a commemorative Jimi Hendrix dollar coin in 2029. The coin is part of the US Mint's American Innovation programme, launched in 2018, which celebrates examples of innovation or innovators from specific states or territories.
"Washington is one of the most innovative states in the nation," says State Governor Bob Ferguson. "Picking just one example from the most innovative state in the nation was difficult, but Jimi Hendrix’s historic innovation on guitar and his deep roots in Washington make him a great choice to represent our state."
"To have Jimi honoured on a United States $1 coin representing Washington’s spirit of innovation is an extraordinary honour," says Hendrix's sister Janie, President and CEO of Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. "Jimi called himself a West Coast Seattle Boy – a magic boy – and he shared that magic with the world through his music and imagination. His creativity changed music forever, and it continues to inspire people across generations."
While the coins most frequently feature examples of innovation – the polio vaccine, the lightbulb, the telephone, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, the Underground Railroad, the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station have all been featured – Hendrix will join a much shorter list of actual innovators to have been featured on the coins.
In 2018, Delaware issued a coin bearing the likeness of astronomer Annie Jump Cannon, and in 2020, South Carolina's Innovation dollar featured educator and civil rights activist Septima Clark. Other individuals who have appeared on the coins include agricultural scientist George Washington Carver, naval engineer Raye Montague, agronomist Norman Borlaug, and Apple founder Steve Jobs.
The Hendrix coin will be designed and developed in consultation with the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, before the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury gives final approval.
Last year, Australia's Perth Mint issued a limited run of 5000 Jimi Hendrix 1oz silver proof coloured coins.
