President George H. W. Bush dollar coin

I just realized I have the whole set of Presidential dollars in proof as a result of getting the silver proof set every year. So my OCD is gonna make me buy George Herbert Walker Bush now if they offer one in proof. They got me the same way in 1999 with Suzy B Anthony. Collecting is an affliction.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Another problem is the very low relief used on coins today, it is very difficult to get a good design with such relief. In the past the mint engravers were trained as die engravers, die sinkers, ans had training in sculpture. Todays artist infusion program stresses on two dimensional artistry and computer graphics.

That's true, I'm sure they were hoping for a runaway interest in collecting all the different dollar designs just as they had the quarters, with the much high seigniorage they would have received from the dollars. What they forgot was that people got interested in the different quarter designs because one, it was new!. Except for the elderly no one really remembers having seen different designs on their pocket change coins (In uncirculated condition) Two, you have to SEE the new designs to get interested in them. The quarters were in everyday use, so the people saw them and got interested.

The dollar coins were NOT in general circulation and the general public never saw the changing designs, so no collecting interest developed among the general public. If the dollar not had been withdrawn when the Sac dollar was first introduced the people would most likely have become accustomed to using the dollar coin and the President dollar series would have been much more successful.