I don't collect these but I sure wonder why it looks like a pic of the world on the back of these coins. Also on the Susan B. Anthony it has a similar design. Top coin above the eagle, anyone know what it means? :bow:
It commemorates man's landing on the moon in 1969. The eagle represents the first moon lander which was called "Eagle." If you notice, the view is from the moon looking back toward the earth. Both the event and the coin are underappreciated.
I think most dollars after the silver dollars are underappreciated. The two that take the brunt of being underappreciated are the Ike and the Susan B. Anthony. Not sure of the reason why but it is what it is, maybe someone else will chime in and fill in the reason. :bow:
I agree that the Ikes are very underappreciated. One can say unloved. But the Ike series offers a lot of variety, including silver coins. True, it's 40% silver content, but that's still a silver dollar and has a different luster than the clad coins. In addition to the metal content differences, there's Proof vs. Mint State silver and also bicentennial designs. And there's the 3 different reverse varieties for 1972 Ikes. So there's a lot going for it. Looking back on this coin, I'm glad they minted it. We had to do something to commemorate the moon landing. And since Ike died in 1969, they combined a commemorative to him with the moon landing theme. Not bad, since Ike did establish NASA. So, at least the obverse and reverse combination makes sense. We just had the 40th anniversary of the moon landing and no peep from the US about a commemorative. Would have been nice to see a new reverse on the Kennedy half, since Kennedy set the goal to land on the moon. In a time when a lot of our coins are designed by committee, I'm glad to see any successes. In time, the Ike dollar will have its day. In the meantime, scoop up high quality examples of circulation strikes. These are condition rarities that are very underappreciated. JMHO
