When the Sac came out I was kind of excited. The dollar coin for me is the prize of the hobby in many ways. I love love them all even the SBA! When I first saw the Sac I thought it looked cool, just because it was different. After awhile the color got old and the obverse seemed uninspiring. I had one last hope in 2000. That the mint would issue a 90% silver Sac in the Silver proof set. Alas they did not! This really bothered me. If a silver set is issued the dollar coin must be silver. The Sac would have looked nice in silver Why would the mint do this? For collectors a new Silver dollar would be a great thing. Now they have a new plan which I have not heard much news on lately. No matter what they do a new dollar coin needs to be issued as silver for the silver proof set. In 2001 they issued the buffalo Silver dollar, commerative. If they can do that why not a Silver Sac? If for some stupid reason they don't want to issue a Silver dollar in the silver set, maybe it's because of the extra state quarters, why not issue one ala cart? What are everybodies thought on this, and will the mint ever do the right thing? I hope the Sac goes. This coin could never replace the $1 green back.
I understand your point - but what you are asking about is kind of like asking them to make the cent and nickel in silver too. I think the rule of thumb is this - if the coin used to circulate in silver, they will strike it in silver now. And rather obviously - the Sacky never circulated as a silver coin.
Yeah but all dollar coins were Silver so....? The $1 donomination was always Silver until we changed to clad so the dollar should remain that way. Under that argument no state quarter should be silver either since the actual coin was never silver.
But they are not State Quarters - they are Washington quarters. SQ is just a catchy name used for them. If the dollar coin were still the same basic size as it was in days gone by and was just another clad coin like the Ike dollar was - then yes - they probably would strike them in silver. But they are not - so they do not. The modern dollar coin is a new coin entirely, new size, new alloy. And no matter how much you, me or anybody else wishes the Mint would do what we would like to see - they will not. They will only do what the law provides - the law as written by Congress. And since the law dictates which coins in the silver Proof set will be struck in silver - only those coins will be struck in silver. I'm afraid that's just the way it is
Can they make one ala cart? These horrible Commemorative's are all Silver. Make a real Silver dollar and not the Eagle!
Just to deviate ever so slightly but backing up GD's comments none the less. The UK £1 used to be gold but why would that automatically make it obvious that the new £1 coins (since '83) gold? (Funnily enough they do make silver versions of these though!)
GD said that the smaller dollars were a break off from the bigger versions (particularly the Sac) and therefore why should it be made of silver if it doesn't resemble an old Silver dollar? I was drawing the allusion that the old sovereigns (formerly circulating £1 coins until 1932) were totally different to the new base metal £1 coins introduced in 1983 so therefore why would anyone expect them to make the new £1 coins of of gold? Basically it was adding another dimension to GD's comments and backing up his argument by using a similar example. The answer is of course neither coin (despite having the same face value as the older versions) has any history of being in intrinsic metals or of even being related design wise with the older specimens apart from the face value. The face value is the only thing the Sac dollar has in common with the Morgan/Peace/Ike, the face value is the only thing the £1 coin has in common with the sovereign. There are probably a thousand and one other examples.
Ok I see your point. Let me ask you though, would you be more likely to buy a silver Sacky than the clad from the the mint?
The question is meaningless - the mint did not produce silver Sackys in the past, is not producing silver Sackys in the present, and has no intention of producing silver Sackys in the future.
Ok you guys have shredded the newbie I bow down on my assumption any dollar coin made for circulation should have a silver version.
No reason to bow down on anything my friend - and nobody is trying to shred you. Just about all of us here would like very much to see the same things you want to see - but it's just not gonna happen. Before it could happen - Congress would have to write new laws dictating what coins would be in the silver Proof sets. That's why it won't happen.
GD I remember reading that. I just think it's stupid. Quit making all those poor commeratives and make another silver dollar! I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir I just want to vent.
Hey bullionboy, The five cent denomination used to be silver too. No chance of that happenning again, I suppose. Don't get discouraged when talking with us. These folks are usually pretty civil. Oh yeah. Don't ever bow down to anyone. Once you start, you won't be able to stop, and everybody will expect you to keep doing it.
If I may throw a wrench in the works. With nothing but logic on my side, the reason Suzies and Sacs weren't/aren't struck in silver was because you couldn't put 0.77344 oz. of silver into a coin that small. Granted, 40% silver Ikes didn't have that much silver (0.3161, according to the Red Book). Then, again, Ike dollars aren't properly referred to as silver dollars, either. The fractional coins struck in silver in the silver proof sets contain the same amount of silver they had when silver circulated regularly. Yes, I agree the nickel *could* be struck in 35% silver, just like the war nickels were. Which brings up, wouldn't it have been cool to have a 2003 (or earlier) proof Jefferson with the big S above Monticello? Just my thoughts, Jerry
I like the SAC's size and color...however, any success with a dollar coin is pretty much going to be a failure as long as the government spends over $500 million per year printing dollar bills. Of course the life of the average dollar bill lasts around 16 months whereas your average dollar coin would last at least 50 years. But then again, that makes too much sense so we might as well spend our tax dollars on the paper $1 dollar. We discussed this previously and unfortunately, it looks like the mint is going to come out with 4 differant Presidential coins per year. That means everybody from Millard Fillmore to Bill Clinton will soon grace our dollar coins...which will fail like the IKE, SBA, and SAC dollar coins. You can't have both the $1 paper dollar and the dollar coin. Even though dollar coins would be great for vending machines (which constantly spit wrinkled dollar bills back at yours truly) and save tax payers at over $500 million per year...your average American wouldn't get it. Hell, the goverment spent $20 million just educating the public about changes to the $20 bill! A dollar coin with no paper will be a revolt in the streets! I am not suggesting we change all bills. Just the $1 bill and replace it with this past suggested design... http://home.earthlink.net/~smalldollars/dollar/2000ml.html
You got more than enough replies on why the Sacagawea Dollar will not appear in silver. However, some were struck in gold, and carried about a space shuttle. In towns with strong urban transport priced at or near $1 per ride -- such as Cleveland, Ohio, and Albuquerque, New Mexico -- Sackies and Suzies do their share of work. It has been said often that no circulating dollar coin can be successful in America, as long as we have paper dollars. Canada got rid of their paper $1 bills. Our stumbling block has been the printer's union at the BEP. All of that is fine. The fact is that generally, most collectors -- and most people, it seems -- feel that of all the metals, silver strikes up the best. Michael
