Detroit’s auto legacy embossed in Michigan Innovation Dollar

METRO DETROIT — In April 2022 Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed Steve Bieda as the official liaison to the U.S. Mint for the development of design for the Michigan Innovation Dollar.

It was the perfect fit for the Warren resident who is a history buff and has an interest in coin collecting. For the past three years, the former state legislator and current Warren 37th District Court judge consistently met with various coin clubs around the state to come up with a theme and design for the collector coin. Many topics were considered to represent Michigan, including Motown, colleges and the Mackinac Bridge. Ultimately, the choice was made to honor Detroit’s automobile assembly line on the collector coin.

On April 8, Bieda and others involved with the process unveiled the Michigan Innovation Dollar during a ceremony at the Detroit Historical Museum, 5401 Woodward Ave. The MotorCities National Heritage Area, the Michigan History Foundation and the Michigan State Numismatic Society hosted the event.

The Michigan Innovation Dollar features a 1930s-era assembly line in which a team of autoworkers are lowering an automobile body into place. On the flipside is the Statue of Liberty.

According to a MotorCities National Heritage Area press release, the design was created by U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program designer Ronald D. Sanders and was sculpted by U.S. Mint Medallic artist John P. McGraw.   

“I was delighted by the way it looked,” Bieda said when he first saw the coin. “This is a little slice of history.”

The assembly line concept hit close to home for Bieda, who grew up in an automotive family. His dad worked for General Motors and Chrysler, his grandpa worked on the Model T assembly line, and Bieda had summer internships at the GM Tech Center in Warren.

During the ceremony, Michigan History Foundation Director Bill Arnold talked about the innovations that contributed to the automobile industry and assembly line technology “for which our state is world-renowned.”

“This is our history. That’s why we’re so committed to preserving and interpreting that history,” Arnold said. “We’re so proud to be a part of this commemorative effort and celebrate the legacy of the state of Michigan and our people whose contributions to innovation are represented by this Innovation Dollar.”   

Brian Yopp, deputy director of the MotorCities National Heritage Area, also addressed the crowd.

“The assembly line is an innovation that revolutionized auto production, making cars affordable to the masses and literally putting the world on wheels,” Yopp said. “It took an idea that was a craft — they were making cars by hand one at a time — that exploded into the industry that we know and love.

“The story we’re telling didn’t start too far from here. Not too far down Woodward Avenue, going towards the river, Ransom E. Olds owned a place. He patented an assembly line and had a plant here in Detroit before it burned,” Yopp said. “The story moves to an area called Milwaukee Junction. This was sort of a bed of automobile manufacturing in the early 1900s. That’s where a lot of folks were trying to get their start. You see the stories of Packard and Hudson.”

Yopp said the Highland Park Ford Plant is “where things got launched and started” and “most people got their image of what the assembly line was and the impact it made more than a century later.”

The U.S. Mint made arrangements to have coins on sale for $1 after the ceremony, with a limit of two coins per person. The coins will not be available in banks. The American Innovation Dollars struck with a circulation quality finish will not be released to the Federal Reserve for general circulation. The unveiling ceremony was made possible through donations from the sponsors that permitted the coins to be sold at face value for $1.

The collector coins will cost higher than face value because they are offered on the U.S. Mint’s website, usmint.gov. According to Bieda, the cost will be $36.25 for 25 coins, or a bag of 100 for $123.50. He said all of the coins at the April 8 ceremony can be used for commerce and were struck at the Philadelphia Mint. Bieda said the coins are being sold through eBay now from people who were at the unveiling. There are plans to put the coin on display at the Detroit Historical Museum.

During the ceremony, Kathy Freeland, of the Michigan Numismatic Association, and Rebecca Salminen Witt, chief strategy and marketing officer of the Detroit Historical Society, spoke to attendees. American Numismatic Association President Tom Uram reminded everyone that National Coin Week is April 20-26 this year.