25 Utah Goldback - Victoria, 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.

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.

The 25 Goldback Design depicts the Lady Virtue Victoria, or Victory, primarily in celebration of Women’s rights to vote. This is actually the first Goldback design to ever have been done. It was the artist’s audition piece for the series. Victory bears a banner that states “Votes Counting Since 1870”, nodding to the fact that when Utah became a state, women were already voting by that time. The first state to have a woman actually cast a vote in it was Utah (Seraph Young was the voter), though as a state, Wyoming granted women’s suffrage a few months prior to that.

This Goldback design was created by keeping in mind many of the firsts by Utah women, such as women teaching over the pulpit and Martha Hughes Cannon becoming the first woman State Senator in 1911.

Victoria is accompanied by a child in the artwork, representative of how many of the women marched for suffrage with their children, and how teaching children truth has been a major driving force for the women of Utah. The child carries a branch representing how our children are the future, and ultimately are responsible tomorrow for the stewardship of any victories that we win today.

This design urges the viewer to “Go on to Victory”. The backdrop of this design is actually the mountainscape in Alpine, Utah, viewable through the window of the building where these designs were done. The flag that Victory carries in her left hand is topped by the Chi-Rao Greek symbol for Christ, nodding to the help that the women of Utah credited to him at that time for their attaining the many freedoms that they earned. In her right hand she holds bundled wheat, representative of small victories gathered together in a powerful, significant whole. Behind her a falcon is soaring, representing faithful actions, and the hope to return to the things that we love.

We should return and review the actions through history that brought us the victories that we now enjoy. Victory stands along a straight path bordered by a stone wall on one side, representing building good things one small victory at a time; and aspen trees on the other side, representing the interconnectedness of humankind and common heritage, especially through the women who bore each child of the human family. 

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