I have been thinking about putting together an MS set of Eisenhower Dollars and have begun to research the set. I was reading through Red Book, just looking at the different varieties to get an idea what was in the set and I noticed something I hadn't seen before. It says that there was a 1976 silver clad issue from Philadelphia. Was there a super limited silver Ike minted in Philadelphia at the time or is this a misprint? I assume if there was, it's incredibly rare. Does anyone know about this?
I have a few 40% silver ikes from 1976. Came from the 3-piece sets directly from the mint during bicentennial issue AND they continued to make these for a number of years afterwards, but the date remained 1776 - 1976. There are a few years Denver made some silver Ike's in error, errors you should be cherrypicking for (1974-D & 1977-D)! As far as a silver issue from Philedelphia in the bicentennial year, I have never seen any (unless it is a recently discovered variety or error like Denver). BICENTENNIAL REVERSE (1975-1976) 1776-1976Circulation: 117,337,000 Proof: 4 Found in two varieties, with the tail of R in Dollar straight or curved. Four Proofs were struck without mintmarks. 1776-1976-D Circulation: 103,228,274 Proof: 0 Found in two varieties, with the tail of R in Dollar straight or curved. 1776-1976-S Circulation: 0 Proof: 6,995,180 Found in two varieties, with the tail of R in Dollar straight or curved. Struck only as Proofs and available originally only in Proof Sets. 1776-1976-S 40% SilverCirculation: est. 5,000,000 Proof: est. 4,000,000 Sold in 3-piece Bicentennial sets along with the Silver Clad Washington Quarters and Silver-Clad Kennedy Half-Dollars. Mintages are approximate - 11,000,000 sets were struck and sold until 1982, when sales were halted. These are all straight tails on the R in DOLLAR. Varieties: Bold lettering on Reverse Delicate lettering on Reverse Notes: [SIZE=-1]Four three-piece sets (Quarter Dollar, Half Dollar, and Dollar) were struck as Proofs but without mintmarks. One set went to then-President Gerald Ford, another to the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission administrator, John W. Warner, another to Treasury Secretary William E. Simon, and the other to Gerald Ford's appointment secretary, Anne L. Armstrong.[/SIZE]
I believe I read in the Authoritative Referernce on Eisenhower Dollars - 2nd ed that there was a pre bicentential cerimony in Washington DC where a Pre-release 1976-1976 40% silver dollar was presentented. When the dollars where released to the public someone realised that the one giving the year earlier had no S mintmark. I'll recheck this when I have the book handy.
Now that I have it in hand, The Authoritative Referernce on Eisenhower Dollars - 2nd ed states in August 1974 a small numbe4r of proof Bicentential dollors where produced at the Philadelphia mint for display at the ANA convention in Bal Harbour, FL. They had no mintmark and where reported to be 40% silver. 3 sets where displayed and reported to have been melted soon after.
Hmmm, that's interesting. I wonder why they would make special one's like that for the display. I did a little research online and the only think I really found was on a Coin Facts which paints a little different picture about those 4 coins. I'm not sure if it's accurate though:
