25 New Hampshire Goldback - Fortitudine, 1/40th Troy Oz .9999 Gold-Backed Bill

25 Utah Goldback - Beautifully Made Currency Containing 1/40th 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.

This series is the first to pilot the border design change where the written denomination at the top of the bill has been moved into the border at the bottom and a smaller denomination number is written in the bottom right corner in addition to being found in the top left. These designs have been approved for all following designs, and currently in print designs will adopt these changes in their 2022 editions.

About the Design - Fortitudine

Fortitudine, or Fortitude, makes her second appearance in a Goldback series on New Hampshire’s 25 Goldback Denomination.

She is clothed in a military coat of a minute-man, and is wearing a dress that includes the vertical red and white stripes that were used by the early rebel colonists. These stripes were ultimately included horizontally in the United States flag. She is leaning a musket over one shoulder and has a powder horn in the opposite hand, both understood as being captured from Fort William and Mary as illustrated in the 10 Goldback Design.

Next to her stands a miniature depiction of New Hampshire’s famous granite monument featuring the state’s motto: “Live Free or Die”. The caption beneath her reads “Take Courage”.

At her feet are a mother and baby porcupines, representing the emotion of being loving and calm, but having the quills to stand your ground and protect your own when necessary.

Behind Fortitudine is a maple tree in early spring with a tap and bucket, representing the fortitude of the tree through the winter, whose pulsing sap, as the temperatures warm, brings life back to the tree itself and energy and joy to those who count on it.

Also in the background the viewer can see a depiction of Mount Washington and the historic Mount Washington Hotel.

These features above symbolize the underlying reasons that “The Granite State” is such a fitting title for the state of New Hampshire.