The Dolley Madison Commemorative Coin Program was authorized under Public Law 104-329 to celebrate the life and achievements of the First Lady, as well as to commemorate the 150th anniversary of her death. Representing an unusual departure from tradition, the obverse and reverse designs for the silver dollars were created by a well known for-profit private sector firm, namely Tiffany & Co.

The authorizing legislation for the program provided only basic guidance on the designs for the Dolley Madison Silver Dollar, stating: "The design of the coins minted under this paragraph shall be emblematic of the 150th anniversary of the death of Dolley Madison and the life and achievements of the wife of the fourth President of the United States."

The motivation for the eventual design selection of the coin came from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Under the legislation, surcharges from the sale of the silver dollars were to be paid to the National Trust to support and fund restoration projects at Montpelier, the home of James and Dolley Madison. The National Trust commissioned Tiffany & Co. to prepare designs for the commemorative silver dollar. These designs were prepared by Tiffany & Co. and donated to the National Trust, which provided them to the United States Mint for production.

The artists who created the designs at Tiffany & Co. remained uncredited. However, the certificate of authenticity and other promotional materials for the coins did provide credit to United States Mint Sculptor/Engravers T. James Ferrell and Thomas D. Rogers who were responsible for translating the design art into three dimensional sculpture from which the dies were created.

To read the complete article, see:Dolley Madison Silver Dollar Featured Designs by Tiffany & Co.(news.coinupdate.com/dolley-madison-silver-dollar-featured
-designs-by-tiffany-co-1210/)