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History of the Eisenhower Dollar
Back in March, 1964, the Treasury Department ordered the end to paying out
silver dollars. Yet with a coin shortage looming, and silver near or exceeding
the face value of a silver dollar, later that year, congress voted to coin 45
million additional silver dollars, which turned out to be Peace Dollars, even
though the Peace Dollar had not been coined for over 40 years. After production
of over 300,000, production was stopped, and it looked like the end of the large
dollar coin. The Coinage Act of July 23, 1965 included a provision that no
standard silver dollars were to be coined for a period of five years.
Near the end of the five year ban, Congressman Bob Casey of Texas introduced
a bill into the House on October 29, 1969 calling for a circulating
commemorative dollar to honor both Dwight Eisenhower and the Apollo XI space
flight. Eisenhower died six months earlier and America had a significant
sentiment for the WWII hero and two-term president. Additionally, there was
pressure for dollar-sized coins from the Nevada gambling casinos, which yearned
for a return to the days when the action at the tables was with American silver
dollars. With the silver content of a silver dollar now well beyond face value
of a silver dollar, silver dollars had disappeared. Casinos had to pay premiums
to buy Morgan and Peace dollars, which the public would keep, or order
dollar-size tokens from the General Numismatics Corporation, which later became
known as the Franklin Mint. If you can get the US Government to provide your
business supplies, buy coining a new dollar coin, why not go for it?
It took more than a year, but after much political bickering, it became law
on December 31st, 1970. The bill called for a circulating coin made from the
same metal content (copper and nickel) used in the dime and quarter (clad) and
which was to be used for half dollars in 1971. The bill also authorized the
coining of up to 150 million silver-clad coins for collectors that would be made
similar to the half dollar produced from 1965-1969 which was two layers. The
outer layers would be 80% silver and 20% copper while the inner layer, or core,
would be approximately 21% silver and 79% copper. Overall, it was a 40% silver
mix. An amendment to the bill called for a portion of the profits from these
collector coins to be donated to Eisenhower College in Seneca Falls New York.
Despite receiving about $9 million dollars from this source, the college
ultimately folded.
With the political issues now out of the way, Mint Director Mary Brooks
wanted the new dollar in production quickly. Rather than going through a public
design competition, the job was turned over to Mint Chief Engraver Frank
Gasparro. Gasparro already had two designs to his credit in production; the back
of the Lincoln Cent starting in 1959 and the reverse of the Kennedy Half Dollar.
Later, he would also provide the designs for the ill-fated Susan B. Anthony
dollar. Anticipating the new coinage, Gasparro had already begun work on the
designs. Even though the first “Ike” dollar was not coined until November 1971,
the first designs had the date of 1970. Although it is not clearly known why it
took until late 1971 to release the new dollar, it has been speculated that
there were numerous design deficiencies. For example, the relief was too high,
and in fact, coins struck for circulation that year are now known as Type I
while proofs are of Type II which has a higher relief. Additionally, the
copper-nickel combination is a harder metal than the 90% silver composition
which resulted in poor strikes.
Not uncommon when a new coin/issue is released, collectors and the public
hoarded a good portion of what was released on that day and over the next few
months. Over time, the new dollar reached the channels of commerce and then the
issue that is still prevalent today revealed itself, which was that the American
public did not want to use a dollar coin. Since the new dollars were not often
seen, casinos also had a hard time keeping them on hand as people thought they
were rare and kept them.
The year of 1975 saw a change to the design. Just like the quarter and half
dollar, the dollar coin underwent a design change to commemorate the
bicentennial. A nationwide contest was held and the winner was Dennis R.
Williams. His design of a Liberty Bell superimposed on the moon was the winner.
It is similar to the design on the reverse of the Franklin Half Dollar. No coins
were dated 1975. Those produced in 1975 were of the bicentennial type. Beginning
in 1977, the dollar coin went back to the traditional design. Due to the lack of
public acceptance, the IKE dollars were produced for the last time in 1978
making way for the ill-fated Susan B. Anthony dollar.
During its run, the Eisenhower Dollar saw wide swings in production. Although
over 676 million were produced for circulation, a couple of years saw very low
production. In 1973, Philadelphia produced only a tad over 2 million while
Denver produced only 2 million. In 1974, Philadelphia produced only 2.7 million.
Denver produced many more with a mintage of 35.4 million. Peak production years
were in 1975-1976 when Philadelphia produced over 117 million bi-centennial
dollar coins and Denver produced over 103 million.
Keith Scott has been a collector for over 30 years. His website has
US coins for sale. He also writes
Coin Collecting Articles for fun. Visit his websites for a history of US coins,
metal market updates and news about your favorite coins.
Want to discuss the Ike Dollar? Join the coin forum.
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Ike-Eisenhower Dollar Coin News
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