Obama's image, like that of Roman emperors and European monarchs, to appear on commemorative coins It is illegal for the U.S. Mint to produce a coin that bears the image of a living person, and the U.S. Postal Service never puts a living person's picture on its stamps. This taboo probably dates back to the War of Independence, when the Founding Fathers decided that the United States would never exalt an individual, no matter how prominent, in the manner of Roman emperors and European monarchs. This law does not apply, of course, to private mints that produce commemorative (non-legal-tender) coins,...