Eisenhower Dollar: The Nation’s first Non-Silver Dollar Coin

Issued by the US government from 1971 to 1978, the Eisenhower Dollar was a $1 coin struck in memory of the nation’s 34th President, Dwight D. Eisenhower who passed away in 1969. The coin also served to commemorate the Apollo 11 landing of the first man on the moon in the same year. It has been minted over an 8-year period and apart from being circulated in casinos and saved-up in memory of the man.

1977-S Proof Eisenhower Dollar

The Eisenhower Dollar coins didn’t see much circulation and was eventually replaced by the even less circulated Susan B. Anthony dollar in 1979 which remained the country’s dollar coin until 1999.

Though meant to commemorate the late President, the Eisenhower dollar was a monetized legal tender of the times and not a commemorative coin. As such, it should not be confused with the silver Eisenhower Commemorative Dollar minted and released in 1990 to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of the late President and priced for coin collectors. Nor should it be mistaken for any of the legal tender coins released under the Presidential $1 Coin Program of the US Mint as mandated by the US Congress in 2005 to issue dollar coins each featuring 4 presidents every year until all of its nation’s presidents have been honored.

History

The US Coinage Act of 1965 eliminated the use of silver from US coins circulated as legal tender as well as forbidding the minting of silver dollar coins for the next five years. By the end of the prescription period, the US Congress approved in December 1070 the minting of a new dollar coin for monetized circulation with an eye to commemorating Dwight D. Eisenhower who died in 1969 while celebrating the first landing on the moon that same year. Hence, the Eisenhower dollar coin was minted in 1971.

Before that, the US dollar coin had been the silver (90%) Peace Dollar last minted in 1935 and was first minted in 1921 up to 1928 to commemorate the end of the First World War. It took a good half a century for the dollar coin to have to a fresh look and the Eisenhower dollar coin was the one to do it.
The coin’s obverse and reverse sides were designed by Chief Engraver Frank Gasparro of the US Mint office.

Coin Description

Weighing 22.68g with a 38.1mm diameter and a 2.58mm thickness, the Eisenhower Dollar was the first US dollar coin not to use silver. It had a copper-nickel composition cast in a pure copper core coated with a 75% copper 25% nickel outer layer. It was one of the largest and heaviest dollar coins ever issued and as such, had not been as friendly to be carried around with the other coins in your pant wallet.

The dollar paper bill remained more popular and the dollar coin’s 9-year circulation was replaced by a smaller but just as unpopular Susan B. Anthony dollar coin that enjoyed a longer 20 years of circulation.

The reeded-edge coin depicts General/President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s profile in relief with “In God We Trust” inscribed on the obverse surrounded by the year of minting and the “Liberty” word on a circumferential periphery of the coin. The reverse contains the Apollo 11 mission insignia depicting the American bald eagle carrying an olive branch and landing on the lunar surface while a stylized earth adorns the background with the words "One Dollar." And "United States of America," "E Pluribus Unum," inscribed circumferentially.

A Favorite among Modern Coin Collectors

It’s interesting to note that while the Eisenhower Dollar coin had not been popular among the masses due to its size and weight as a legal tender, the same traits made it popular among coin collectors. Between its first year of release and 1976, the coin was struck for collectors with special silver-copper collector’s edition weighing a heftier 24.59g specially minted by the San Francisco Mint. It was more a silver clad coin with only an aggregate 40% silver rather than a solid silver core used in earlier dollar coins like the 90% silver Peace Dollar that preceded it.

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