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Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 4374895, member: 101855"]One of our members, [USER=82381]@Ike Skywalker[/USER], asked if I might write a piece about the Eisenhower Dollar. I have never been a big Ike Dollar collector. I have the clad Proof sets, and some certified coins for my NGC Registry set, but that is about it. I didn’t end up keeping my “Blue” and “Brown” Ikes. I sold them when I was a dealer. At any rate, at the risk of leaving something out of which the experts and Ike Dollar enthusiasts consider important, here goes.       In March of 1969 General and former president Dwight David Eisenhower died. In July of the same year, two of three the Apollo 11 astronauts became the first men to step foot on the moon. To mark those events, the United States Congress considered ways to commemorate them on a coin.       The authorization of a commemorative coin was still off the table. Problems with the previous series of commemoratives still cast a shadow over those proposals. The cent through the quarter were considered to be too small to provide an appropriate design. The Kennedy Half Dollar had only been in circulation for five years and was not up for a new design.       That left the dollar coin, a denomination that had not been issued since 1935. There had been silver dollars produced at the Denver Mint in 1964, but all of those coins were melted; none of them were released. Now the price of silver had gone up so much that a standard silver dollar was out of the question. If the coin were to made for circulation, it would have to be on copper-nickel clad planchets like other coins that had previously been made of silver.       Representative Florence Dwyer, who was a Republican representative from New Jersey, suggested that Dwight Eisenhower should appear on the coin. At a time when bipartisanship was still a force in politics, Missouri Representative Leonor Sullivan, a Democrat, agreed. She stated that it was only fair for the Republicans to get “equal time” since John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, was on the half dollar.       The Joint Commission on Coinage, which included representatives from the Executive Branch and Congress drew up a proposal. It called for an Eisenhower Dollar that did not contain silver along with the elimination of silver from the half dollar. In addition, it also called for the transfer of “rare silver dollars” from the Treasury Department to the General Service Administration so that they could be sold. Collectors now call these coins, which are best known for the Carson City silver dollars that were in the hoard, “GSA dollars.”       The House had hoped to fast track the bill without amendments, but that procedural vote failed. Iowa representative, Harold Gross, a Republican, objected to the fact that the coin contained no silver. He argued that the Congress would be doing no favors to memory of President Eisenhower if the coin honoring him were to be made of “scrap metal.”       The House voted on the coinage legislation on October 14, 1969, which was Eisenhower’s birthday. Senate also voted on the bill, but passed it with provisions that called for the coin to contain silver. Iowa Senator James McClure stated that, "It is somehow beneath the dignity of a great president like General Eisenhower to withhold silver from the coin." Finally, the lawmakers reached a compromise. The coins that were made for general circulation would be copper-nickel clad pieces, but there would also be collector coins that would be struck on 40% silver clad planches.       In late October, Texas representative, Robert Casey, introduced legislation that the coin would honor Dwight Eisenhower and the Apollo moon landing. Ultimately that provision was merged into the enabling legislation. After more legislative wrangling, the bill which included the Eisenhower Dollar, the elimination of silver from the half dollar and the transfer of the silver dollars to the GSA was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in late December 1970. Design and Production       Chief Mint Engraver, Gilroy Roberts, had complete responsibility for designing the Eisenhower Dollar. The coin featured a profile view of Eisenhower facing left. The reverse design was taken from the mission insignia patch, designed by astronaut Michael Collins, minus the name of the mission. [ATTACH=full]1103942[/ATTACH]       Given the size of the coin, 38.1 mm, and the hardness of the copper-nickel alloy, Roberts faced considerable technical challenges. It took 170 tons of pressure to strike the clad Ike Dollars, and die life was limited to 100 to 200 thousand pieces. Roberts was continually modifying the relief of the design to get the proper balance between the level of detail and die life longevity. Since die longevity was not an issue with the Proof and Uncirculated silver coins, they were struck in higher relief. The silver coins were sold for more than their face value, and earned a profit for the mint’s operations. [ATTACH=full]1103943[/ATTACH] Type 1 [ATTACH=full]1103944[/ATTACH] Type 2 [ATTACH=full]1103945[/ATTACH] Type 3 [ATTACH=full]1103948[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1103949[/ATTACH] A 1972 business strike clad Ike Dollar.       Roberts’ efforts to modify the design were most obvious in 1972. The best place to look when one is trying to assign the types is at the earth which appears above the eagle’s left wing. The Type I variety, earth has three islands, Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola that look like blobs below the Florida peninsula. On the Type II, the islands are lying too far to the southwest. The Type III islands are closer to reality. This type would appear on the reverse of the coin for the rest of the series.       Excluding some off-metal strikes (e.g. 1974-D coins struck on silver clad planchets), the 1972 Type II dollars are the rarest coins in the set. The reverse die that was used to strike these coins had been made to strike Proof coins. Somehow it was mounted on the Philadelphia Mint business coin press and an estimated 40,000 or fewer coins were struck. Heritage has auctioned two of these coins in the PCGS MS-66 grade. The prices realized were $9,988 in January 2016 and $7,638 in October of the same year. Prices for lower grade pieces are far more reasonable. For example certified MS-63 graded coins have frequently sold in the $60 to $80 range.       The mintages were quite high in 1971 and ’72. Collectors and the general pubic wanted an example of the new but for the wrong reason. Like the Kennedy Half Dollar, the coin did not circulate. People simply acquired the coins and held them. One of the reasons stemmed back to the same problem that had made silver dollars unpopular for generations. The coins were bulky and heavy and no fun to carry around. In addition, there was no space in most cash registers and drawers to put them. Cashiers found them to be nuisance. [ATTACH=full]1103950[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1103951[/ATTACH] A 1972 Silver Proof Ike Dollar. These are also called "Brown Ikes" because the mint packaged in brown slip cases. The Uncirculated "Blue Ikes" came in blue envelopes.       By 1973 the Federal Reserve banks had more dollars coins than they needed. As a result, the mint system limited its production of Eisenhower Dollars to mint sets and the silver issues. The 1973 Ike Dollars immediately became the key date in the series and prices soared. At one time the 1973 silver Proof Ike Dollar was on the Graysheet for more than $250.00. Recently I sold one to a dealer for $15.       In 1974, regular production of the Ike Dollar resumed, but change was in the horizon. The United States was preparing for a big birthday party, Continued, next message[/QUOTE]

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