Presidential Dollar

The program began on January 1, 2007, and is similar to the State Quarter program in that it will not end until every eligible subject is honored. The program will 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. The U.S. Mint calls it the Presidential $1 Coin Program.^[1]

The reverse of the coins bears the Statue of Liberty, the inscription "$1" and the inscription "United States of America". Inscribed along the edge of the coin is the year of minting or issuance of the coin, the mint mark, and also the legends E Pluribus Unum and In God We Trust. 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".^[2] The President Washington $1 Coin was first available to the public on February 15, 2007, in honor of Presidents' Day, which was observed on February 19.

The act had been introduced because of the failure of the Sacagawea $1 coin to gain wide-spread 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 will also educate the public about the history of the nation's presidents. Should the coin not catch on with the general public, the Mint is hoping that collectors will be as interested in the dollars as they were with the State Quarters, which generated about $4.6 billion in seigniorage between January 1999 and April 2005, according to a report by the Congressional Budget Office.

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 Sacagawea dollar coin must be issued for every three Presidential dollar coins. Furthermore, the Sacagawea design is required to continue after the Presidential 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."^[4] The one-third requirement was later eliminated by the Native American $1 Coin Act^[5], passed on September 20, 2007, and Sacagawea dollars were only 0.8% of the total dollar coins produced through November 2007.^[6]

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. However, the act does require 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.^[7]

The program's end

Even though it would take about 11 years to honor all the eligible presidents (George W. Bush is the 43rd president, counting Grover Cleveland twice; the act allows for a coin for each of Cleveland's two non-consecutive terms), the series may not run that long. The act specifies that for a president to be honored, the former president must have been dead for at least two years before issue; the series will end when all the then-eligible presidents have been honored. ^[8] If a president does not meet the requirements at the time he would be honored with a coin, then he would be skipped. The next president who served after him meeting the requirements will then be honored. Once the program has terminated, continuation of the series for non-honored presidents will require another Act of Congress. ^[9]

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. mottoes, "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).^[10] Ron Guth, of the Professional Coin Grading Service, estimates that 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 $40-$60, as of late March 8, 2007.^[11]^[12] 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." ^[13] ^[14] Counterfeit "Godless dollars" have been produced with the edge lettering filed off. These specimens are worth face value.^[15]

Also, John Adams Presidential Dollars have been discovered with plain edges. They are lesser in quantity than George Washington plain edge dollars, making them rarer, thus more expensive. Other errors on Adams dollars include doubled edge lettering and moderate die cracks.

In early March, a Colorado couple found a George Washington dollar coin missing stamping on both sides of the coin.^[16]

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 for greater than their face value, even though they represent roughly 50% of the minted population.^[17]

Coin details

Dollar coins will be issued bearing the likenesses of Presidents, as follows:^[18]

† — The act specifies that for a president to be honored he must have been deceased for no less than two years. (See #The program's end section above.)

First Spouse Program

The United States is honoring 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 that 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" because that could change before the end of the program.

The obverse of these coins will 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 will mint and issue First Spouse Gold Coins on the same schedule as the Presidential $1 Coins issued honoring the Presidents. Each coin will have 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 without a First Spouse, as Thomas Jefferson did, a gold coin will be 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 will be the coin depicting suffragette Alice Paul representing the era of the Chester A. Arthur presidency, as Arthur was a widower.

The act, as written, explicitly states that the first spouse coins will be released at the same time as their respective $1 President coins. ^[21] This means that it is entirely possible for a living first spouse to still be honored with a coin.

The United States Mint launched the first spouse coins officially at 12pm 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 will also produce and make available to the public bronze medal duplicates of the First Spouse Gold Coins which are not legal tender^[22]. A full listing of the coins is as follows:

† Chester A. Arthur's wife died before he succeeded to the presidency. Since there was no First Lady during his presidency, the act ^[23]explicitly states that Alice Paul, who was born during his term, will appear on this coin. Since Paul was never First Lady, then the coin will not have a served date.

‡ For this spouse to be honored, the respective president must qualify for a coin (see above).

Other provisions

In 2009, numismatic cents which have the metallic copper content of cents minted in 1909 will be issued for collectors.

After 2009, another redesigned reverse for the Lincoln cent will be 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 so may replace the Lincoln Memorial reverse in use since 1959.

Contents

Legislative history

Program details

The program's end

Minting errors

Coin details

First Spouse Program

Other provisions

See also

References

External links