James Buchanan Dollar Coin

History

The Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005, signed December 22, 2005, amended 31 U.S.C. 5112 to create a rotating series honoring the presidents in the order in which they served, beginning in 2007. Congress acted after earlier modern dollar coins, including the Sacagawea dollar of 2000, failed to circulate widely, and after the 50 State Quarters program showed what changing designs could do for demand. The same law required the Mint to keep Sacagawea dollars at no fewer than one-third of total dollar production. Buchanan, the fifteenth president, received the fifteenth design, struck in 2010 alongside Fillmore, Pierce and Lincoln. Circulation striking of the series ran from 2007 through 2011, with later issues made for collectors only.

Details

Phebe Hemphill modeled the obverse and Don Everhart the reverse, the latter shared by every coin in the program. The coin weighs 8.10 grams, measures 26.50 mm across and 2.00 mm thick, and uses a manganese brass clad composition over a pure copper core: cladding of 77 percent copper, 12 percent zinc, 7 percent manganese and 4 percent nickel, for an overall alloy of 88.5 percent copper, 6 percent zinc, 3.5 percent manganese and 2 percent nickel. Philadelphia struck 36,820,000 and Denver 36,540,000, a spread of only about 280,000 coins between the two, while San Francisco produced 2,224,613 proofs. Satin finish coins from both business-strike mints appeared first in the eight-piece Presidential Dollar Uncirculated Set released April 13, 2010 at $18.95, then in the 28-piece Uncirculated Mint Set on July 15, 2010. The mint mark is incused on the edge rather than placed on either face.

Features

Hemphill adapted an 1856 portrait by William E. McMaster into bas relief and placed her initials on Buchanan's collar. JAMES BUCHANAN arcs across the top of the obverse, with IN GOD WE TRUST, 15th PRESIDENT and the dates 1857-1861 arranged below; the motto sits on the face because it was moved off the edge for all issues from 2009 onward. Everhart's reverse shows a low, upward-looking view of the Statue of Liberty offset to the left, a thin inner circle separating the figure from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, with the denomination given as $1. The edge carries thirteen stars, the date, the mint mark and E PLURIBUS UNUM in incused lettering, and LIBERTY appears nowhere on the coin, the Statue of Liberty reverse having been judged sufficient to convey the idea. The variety collectors track is edge orientation: Position A has the edge lettering upside down when the portrait faces up, Position B has it reading normally, and both exist for Philadelphia and Denver in business strike and satin finish.

Notable facts

• Because the design was struck for a single year at two business-strike mints with nearly identical output, the type has no scarce date, and any rarity is a matter of condition or edge position.
• PCGS assigns separate certification numbers to Position A and Position B coins but reports the same total mintage under both listings, so the published figures are not split by orientation.
• No strike-quality designation comparable to Full Bands or Full Steps exists for this type; the meaningful label distinctions are edge position, satin versus standard finish, and Deep Cameo or Ultra Cameo on proofs.
• A 2010-D graded MS69 brought $129 in November 2020, while a 2010-S in PR70DCAM sold for $53 through Heritage Auctions in December 2010.
• Top-grade proofs remain common enough that PR70 and PF70 examples trade for little more than a few dollars above issue cost.
• Large quantities of Presidential dollars entered Federal Reserve storage rather than circulation, a problem the Fed detailed in its report to Congress on low public uptake.