The 2027 Innovation Dollars: Blue Jeans, a Microchip, a Telescope and Beverly Cleary

The 2027 American Innovation $1 coins will honor Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia and Nevada. In April, the two federal panels that review U.S. coin designs looked at the candidate designs for the back of each coin. They agreed on two states and split on the other two.

How a Design Gets Picked

Every coin in the series carries the same Statue of Liberty on the front and an innovation from one state, D.C. or territory on the back, issued in the order the states joined the Union. The Mint's artists draw several candidate backs for each coin. The Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) reviewed this year's set on April 16, 2026, and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) on April 21. Both send recommendations, and the Treasury Secretary makes the final choice.

Kansas: Jack Kilby (Both Agreed)

Jack St. Clair Kilby grew up in Great Bend, Kansas. At Texas Instruments in 1958 he demonstrated the first integrated circuit, the idea behind every computer chip since, and in 2000 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics. Both panels recommended KS-09A, the design his family preferred: Kilby in profile holding a chip, with a circuit diagram behind him. The CFA called it "a better composition of negative and positive space," and the CCAC scored it 23 of 27.

West Virginia: The Green Bank Telescope (Both Agreed)

The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, finished in 2000, is the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world. Both panels recommended WV-01, the choice of the governor's office and the observatory, which shows the dish in its valley. The CCAC gave it 25 of 27, the best score of the day. Then a member moved to make the telescope 10 to 15 percent bigger. The Mint's Chief Engraver, Joseph Menna, said the design was strong as submitted and that a change that size would be negligible at coin size, and the motion failed.

Oregon: Beverly Cleary (Split)

Beverly Cleary was born in McMinnville, Oregon in 1916 and grew up in Portland, the setting of Henry Huggins and the Ramona books. Her candidates carry the words CHILDREN READ HER BOOKS. The CFA recommended OR-06, the preference of the governor's office and Cleary's family, which shows her by a bookshelf with a child reading beside it. It also praised the "superior artistic quality" of OR-07. The CCAC recommended OR-06A, the same design without the child, scoring it 20 of 27.

Nevada: Blue Jeans (Split)

Nevada's innovation is copper-riveted clothing. Jacob Davis, a tailor in Reno, fastened the pocket corners of work pants with copper rivets, and with Levi Strauss's backing the two received U.S. Patent 139,121 on May 20, 1873.

The CCAC admitted the concept is hard to show on a coin, and its scores agree. Its pick, NV-05, a jeans pocket with rivets, scored just 12 of 24 and passed with 6 votes in favor and 2 abstentions. The CFA went the other way and recommended NV-01, the governor's office's choice: a worker hammering at an anvil under the words STRENGTHENING THE FABRIC THAT BUILT AMERICA. The CFA called it "nostalgic of traditional graphics," an active scene "similar to many other coins of this series."

What Happens Next

These are recommendations, not final designs. The Treasury Secretary picks the final back for each coin. See the full candidate sets at the source: the CCAC portfolios for Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia and Nevada, and the CCAC's letter. Every coin in the series so far is in the catalog: American Innovation Dollars 2018 to Date.

Candidate designs: U.S. Mint, via CCAC/CFA public meeting materials. Sources: CCAC letter to the Secretary of the Treasury (April 23, 2026) and minutes of the April 21, 2026 meeting; U.S. Commission of Fine Arts letter to the U.S. Mint (April 23, 2026, CFA 16/APR/26-7); Wikipedia, "Jacob W. Davis" and "Green Bank Telescope"; Kansas Historical Society, "Jack St. Clair Kilby"; Britannica, "Beverly Cleary"; CoinNews (April 20, 2026).