Eisenhower Dollars

History

Two events in 1969 set the coin in motion: Dwight Eisenhower's death in March and the Apollo 11 landing in July, which a House bill proposed to commemorate together on a new dollar. More than a year of argument followed, most of it over metal, with a circulating copper-nickel clad piece matching the post-1965 dime and quarter set against silver-clad collector strikings; Congress authorized both in the Bank Holding Company Act Amendments of 1970, Public Law 91-607, signed December 31, 1970. It was the first United States dollar coin since the Peace series ended in 1935. Frank Gasparro, Chief Engraver of the Mint, modeled both sides by virtue of his office rather than through a competition, and banks released the first business strikes on November 1, 1971. The series ran through 1978, interrupted in 1973, when Philadelphia and Denver output went only into Mint Sets, and again in 1975 and 1976, when the Apollo reverse gave way to a Bicentennial design.

Details

Gasparro designed the obverse for the entire run and the eagle reverse used in 1971-1974 and 1977-1978, while Dennis R. Williams designed the dual-dated 1776-1976 reverse. The circulating coin is clad throughout, 38.1 mm in diameter with a reeded edge, weighing 22.68 grams, with outer layers of 75% copper and 25% nickel bonded to a pure copper core. San Francisco also struck 40% silver-clad collector pieces dated 1971-S through 1976-S, containing roughly 0.316 troy ounce of silver, with reported weights ranging from 24.59 to 24.624 grams; no silver was struck for 1977 or 1978, when Philadelphia and Denver handled business strikes and San Francisco the proofs. Mint marks appear on the obverse beneath the bust and above the date, with Philadelphia unmarked, Denver using D and San Francisco using S. The lowest clad business strikes are the 1973-D at 2,000,000 and the Philadelphia 1973 at 2,000,056, while the Bicentennial issue accounted for 220,565,274 clad business strikes, 11,000,000 silver-clad pieces, 6,995,180 clad proofs and 4,000,000 silver proofs.

Features

The obverse carries a left-facing bust of Eisenhower with LIBERTY above, IN GOD WE TRUST in the field and the date below, replaced on Bicentennial pieces by the dual date 1776-1976. For 1971-1974 and 1977-1978 the reverse adapts the Apollo 11 mission insignia drawn by astronaut Michael Collins, an eagle descending on the lunar surface with an olive branch in its talons and Earth in the field behind. The Bicentennial reverse substitutes a Liberty Bell superimposed on the Moon, the work of Williams, then a 22-year-old sculpture student at the Columbus College of Art and Design, chosen from 884 entries in a competition announced in October 1973 that paid $5,000 for each selected design. The best known variety is the 1976 Type 1 and Type 2 reverse pair: Type 1 shows thick, broad, sans-serif lettering and was struck early, in 1975, while Type 2 lettering is thinner and serifed, a change Gasparro requested of Williams by telephone to improve striking quality. Philadelphia Type 1 pieces are the scarcer of the two and become difficult above MS-65.

Notable facts

• A unique 1976 No-S proof of the Type 2 reverse exists, described by PCGS as probably the rarest non-error modern coin.
• Of the four million dollars struck in 1973 for Mint Sets, only 1,769,258 sets were sold, leaving 230,742 Denver pieces sent to the smelter.
• The Bicentennial design contest was the first open coin design competition since the 1938 Jefferson nickel, with winners Jack Ahr, Seth Huntington and Dennis Williams announced on March 6, 1974.
• On August 12, 1974 the three winning Bicentennial designers were allowed to strike trial proof pieces at the Philadelphia Mint.
• The 1971-S Nixon Presentation Dollar, a proof obverse die paired with a low-relief reverse, was identified in 2013 by collector Andy Oskam, and an example brought $30,550 in February 2023.
• High-grade survivors are scarce across every date because of bulk Mint handling of a large, heavy coin, and as of September 2025 PCGS had graded just four 1971 dollars in MS67.
• The same 1970 act that authorized this dollar also authorized the General Services Administration sales of 2.8 million Carson City Morgan dollars held in Treasury vaults.