New nickel has new Jefferson.

• Position: Money Supply - Brief Article

The nation's circulating coins have featured the profiles of presidents for nearly a century. The United States Mint has announced that, for the first time in history, the image of Pres. Thomas Jefferson will face forward on the 2006-dated five-cent coin (nickel). This new image is based on a Rembrandt Peale painting of Jefferson. The coin will launch into circulation early in 2006, concluding the "Westward Journey Nickel Series."

"The changing images in the Westward Journey Nickel Series lead us back to the nation's third president, Thomas Jefferson, who envisioned the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark expedition as a way to move the nation forward," says David A. Lebryk, acting director of the Mint. "The image of a forward-looking Jefferson is a fitting tribute to that vision."

The Lincoln penny of 1909 marked the first time the Mint used the image of a president on the nation's circulating coinage. The image of Pres. Abraham Lincoln, and other presidents on later coins, is in profile.

The forward-looking 2006 nickel obverse (heads side) was designed using the Peale painting of 1800...