10 Utah Goldback - Justitia, 1/100th Troy Oz .9999 Gold-Backed Bill

10 Utah Goldback - Beautifully Made Currency Containing 1/100th Oz .9999 Fine Gold

The Goldback is the world’s first voluntary currency to be made of a spendable, beautiful, small denomination, physical gold.

When the Utah Legal Tender Act passed in 2011, the state became the first in recent times to recognize certain forms of gold as legal tender. Gold once again established a level of official recognition as money.

Since then the technology for minting physical gold into a spendable form for small transactions has developed. The makers use cutting edge vacuum deposition technology to layer each bill with .9999 fine gold in exacting quantities. Goldback bills carry a precise amount of pure gold between layers of polyester which makes them resilient and durable.

The Utah Goldback Series is the first Goldback Series to ever be produced. It was drawn by Cheri Jensen, a local Utah artist, who does beautiful, intricate work, despite being blind in one eye.

It tells a somewhat chronological story of Utah over the course of the series progression, highlighting specific pivotal moments in its history before the settlement of the Mormon Pioneers, through the settlement of the area and some historic moments pertaining thereto. The progression culminates in an idyllic future representation of reaching a type of transcendence toward which we are encouraged to aspire through the application of the virtues featured in the series.

These are each shown on one of the Goldback denominations as a backdrop for the Lady Virtue being portrayed and symbolized thereon. Please enjoy the Utah Goldback Series.

Justitia, or Justice, is the virtue that appears on Utah’s 10 Goldback Design. She is cast in the southern region of Utah, with Balancing Rock and the iconic red cliffs in the background. She is depicted wearing the period settler’s sunday best attire. The scene is set just a few years after Utah was settled.

She is equipped traditionally with a blindfold over her eyes and a two edged sword and scales in her hands, representing the responsibilities of impartiality, fairness, and decisiveness that Justice must use to be right and effective. Below her is the footing: “Judge Righteously”. Note the cross, heart, and anchor on the balances that she carries, which are a nod to the role of faith, hope, and charity in justice as well in order to allow for mercy.

A seagull, the state bird of Utah, flies through the air with a cricket in its mouth ahead of a huge desert storm in the background. These represent two of the miraculous happenings that the Utah settlers experienced in the early years of settling the area. First, when the gulls came and ate crickets that were swarming and eating the crops that the settlers desperately needed. The second recalls the southern Utah desert when a huge desert rainstorm brought the end to a long drought that had been raging across the state after the settlers joined in a united effort of fasting and prayer to be preserved by God.

Both of these symbols nod to the positive side of justice, one of the two sword edges, blessings are as large a part of divine justice as punishment is on the sword’s other edge, though we tend to focus on the latter. In the brush at her feet is a sage hen with twelve chicks, also representing the protection and mercy that justice can bring, referencing the biblical gospels in the imagery.

Goldbacks can be, and are, used for barter transactions with anyone who recognizes the value of gold.