U.S. Mint to Release $1 Coin Featuring Native American Ballerinas, ‘Five Moons’

The 2023 U.S. Mint coin will showcase the the "Five Moons," Native American ballerina dancers from Oklahoma. (Courtesy: United States Mint)

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — The United State Mint announced that the reverse design for the 2023 $1 coin will honor Native American Indians in ballet.

Featuring the “Five Moons,” Maria Tallchief, Marjorie Tallchief, Yvonne Chouteau, Rosella Hightower, and Moscelyne Larkin, the coin will celebrate the legacy of achievement and inclusion the girls left behind. All Native Americans from Oklahoma, they received international recognition in the 20th century.

Maria Tallchief of the Osage Nation is considered to be America’s first prima ballerina, and she exhibited strength and resilience both on and off the stage.

The design will reside on the tails side of the coin, displaying Maria Tallchief in a ballet pose, surrounded by four other ballerinas in a lunar style to symbolize the “Five Moons.” An inscription will read “United States of America,” “Maria Tallchief” and “American Indians In Ballet.”