From 2007 to 2011, Presidential dollar coins were minted for circulation in large numbers, resulting in a large stockpile of unused $1 coins. From 2012 to 2016, new coins in the series were minted only for collectors.[1] A new coin was released on December 4, 2020, to honor George H. W. Bush, who died after the original program ended.[2][3]
Legislative history
S.1047, the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005, was introduced on May 17, 2005, by Senator John E. Sununu with over 70 co-sponsors. It was reported favorably out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs without amendment on July 29, 2005. The Senate passed it with a technical amendment (S.Amdt.2676), by unanimous consent on November 18, 2005. The House of Representatives passed it (291-113)[4] on December 13, 2005 (a similar bill, H.R. 902, had previously passed in the House, but it was the Senate bill which was passed by both chambers). The enrolled bill was presented to president George W. Bush on December 15, 2005, and he signed it into law on December 22, 2005.[5]
Program details
The program began on January 1, 2007, and like the 50 State quarters program, was not scheduled to end until every eligible subject was honored. The program was to issue coins featuring each of four presidents per year on the obverse, issuing one for three months before moving on to the next president in chronological order by term in office. To be eligible, a president must have been deceased for at least two years prior to the time of minting.[6] The United States Mint called it the Presidential $1 Coin Program.[7]
The reverse of the coins bears the Statue of Liberty, the inscription "$1" and the inscription "United States of America" in all caps, in the font ITC Benguiat. Inscribed along the edge of the coin is the year of minting or issuance of the coin, the mint mark, 13 stars, and also the legend E Pluribus Unum in the following arrangement: ★★★★★★★★★★2009D★★★EPLURIBUSUNUM; before 2009, In God We Trust was also part of the edge lettering. The legend "Liberty" is absent from the coin altogether, since the decision was made that the image of the Statue of Liberty on the reverse of the coin was sufficient to convey the message of liberty. The text of the act does not specify the color of the coins, but per the U.S. Mint "the specifications will be identical to those used for the current Golden dollar".[8] The George Washington $1 coin was first available to the public on February 15, 2007, in honor of Presidents' Day, which was observed on February 19.
This marked the first time since the St. Gaudens Double Eagle (1907–1933) that the United States had issued a coin with edge lettering for circulation. Edge-lettered coins date back to the 1790s. The process was started to discourage the shaving of gold coin edges, a practice which was used to cheat payees. In December 2007, Congress passed H.R.2764, moving "In God We Trust" to either the obverse or reverse of the coins.[9] This is the same bill that created a program that included quarters for Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.
The act had been introduced because of the failure of the Sacagawea $1 coin to gain widespread circulation in the United States. The act sympathized with the need of the nation's private sector for a $1 coin, and expected that the appeal of changing the design would increase the public demand for new coins (as the public generally responded well to the State Quarter program). The program was also intended to help educate the public about the nation's presidents and their history. In case the coins did not catch on with the general public, then the Mint hoped that collectors would be as interested in the dollars as they were with the State Quarters, which generated about $6.3billion in seigniorage (i.e., the difference between the face value of the coins and the cost to produce them) between January 1999 and December 2008.[10]
Stack showing edge lettering
Unlike the State Quarter program and the Westward Journey nickel series, which suspended the issuance of the current design during those programs, the act directed the Mint to continue to issue Sacagawea dollar coins during the Presidential series. The law states that at least one in three issued dollars must be a Sacagawea dollar. Furthermore, the Sacagawea design is required to continue after the Presidential Coin program ends. These requirements were added at the behest of the North Dakota congressional delegation to ensure that Sacagawea, whom North Dakotans consider to be one of their own, ultimately remains on the dollar coin.
However, Federal Reserve officials indicated to Congress that "if the Presidential $1 Coin Program does not stimulate substantial transactional demand for dollar coins, the requirement that the Mint nonetheless produce Sacagawea dollars would result in costs to the taxpayer without any offsetting benefits." In that event, the Federal Reserve indicated that it would "strongly recommend that Congress reassess the one-third requirement."[11] The one-third requirement was later changed to one-fifth by the Native American $1 Coin Act,[12] passed on September 20, 2007.
Previous versions of the act called for removing from circulation dollar coins issued before the Sacagawea dollar, most notably the Susan B. Anthony dollar, but the version of the act which became law merely directs the Secretary of the Treasury to study the matter and report back to Congress. The act required federal government agencies (including the United States Postal Service), businesses operating on federal property, and federally funded transit systems to accept and dispense dollar coins by January 2008, and to post signs indicating that they do so.[13]
Minting errors
On March 8, 2007, the United States Mint announced, that on February 15, 2007, an unknown number of George Washington Presidential $1 coins were released into circulation without their edge inscriptions (the U.S. mottos, "In God We Trust" and "E pluribus unum", the coin's mint mark, and its year of issuance; i.e. E PLURIBUS UNUM • IN GOD WE TRUST • 2007 X (where X is either P or D)). Ron Guth, of the Professional Coin Grading Service, estimated at least 50,000 coins were released without the edge inscriptions. The first such coin discovered was sold on eBay for $600, while later coins were selling for $40–60, as of late March 2007.[14][15] Because one of the inscriptions missing from the coins is the motto "In God we trust", some articles on the subject have referred to them as "Godless dollars".[16] Fake "Godless dollars" have been produced with the edge lettering filed off.[17]
Also, John Adams Presidential dollars have been discovered with plain edges. They are fewer in quantity than George Washington plain-edge dollars, making them rarer, thus more expensive. A more frequently encountered edge lettering error for the John Adams dollar is a coin with doubled edge lettering. This error occurs when a coin passes through the edge lettering machine twice.[18] Most examples of the doubled-edge-letter John Adams dollar are from the Philadelphia Mint (Denver Mint issues are comparatively scarce). They are seen in two varieties: 1) with both edge lettering inscriptions reading in the same direction, called "overlapped", and 2) with the two inscriptions running in opposite directions—i.e., inverted or upside-down relative to one another—called "inverted".
In early March 2007, a Colorado couple found a dollar coin which had not been struck with a die pair (missing the portrait of the president and the Statue of Liberty), but with edge lettering on the otherwise-blank planchet.[19]
Some of the coins have the words on the rim struck upside down (president face up). These are not minting errors, but rather a variation created by the minting process. Such upside-down coins have been sold on auction websites like eBay and Amazon for greater than their face value, though they represent roughly 50% of the minted population.[20]
Stockpile and suspension of production
A graph showing mintages of issues minted from 2007 to 2011
By 2011, 1.4 billion uncirculated $1 coins were stockpiled,[21] which, if laid flat, could reach from Los Angeles to Chicago. By 2016, this number might have reached two billion if the minting had continued unchanged.[22]
Rep. Jackie Speier of California circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter recommending that the U.S. not produce any dollar coins. She was planning to introduce legislation calling for the immediate halting of all dollar coin programs.[23]
The United States Government Accountability Office has stated that discontinuing the dollar bill in favor of the dollar coin would save the U.S. government about $5.5 billion over 30 years.[24]
On December 13, 2011, Vice President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced that the minting of Presidential $1 coins for circulation would be suspended.[21] Future entries in the program, beginning with those of Chester A. Arthur, would be issued in reduced quantities, only for collectors.[25]
The program's end and continuation
The act specifies that for a former president to be honored, they must have been deceased for at least two years before issue.[26][27] Hence, former presidents George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and then-current president Barack Obama were ineligible to have a dollar coin issued in their honor when the series ended in 2016, after honoring Ronald Reagan, the last president who was eligible.
Since the program has terminated, producing coins for those presidents not yet honored would require another Act of Congress.[28] On February 12, 2019, Senator John Cornyn introduced a bill to authorize a Presidential dollar honoring George H. W. Bush and an accompanying First Spouse gold coin for Barbara Bush,[2] which was signed into law by President Donald Trump on January 28, 2020.[29]
The United States has honored the spouses of each of the presidents honored by the Presidential $1 Coin Act by issuing half-ounce $10 gold coins featuring their images, in the order they served as first spouse, beginning in 2007. To date, all first spouses have been women (often called first ladies), but the law uses the term first spouse.
The obverse of these coins feature portraits of the nation's first spouses, their names, the dates and order of their terms as first spouse, as well as the year of minting or issuance, and the words "In God We Trust" and "Liberty". The United States Mint issued the first spouse gold coins on the same schedule as the Presidential $1 coins issued honoring the presidents. Each coin has a unique reverse design featuring an image emblematic of that spouse's life and work, as well as the words "The United States of America", "E Pluribus Unum", "$10", "1/2 oz.", and ".9999 Fine Gold".
When a president served unmarried, as four presidents did, a gold coin was issued bearing an obverse image emblematic of Liberty as depicted on a circulating coin of that era, and bearing a reverse image emblematic of themes of that president. One exception is the coin depicting suffragistAlice Paul which represents the era of the Chester A. Arthur presidency, as Arthur was a widower.
The act, as written, explicitly states that the First Spouse coins are to be released at the same time as their respective $1 Presidential coins.[51] Because the act links a first spouse's eligibility for a coin to that of the presidential spouse, it means that a living first spouse could have appeared on a coin; actually this did not happen, though Nancy Reagan died only a few months before the release of her coin.
The United States Mint launched these coins officially at 12 pm EDT on June 19, 2007. They provided two versions of the coin: a proof version for $429.95 and an uncirculated version for $410.95.
The United States Mint also produces and makes available to the public bronze medal duplicates of the First Spouse gold coins which are not legal tender.[52] In February 2009 Coin World reported that some 2007 Abigail Adams medals were struck using the reverse from the 2008 Louisa Adams medal.[53] These pieces, called mules, were contained within the 2007 First Spouse medal set.[53]
Although the First Spouse program ended in 2016, it was continued in 2020 to honor Barbara Bush.[2]
* Due to volatility in the gold market, the U.S. Mint lowered the price to $549.95 on November 12, 2008, to more accurately reflect the current spot price of gold. This however constantly changed as the price of gold changed. The mint used pricing range tables to adjust pricing of gold coin: 2016 Pricing Grid
† Chester A. Arthur's wife Ellen died before he succeeded to the presidency. Since there was no First Lady during his presidency, the act explicitly states that Alice Paul, who was born during his term, would appear on this coin.[75] Since Paul was never First Lady, the coin does not have a served date.
Other provisions
The act also has two other provisions, for the following:
Redesign of the reverse of the Lincoln cent in 2009 to show four different scenes from Abraham Lincoln's life in honor of the bicentennial of his birth. These four scenes include:
Since 2010, another redesigned reverse for the Lincoln cent is being minted; this "shall bear an image emblematic of President Lincoln's preservation of the United States of America as a single and united country", and replaced the Lincoln Memorial reverse in use from 1959 to 2008.
Coins of the United States dollar were first minted in 1792. New coins have been produced annually and they make up a valuable aspect of the United States currency system. Today, circulating coins exist in denominations of 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, and $1.00. Also minted are bullion and commemorative coins. All of these are produced by the United States Mint. The coins are then sold to Federal Reserve Banks which in turn are responsible for putting coins into circulation and withdrawing them as demanded by the country's economy.
The cent, the United States one-cent coin, often called the "penny", is a unit of currency equaling one one-hundredth of a United States dollar. It has been the lowest face-value physical unit of U.S. currency since the abolition of the half-cent in 1857. The first U.S. cent was produced in 1787, and the cent has been issued primarily as a copper or copper-plated coin throughout its history.
The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; that responsibility belongs to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The first United States Mint was created in Philadelphia in 1792, and soon joined by other centers, whose coins were identified by their own mint marks. There are currently four active coin-producing mints: Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, and West Point.
The United States Mint has minted numerous commemorative coins to commemorate persons, places, events, and institutions since 1848. Many of these coins are not intended for general circulation, but are still legal tender. The mint also produces commemorative medals, which are similar to coins but do not have a face value, and therefore are not legal tender.
The dollar coin is a United States coin with a face value of one United States dollar. Dollar coins have been minted in the United States in gold, silver, and base metal versions. Dollar coins were first minted in the United States in 1794.
The 50 State quarters was a series of circulating commemorative quarters released by the United States Mint. Minted from 1999 through 2008, they featured unique designs for each of the 50 US states on the reverse.
The American Silver Eagle is the official silver bullion coin of the United States.
The American Platinum Eagle is the official platinum bullion coin of the United States. In 1995, Director of the United States Mint Philip N. Diehl, American Numismatic Association President David L. Ganz, and Platinum Guild International Executive Director Jacques Luben began the legislative process of creating the Platinum Eagle. After over two years of work, the 99.95% fine platinum coins were released by the United States Mint in 1⁄10, 1⁄4, 1⁄2 and 1 troy oz denominations. In late 2008, the fractional denominations were discontinued, leaving only the one ounce denomination. The Platinum Eagle is authorized by the United States Congress, and is backed by the United States Mint for weight, content, and purity.
In numismatics, a mule is a coin or medal minted with obverse and reverse designs not normally seen on the same piece. These can be intentional or produced by error. This type of error is highly sought after by collectors, and examples can fetch high prices.
The Sacagawea dollar is a United States dollar coin introduced in 2000, although not minted for general circulation between 2002 to 2008 and again from 2012 onward because of its general unpopularity with the public and low business demand for the coin. These coins have a copper core clad by manganese brass, giving them a distinctive golden color. The coin features an obverse by Glenna Goodacre. From 2000 to 2008, the reverse featured an eagle design by Thomas D. Rogers. Since 2009, the reverse of the Sacagawea dollar has been changed yearly, with each design in the series depicting a different aspect of Native American cultures. These coins are marketed as "Native American dollars".
The Kennedy half dollar, first minted in 1964, is a fifty-cent coin currently issued by the United States Mint. Intended as a memorial to the assassinated 35th president of the United States John F. Kennedy, it was authorized by Congress just over a month after his death. Use of existing works by Mint sculptors Gilroy Roberts and Frank Gasparro allowed dies to be prepared quickly, and striking of the new coins began in January 1964.
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 million ounces. 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.
The Washington quarter is the present quarter dollar or 25-cent piece issued by the United States Mint. The coin was first struck in 1932; the original version was designed by sculptor John Flanagan.
The District of Columbia and United States Territories quarters were a series of six quarters minted by the United States Mint in 2009 to honor the District of Columbia and the unincorporated United States insular areas of Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The islands commonly grouped together as the United States Minor Outlying Islands were not featured, as the law defined the word "territory" as being limited to the areas mentioned above. They followed the completion of the 50 State Quarters Program. The coins used the same George Washington obverse as with the quarters of the previous 10 years. The reverse of the quarters featured a design selected by the Mint depicting the federal district and each territory. Unlike on the 50 State quarters, the motto "E Pluribus Unum" preceded and was the same size as the mint date on the reverse.
Joel Iskowitz is an American designer, book illustrator, print artist and stamp, coin and medal designer. From an initial interest in medical illustration, this graphic artist has branched to other fields. He specializes in highly realistic art resulting from extensive research to make his designs as accurate as possible. His philatelic (stamp) designs, he once said, "must be super accurate and well documented, for if you get so much as an animal's tuft of fur out of place on a philatelic design you will hear from someone critical of your design." Among his coin designs are the reverse of the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial penny, 2008 Arizona State Quarter, 2009 District of Columbia Quarter, and the 2016 Nancy Reagan First Spouse Gold Coin. In 2011 he was inducted into the Hunter College Hall of Fame. A major address on his career as a designer of commemorative coins and medals, at the Museum of American Finance in October 2015, was aired on C-SPAN.
The Lewis and Clark Exposition Gold dollar is a commemorative coin that was struck in 1904 and 1905 as part of the United States government's participation in the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, held in the latter year in Portland, Oregon. Designed by United States Bureau of the Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber, the coin did not sell well and less than a tenth of the authorized mintage of 250,000 was issued.
The Susan B. Anthony dollar is a United States dollar coin minted from 1979 to 1981 when production was suspended due to poor public acceptance, and then again in 1999. Intended as a replacement for the larger Eisenhower dollar, the new smaller one-dollar coin went through testing of several shapes and compositions, but all were opposed by the vending machine industry, a powerful lobby affecting coin legislation. Finally, a round planchet with an eleven-sided inner border was chosen for the smaller dollar.
Thomas S. Cleveland is an American designer, illustrator and fine artist. He served in the United States Mint's Artistic Infusion Program from 2004 until 2014.
American Innovation dollars are dollar coins of a series minted by the United States Mint beginning in 2018 and scheduled to run through 2032. It is planned for each member of the series to showcase an innovation, innovator or group of innovators from a particular state or territory, while the obverse features the Statue of Liberty.
The United States Mint Proof Set, commonly known as the Proof Set in the United States, is a set of proof coins sold by the United States Mint. The proof set is popular with coin collectors as it is an affordable way to collect examples of United States coinage in proof condition.
↑ At the time the series ended in 2016, former Presidents Carter, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush, and then-current President Obama, were still alive, and thus, are not represented on series issues.
SEC. 623. (a) In General- Section 5112(n)(2) of title 31, United States Code, is amended-- (1) in subparagraph (C)(i)-- (A) by striking 'inscriptions' and inserting 'inscription'; and (B) by striking 'In God We Trust'; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: `(F) INSCRIPTION OF 'IN GOD WE TRUST'- The design on the obverse or the reverse shall bear the inscription 'In God We Trust'.'.
No coin issued under this subsection may bear the image of a living former or current president, or of any deceased former president during the 2-year period following the date of the death of that president.
↑ Staff reporter (2010-03-22). "Legislator calls for Ronald Reagan portrait on $50 FRNs". Coin World. 51 (2606): 73.
The issuance of coins under this subsection shall terminate when each president has been so honored, subject to paragraph (2)(E), and may not be resumed except by an Act of Congress.
↑ Yeoman, R.S.; Bressett, Kenneth; Bowers, Q. David; Garrett, Jeff (2022). A Guide Book of United States Coins. Pelham, Alabama: Whitman Publishing. p.244.
IN GENERAL- The bullion coins issued under this subsection with respect to any spouse of a President shall be issued on the same schedule as the $1 coin issued under subsection (n) with respect to each such President.
↑ U.S. Mint: First Spouse Program. Accessed 2008-06-27. "The United States Mint also produces and make available to the public bronze medal duplicates of the First Spouse Gold Coins."
1 2 Gilkes, Paul (2009-02-16). "First Spouse medals set holds Adams mule". Coin World. 50 (2549): 1. Some collectors have begun receiving a First Spouse medal mule - a piece bearing the obverse for Abigail Adams and a reverse intended for the Louisa Adams medal. The mules surfaced in some of the 2007 First Spouse sets …
↑ Yeoman, R.S. (2016). A Guide Book of United States Coins (69thed.). Atlanta, GA: Whitman Publishing, LLC. pp.364–368. ISBN978-0-7948-4305-2.
as represented, in the case of President Chester Alan Arthur, by a design incorporating the name and likeness of Alice Paul, a leading strategist in the suffrage movement, who was instrumental in gaining women the right to vote upon the adoption of the 19th amendment and thus the ability to participate in the election of future Presidents, and who was born on January 11, 1885, during the term of President Arthur
Full Text (PDF) at from the United States Government Printing Office
Report by the Congressional Budget Office on the cost of H.R. 902 (the companion to S. 1047), which includes information on seigniorage for the State Quarter program. April 12, 2005
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