Sacagawea Coins Are Popular in Ecuador

Luzmila Mita was selling fruits and vegetables in Ecuador when she pulled out some dollar coins from her apron. The coins had the face of a Native American woman carrying a baby.

Luzmila Mita, a vendor selling fruits and vegetables in Ecuador, pulled out some dollar coins from her apron. The coins featured the face of a Native American woman carrying a baby.

“I always thought she was one of us,” Mita remarked, later adding that she learned the woman was Sacagawea, a Shoshone woman from the U.S. who aided the Lewis and Clark expedition in the 1800s.

Sacagawea assisted the expedition in communicating with other tribes, identifying edible plants, and navigating unfamiliar terrain. Her presence also signaled peace to other Native groups, as war parties typically didn't include women with babies.

The U.S. Mint has been producing Sacagawea coins since 2000. While they aren't heavily used by Americans, the coins are quite popular in Ecuador. The country switched to using U.S. dollars in 2000 following a major economic crisis. Ecuadorians prefer these coins to the paper bills.

In Idaho, Randy'L Teton, the woman who posed as Sacagawea for the coin design, was pleased to hear about the coins' widespread use in Ecuador.

Teton, a member of the Shoshone tribe, became the only living person to serve as a model for U.S. currency. She traveled across the U.S., promoting the coin. However, it never gained much popularity in the States. Americans disliked that it didn't easily dispense from vending machines and preferred folding bills instead.

In the U.S., most people view the coin as a collector's item. Tom Carroll, a coin dealer, mentioned that dollar coins never truly caught on.

But in Ecuador, it's paper money that people try to avoid. A taxi driver in Quito stated that he prefers coins because they feel more valuable. Another man working at a café said he rarely sees dollar bills as people often suspect them to be counterfeit.

Even though the U.S. Mint has sent about $189 million worth of dollar coins to Ecuador, that amounts to only about 10 coins per person. In the U.S., there are about 20 per person, but they're usually kept in collections and not used daily.

Teton has never visited Ecuador but would love to go. "I would love to share the story of Sacagawea," she said. "If Ecuadorians are really using the coin, that makes me happy."