The 2022 Purple Heart Hall of Honor $5 Gold Coin

The Purple Heart is the oldest American military decoration still given out. Its ancestor, the Badge of Military Merit, was created by George Washington himself in 1782 — a purple cloth heart for soldiers who showed "unusual gallantry." It was awarded to a handful of men, then forgotten for nearly 150 years.

In 1932, on the 200th anniversary of Washington's birth, the Army revived it as the Purple Heart. Today it goes to anyone wounded or killed in action under US command. More than a million have been awarded. The medal is so woven into American life that there is a museum dedicated entirely to its recipients: the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New Windsor, New York — built near the spot where Washington created the original badge.

In 2020 Congress passed the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor Commemorative Coin Act (Public Law 116-247). It ordered the US Mint to strike gold, silver, and clad coins for one year — 2022 — with money from the sales sent to support the Hall. Each $5 gold coin carried a $35 surcharge for that purpose. The coin was not made to circulate. It was made to say thank you, and to fund the place that keeps the names.

The artist Donna Weaver designed both sides. The obverse — the heads side — shows the Purple Heart medal itself: the gold heart bearing Washington's profile, hanging from its ribbon, with the words A GRATEFUL NATION HONORS AND REMEMBERS. The Mint's chief engraver, Joseph Menna, sculpted it for striking.

The reverse — the tails side — reaches back to where the story began. It shows the Badge of Military Merit, the simple cloth heart of 1782, set above a textured stripe and Washington's own signature, with the date 1782 and the words BADGE OF MILITARY MERIT. Mint artist John P. McGraw sculpted the reverse. Put the two sides together and you hold the whole arc of the award in your hand: the founding general's handmade honor on one face, the modern medal it became on the other.

Here is what makes this coin matter to collectors: the gap between what Congress allowed and what was actually made. The law set a ceiling of 50,000 gold coins. Sales were sluggish, and when the order window closed at the end of 2022, the reported total came in around 4,474 pieces — under one in ten of the authorized maximum. That is a genuinely low number for a US gold coin, modern or otherwise.

The Mint offered the coin in two finishes. A proof — struck on polished dies with mirror-like fields and frosted devices, the collector's version. And an uncirculated — a satin-like business strike, made in even smaller numbers. Each finish was a separate product, so each has its own scarcity, with the uncirculated the harder of the two to find.

Because these were sold to collectors and tucked away, most survive in top grades. The interesting question is not whether a piece is mint-fresh — most are — but which finish you hold, and whether it carries a perfect grade. With a total mintage this small, even modest collector demand presses on a thin supply. (Final proof-versus-uncirculated splits are best confirmed against the Mint's published sales figures.)