In 1983 and 1984, the United States Mint issued a series of commemorative coins to commemorate the 1984 Summer Olympic games held in Los Angeles. These coins were authorized by Public Law 97-220. [1]
The first coin of the series was the 1983 silver dollar, which was the first commemorative dollar issued by the US Mint since the Grant Memorial gold dollar of 1922. Public Law 97-220 authorized 50,000,000 Los Angeles XXIII Olympiad dollars to be minted in 1983 and 1984. [2] The obverse of the 1983 dollar features a discus thrower, while the reverse features an eagle. A total of 642,571 uncirculated 1983 dollars were minted at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints, plus 1,577,025 proof dollars minted at San Francisco.
The silver dollar was redesigned in 1984, featuring the gateway to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The designer of this coin was Robert Graham, who had also designed the gateway that appeared on the coin. [3] A total of 451,304 uncirculated 1984 dollars were minted at the three mints, plus 1,801,210 proof dollars minted at San Francisco.
A ten-dollar gold coin (a.k.a. Eagle) was released in 1984. This coin features male and female Olympic torch runners. Of the 2,000,000 coins authorized by Public Law 97-220, a total of 497,478 proof coins were minted at the four mints (a majority at the West Point Mint), and a further 75,886 uncirculated coins were minted at West Point. [4]
The American Silver Eagle is the official silver bullion coin of the United States. It was first released by the United States Mint on November 24, 1986, and portrays the Goddess of Liberty in a design by Adolph A. Weinman that was originally used on the Walking Liberty half dollar from 1916 to 1947.
The Eisenhower Commemorative silver dollar is a United States commemorative coin minted in 1990 to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the birth of General/President Dwight D. Eisenhower. This coin is not to be confused with the Eisenhower dollar or the Eisenhower Presidential dollar which were regular issue American coins.
The West Point Mint is a U.S. Mint production and depository facility erected in 1937 near the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, United States. As of 2019 the mint holds 22% of the United States' gold reserves, or approximately 54,000,000 troy ounces (1,700,000 kg). The mint at West Point is second only to the gold reserves held in secure storage at Fort Knox. Originally, the West Point Mint was called the West Point Bullion Depository. At one point it had the highest concentration of silver of any U.S. mint facility, and for 12 years produced circulating Lincoln cents. It has since minted mostly commemorative coins and stored gold.
Although the first Olympic coin can be traced back to 480 BC, the modern Olympics did not see its first commemoratives until 1951. The original concept of Olympic coins was that the Greeks believed that coins brought the general public closer to the Olympic games. The premise was that those who could not attend the games could at least have a tangible souvenir of the event.
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