100 Dollars 'American Platinum Eagle' Bullion Coinage

Congress authorized the American Platinum Eagle in 1997 through the Legal Tender Coin Act, making it the first platinum coin issued by the United States government. The timing was deliberate — platinum had quietly surpassed gold in industrial demand throughout the 1980s and 1990s, driven largely by catalytic converter manufacturing, and the U.S. Mint was late to a market already served by the Isle of Man, Australia, and Canada.

Unlike the Gold and Silver Eagles, whose reverse designs are fixed by statute, the Platinum Eagle's reverse has changed annually since 2009 under rotating thematic series — a policy unique among U.S. bullion issues.