Eisenhower dollars
The Eisenhower Dollar is a 1 dollar - coin , issued from 1971 to 1978 American US from the Mint.
Appearance
The coin features the portrait of the 34th US President Dwight D. Eisenhower (who died in 1969) on the obverse and the Apollo 11 mission emblem on the reverse , commemorating the first manned moon landing in the same year. The edge of the coin is fluted. On the front, in addition to the words "LIBERTY" (freedom) and the year of issue, the words " IN GOD WE TRUST " (In God we trust), a motto of the United States, are embossed. On the back, next to the words "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and the face value "ONE DOLLAR", there is also the Latin saying " E PLURIBUS UNUM " ("From many one"). Deviating from the original Apollo 11 emblem, 13 stars were added to symbolize the 13 founding states. The overall design of the coin comes from Frank Gasparro, who was Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1965 to 1981.
In 1979 the Eisenhower dollar was replaced by the smaller Susan B. Anthony dollar . This coin also shows the moon landing motif on the reverse.
composition
The coin consists of three layers of metal or alloys . Two layers of cupronickel (75% Cu, 25% Ni) with a layer of pure copper in between . The copper layer is visible as a red line on the edge. The thickness of the coin is 2.58 mm. With a diameter of 38.1 mm and a weight of 22.68 g, the coin was rather unwieldy and was rarely used in daily payment transactions.
The "TYPE II" coin
A modified version of the coin was issued between 1975 and 1976 to mark the US 200th anniversary. The so-called "Bicentennial" or "Type II". Instead of the year of issue, the date 1776 - 1976 was stamped here. On the back the Liberty Bell and the surface of the moon are depicted as an allegory .
As a collector's item
According to the professional collector's criteria "date of issue" and "mark of the mint", none of the Eisenhower dollars (with very few exceptions) is rare or particularly valuable. Currently (2019) complete sets can be purchased without any problems. For collectors, a silver version of the coin was minted and issued until 1976, but it never came into circulation as a regular means of payment. This coin is also mainly traded on collectors' exchanges via the silver price. The numismatist Charles Morgan said of the Eisenhower Dollar in 2012: "It stands today as the greatest achievement in clad coinage in US history. It was the most technically challenging coin ever attempted ... Researching the Eisenhower Dollar is vital for numismatic historians who want to understand what the post-silver era was like. The Eisenhower Dollar was a noble failure. In this respect, it truly is a perfect collectible coin. "
It is the greatest achievement in the minting of coins in the United States today. It was the most technically challenging coin ever tried ... Researching the Eisenhower dollar is vital for numismatic historians who want to understand what the post-silver era was like. The Eisenhower dollar was a noble failure. In that regard, it really is a perfect collector's coin.
Trivia
The reverse of the coin, based on astronaut Michael Collins' design for the Apollo 11 mission emblem, encountered opposition from some government agencies who preferred the more formal, heraldic eagle. The American numismatic historian and coin dealer Q. David Bowers considers Frank Gasparro's adherence to his design to be a "stroke of genius that enables the underutilized dollar to remember both Eisenhower and the moon mission".
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Charles Morgan: When dealing with Eisenhower Dollars, grade is everything . ( coinweek.com [accessed July 13, 2019]).
- ↑ Ezerman, Rob; Golan, David; Vaile, Brian; Hoop, Gary D .; Eassa, Ehab; Hicks, Herbert; Davis, Larry (July 2007) .: 1971-D Eisenhower dollar friendly eagle pattern . In: American Numismatic Association (Ed.): The Numismatist. S. 57 .
- ↑ Quentin David Bowers (1993): Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia . Ed .: Wolfeboro. ISBN 0-943161-48-7 , pp. 2851 .