Numismatic Guaranty Company has announced a slate of special certification labels and designations for the Freedom Ringing 1776 2026 Liberty Bell Gold Coins and Silver Medal, the first non-round coinage in recent US history. The bell-shaped pieces go on sale from the US Mint on July 16, 2026, and NGC is positioning its Early Releases, First Releases, and America250 label options to meet what is expected to be intense collector demand.
The stakes are unusually concentrated. Each of the three pieces, the One-Half Ounce Gold Coin, the One Ounce Gold Coin, and the One-Half Ounce Silver Medal, carries a mintage limit of just 2,026 and a household order limit of one. For a release commemorating 250 years of American independence, the Mint has made scarcity part of the design.
The First Non-Round Coinage in Recent US History
The Freedom Ringing series breaks with more than two centuries of American minting convention. Each piece takes the shape of the Liberty Bell itself, a form that required years of planning and demanded an unusual production path: the coins and medal were handloaded and pressed in the Research and Development Lab of the Philadelphia Mint, a facility that rarely serves as the production floor for a public release.
The bell shape is more than a novelty. The Liberty Bell has long stood as a symbol of freedom and equality, and the pieces carry the word “Liberty,” styled in the same handwritten fashion in which it appears in the Declaration of Independence. Like several of the Mint’s Semiquincentennial issues, they also bear the dual dates “1776” and “2026,” a deliberate echo of the one-time dual dating applied to American coinage for the Bicentennial fifty years ago.
The Label Options
NGC, which has partnered with America250 for the anniversary, is offering five label paths for certified Liberty Bell submissions.
The America250 US Flag label (#2830) and the Philadelphia Liberty Bell label (#855) are the two premium designs, each available for an additional $8, and each can be combined with an Early Releases or First Releases designation for a further $18. The Early Releases label (#378) and First Releases label (#379) come included with their respective $18 designations, while the NGC Standard Brown label (#377) remains available free of charge by request.
The Early Releases and First Releases designations follow NGC’s standard 30-day rule: coins and medals must be received by NGC within the first 30 days of release to qualify. Both are selected under Box 7 on the US submission form.
Submission Requirements
NGC has flagged specific tier requirements for these pieces. Silver Medals must be submitted under the Modern tier or higher, while the Gold Coins require the Express tier or higher, a reflection of their value. Notably, submitters do not need to send the pieces in their original US Mint packaging.
First Day of Issue, for Bulk Submitters Only
NGC’s most restrictive designation, First Day of Issue, is available for these pieces through select bulk submissions only, with the exception of qualifying FUN Show submissions. To qualify, coins must be purchased within one day of the Mint’s first day of sale and received by NGC or an NGC-approved depository within one week of the release date. NGC will also require adequate evidence, including purchase receipts, to document the purchase date.
A Landmark Release Meets the Certification Machine
With 2,026 examples of each piece and a hard limit of one per household, scarcity is built into the release, but so is a formidable price of entry. The US Mint has listed the One Ounce Gold Coin at $19,600, the One-Half Ounce Gold Coin at $10,050, and the Silver Medal at $750, premium pricing that will limit the market even at these mintages and makes a release-day sellout far from certain. Whatever the pace of sales, the certified population will be small, fragmented across label types, and closely watched. For collectors who manage to secure one on July 16, the choice of label may end up mattering nearly as much as the grade. Whatever path submitters choose, these bell-shaped pieces are set to become the defining collectibles of the Semiquincentennial, the kind of release that gets remembered the way the Bicentennial dual dates are remembered now.
