PRESIDENTIAL $1 COIN PROGRAM

The 'Presidential $1 Coin Program' is part of an Act of Congress, , 119 Stat. 2664 (December 22, 2005), which directs the United States Mint to produce $1 coins with engravings of U.S. Presidents on the obverse.

Contents

Legislative history

Program details

The program's end

Minting errors

Coin details

First Spouse Program

Other provisions

See also

Notes

References

Legislative history

Senate Bill 1047 was introduced on May 17, 2005, by Senator John E. Sununu with over 70 cosponsors.
It was reported favorably out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs without amendment on July 29, 2005. The Senate passed it with a technical amendment (S.AMDT.26760), by unanimous consent on November 18, 2005. The House of Representatives passed it (291-113) on December 13, 2005 (A similar bill, H.R. 902, had previously passed in the House, but it was the Senate bill which was passed by both chambers.) The engrossed bill was presented to President George W. Bush on December 15, 2005, and he signed it into law on December 22, 2005.

Program details

The program began on January 1 2007, and is similar to the State Quarter program in that it will not end until every eligible subject is honored. The program will issue coins featuring each of four Presidents per year on the obverse, issuing one for three months before moving on to the next President in chronological order by term in office. The U.S. Mint calls it the Presidential $1 Coin Program.^[1]
The reverse of the coins bears the Statue of Liberty, the inscription "$1" and the inscription "United States of America". Inscribed along the edge of the coin is the year of minting or issuance of the coin, and also the legends ''E Pluribus Unum'' and ''In God We Trust''. The legend "Liberty" is absent from the coin altogether, since the decision was made that the image of the Statue of Liberty on the reverse of the coin was sufficient to convey the message of liberty. The text of the act does not specify the color of the coins, but per the U.S. Mint "the specifications will be identical to those used for the current Golden dollar".^[2] The President Washington $1 Coin was first available to the public on February 15, 2007, in honor of Presidents' Day, which was observed on February 19.
This marks the first time since the St. Gaudens Double Eagle that the United States has issued a coin with edge lettering for circulation. Edge lettered coins date back to the 1790s. The process was started to discourage the shaving of gold coin edges, a practice which was used to cheat payees.
The act had been introduced because of the failure of the Sacagawea $1 coin to gain wide-spread circulation in the United States. The act sympathized with the need of the nation's private sector for a $1 coin and expected that the appeal of changing the design would increase the public demand for new coins (as the public generally responded well to the State Quarter program). The program will also educate the public about the history of the nation's Presidents. Should the coin not catch on with the general public, the Mint is hoping that collectors will be as interested in the dollars as they were with the State Quarters, which generated about $4.6 billion in seigniorage between January 1999 and April 2005, according to a report by the Congressional Budget Office.

Unlike the State Quarter program and the Westward Journey nickel series, which suspended the issuance of the current design during those programs, the act directs the Mint to continue to issue Sacagawea dollar coins during the Presidential series. At least one fourth of the dollar coins issued in each year of the program must be Sacagawea dollars. (The law says "one third", but that is of the total Presidential-series coins issued each year; that translates to one fourth of total production.) Furthermore, the Sacagawea design is required to continue after the Presidential program ends. These requirements were added at the behest of the North Dakota congressional delegation to ensure that Sacagawea, whom North Dakotans consider to be one of their own, ultimately remains on the dollar coin. However, Federal Reserve officials have indicated to Congress that "if the Presidential $1 Coin Program does not stimulate substantial transactional demand for dollar coins, the requirement that the Mint nonetheless produce Sacagawea dollars would result in costs to the taxpayer without any offsetting benefits." In that event, the Federal reserve indicates that it would "strongly recommend that Congress reassess the one-third requirement."^[3]
Previous versions of the act called for removing from circulation dollar coins issued prior to the Sacagawea dollar, most notably the Susan B. Anthony dollar, but the version of the act which became law merely directs the Secretary of the Treasury to study the matter and report back to Congress. However, the act does require Federal government agencies (including the United States Postal Service), businesses operating on Federal property, and Federally-funded transit systems to accept and dispense dollar coins by January 2008, and to post signs indicating that they do so.^[4]

The program's end

Even though it would take about 11 years to honor all the Presidents (George W. Bush is the 43rd President and the act allows for a coin for each of Grover Cleveland's two non-consecutive terms), the series may not run that long. The act specifies that in order for a President to be honored, he or she must have been dead for at least two years; the series will end when all the then-eligible Presidents have been honored.
^[5]
If a President does not meet the requirements at the time he would be honored with a coin then he is skipped and the next President who served after him meeting the requirements will be honored. Once the program has terminated, continuation of the series for non-honored Presidents will require another act of Congress.
^[6]
If Jimmy Carter survives until 2014, he will be skipped and Ronald Reagan will be the next honored. If all currently living Presidents survive to within two years of Reagan's coin, then his coin will end the program.

Minting errors

On March 8, 2007, the United States Mint announced that, on February 15, 2007, an unknown number of George Washington Presidential $1 Coins were released into circulation without their edge inscriptions (the U.S. mottoes, "In God we trust" and "E pluribus unum", the coin's mint mark, and its year of issuance; i.e. E PLURIBUS UNUM  •  IN GOD WE TRUST  •  2007   X, where X is either P or D).^[7] Ron Guth, of the Professional Coin Grading Service, estimates that at least 50,000 coins were released without the edge inscriptions. The first such coin discovered was sold on eBay for $600, while later coins were selling $40-$60, as of late March 8, 2007.^[8][9] Because one of the inscriptions missing from the coins is the motto "In God we trust", some articles on the subject have referred to them as "Godless dollars." ^[10]
[11] Counterfeit "Godless dollars" have been produced with the edge lettering filed off. These specimens are worth face value.^[12]
Also, John Adams Presidential Dollars have been discovered with plain edges. They are lesser in quantity that George Washington plain edge dollars, making them rarer, thus more expensive.
Other errors on Adams dollars include doubled edge lettering and moderate die cracks.
In early March, a Colorado couple found a George Washington dollar coin missing stamping on both sides of the coin.^[13]
Some of the coins have the words on the rim struck upside down (president face up). These are not minting errors, but rather a variation created by the minting process. Such "upside-down" coins have been sold on auction websites for greater than their face value, even though they represent roughly 50% of the minted population.^[14]

Coin details

Dollar coins will be issued bearing the likenesses of Presidents, as follows:^[15]

Release #	President #	President	Release date	Mintage figures	Design	in office
1	1	George Washington	February 15, 2007	340,360,000[16]	Washington dollar	1789 – 1797
2	2	John Adams	May 17, 2007	224,560,000[16]	John Adams dollar	1797 – 1801
3	3	Thomas Jefferson	August 16, 2007	203,610,000[16]	Jefferson dollar	1801 – 1809
4	4	James Madison	November 16, 2007	N/A	Madison dollar	1809 – 1817
5	5	James Monroe	2008	N/A	N/A	1817 – 1825
6	6	John Quincy Adams	2008	N/A	N/A	1825 – 1829
7	7	Andrew Jackson	2008	N/A	N/A	1829 – 1837
8	8	Martin Van Buren	2008	N/A	N/A	1837 – 1841
9	9	William Henry Harrison	2009	N/A	N/A	1841
10	10	John Tyler	2009	N/A	N/A	1841 – 1845
11	11	James K. Polk	2009	N/A	N/A	1845 – 1849
12	12	Zachary Taylor	2009	N/A	N/A	1849 – 1850
13	13	Millard Fillmore	2010	N/A	N/A	1850 – 1853
14	14	Franklin Pierce	2010	N/A	N/A	1853 – 1857
15	15	James Buchanan	2010	N/A	N/A	1857 – 1861
16	16	Abraham Lincoln	2010	N/A	N/A	1861 – 1865
17	17	Andrew Johnson	2011	N/A	N/A	1865 – 1869
18	18	Ulysses S. Grant	2011	N/A	N/A	1869 – 1877
19	19	Rutherford B. Hayes	2011	N/A	N/A	1877 – 1881
20	20	James A. Garfield	2011	N/A	N/A	1881
21	21	Chester A. Arthur	2012	N/A	N/A	1881 – 1885
22	22	Grover Cleveland	2012	N/A	N/A	1885 – 1889
23	23	Benjamin Harrison	2012	N/A	N/A	1889 – 1893
24	24	Grover Cleveland	2012	N/A	N/A	1893 – 1897
25	25	William McKinley	2013	N/A	N/A	1897 – 1901
26	26	Theodore Roosevelt	2013	N/A	N/A	1901 – 1909
27	27	William Howard Taft	2013	N/A	N/A	1909 – 1913
28	28	Woodrow Wilson	2013	N/A	N/A	1913 – 1921
29	29	Warren G. Harding	2014	N/A	N/A	1921 – 1923
30	30	Calvin Coolidge	2014	N/A	N/A	1923 – 1929
31	31	Herbert Hoover	2014	N/A	N/A	1929 – 1933
32	32	Franklin D. Roosevelt	2014	N/A	N/A	1933 – 1945
33	33	Harry S. Truman	2015	N/A	N/A	1945 – 1953
34	34	Dwight D. Eisenhower	2015	N/A	N/A	1953 – 1961
35	35	John F. Kennedy	2015	N/A	N/A	1961 – 1963
36	36	Lyndon B. Johnson	2015	N/A	N/A	1963 – 1969
37	37	Richard Nixon	2016	N/A	N/A	1969 – 1974
38	38	Gerald Ford	2016	N/A	N/A	1974 – 1977
†	39	Jimmy Carter				1977 – 1981
39	40	Ronald Reagan	2016	N/A	N/A	1981 – 1989
†	41	George H. W. Bush				1989 – 1993
†	42	Bill Clinton				1993 – 2001
†	43	George W. Bush				2001 – present

† — The act specifies that in order for a President to be honored he must have been deceased for no less than two years. (''See #The program's end section above.'')

First Spouse Program

The United States is honoring the first spouses of each of the Presidents honored by the Presidential $1 Coin Act by issuing half-ounce $10 gold coins featuring their images, in the order that they served as first spouse, beginning in 2007. To date, all first spouses have been women (First Ladies), but the law uses the term "First Spouse" because that could change before the end of the program.
The obverse of these coins will feature portraits of the Nation’s First Spouses, their names, the dates and order of their terms as first spouse, as well as the year of minting or issuance, and the words "In God We Trust" and "Liberty." The United States Mint will mint and issue First Spouse Gold Coins on the same schedule as the Presidential $1 Coins issued honoring the Presidents. Each coin will have a unique reverse design featuring an image emblematic of that spouse’s life and work, as well as the words "The United States of America," "E Pluribus Unum," "$10," "1/2 oz.," and ".9999 Fine Gold."
When a President served without a First Spouse, as Thomas Jefferson did, a gold coin will be issued bearing an obverse image emblematic of Liberty as depicted on a circulating coin of that era, and bearing a reverse image emblematic of themes of that President.
The act, as written, explicitly states that the first spouse coins will be released at the same time as their respective $1 President coins. ^[19]
This means that it is entirely possible for a living first spouse to still be honored with a coin.
It is theoretically possible for both Bill and Hillary Clinton to have both a first spouse coin, and a presidential one, were Hillary to be elected, and both die before the end of the program.
The United States Mint launched the first spouse coins officially at 12pm EDT on June 19, 2007.
They provided two versions of the coin: a proof version for $429.95 and an uncirculated version for $410.95.
The United States Mint will also produce and make available to the public bronze medal duplicates of the First Spouse Gold Coins which are not legal tender. A full listing of the coins is as follows:

Release #	Spouse #	Name	Release date	Mintage figures	Front/Obverse Design	Reverse Design	Dates Served
1	1	Martha Washington	June 19, 2007	N/A			1789 - 1797
2	2	Abigail Adams	June 19, 2007	N/A			1797 - 1801
3	3	Thomas Jefferson’s Liberty	August 30, 2007	N/A			1801 - 1809
4	4	Dolley Madison	2007	N/A			1809 - 1817
5	5	Elizabeth Monroe	2008	N/A	N/A	N/A	1817 - 1825
6	6	Louisa Adams	2008	N/A	N/A	N/A	1825 - 1829
7	7	Andrew Jackson’s Liberty	2008	N/A	N/A	N/A	1829 - 1837
8	8	Martin Van Buren’s Liberty	2008	N/A	N/A	N/A	1837 - 1841
9	9	Anna Harrison	2009	N/A	N/A	N/A	1841
10	10	Letitia Tyler	2009	N/A	N/A	N/A	1841 - 1842
10A	10A	Julia Tyler	2009	N/A	N/A	N/A	1844 - 1845
11	11	Sarah Polk	2009	N/A	N/A	N/A	1845 - 1849
12	12	Margaret Taylor	2009	N/A	N/A	N/A	1849 - 1850
13	13	Abigail Fillmore	2010	N/A	N/A	N/A	1850 - 1853
14	14	Jane Pierce	2010	N/A	N/A	N/A	1853 - 1857
15	15	James Buchanan’s Liberty	2010	N/A	N/A	N/A	1857 - 1861
16	16	Mary Todd Lincoln	2010	N/A	N/A	N/A	1861 - 1865
17	17	Eliza Johnson	2011	N/A	N/A	N/A	1865 - 1869
18	18	Julia Grant	2011	N/A	N/A	N/A	1869 - 1877
19	19	Lucy Hayes	2011	N/A	N/A	N/A	1877 - 1881
20	20	Lucretia Garfield	2011	N/A	N/A	N/A	1881
21	21	Alice Paul [20]	2012	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A †
22	22	Frances Cleveland	2012	N/A	N/A	N/A	1886 - 1889
23	23	Caroline Harrison	2012	N/A	N/A	N/A	1889 - 1893
24	24	Frances Cleveland	2012	N/A	N/A	N/A	1893 - 1897
25	25	Ida McKinley	2013	N/A	N/A	N/A	1897 - 1901
26	26	Edith Roosevelt	2013	N/A	N/A	N/A	1901 - 1909
27	27	Helen Taft	2013	N/A	N/A	N/A	1909 - 1913
28	28	Ellen Wilson	2013	N/A	N/A	N/A	1913 - 1914
28A	28A	Edith Wilson	2013	N/A	N/A	N/A	1915 - 1921
29	29	Florence Harding	2014	N/A	N/A	N/A	1921 - 1923
30	30	Grace Coolidge	2014	N/A	N/A	N/A	1923 - 1929
31	31	Lou Hoover	2014	N/A	N/A	N/A	1929 - 1933
32	32	Eleanor Roosevelt	2014	N/A	N/A	N/A	1933 - 1945
33	33	Bess Truman	2015	N/A	N/A	N/A	1945 - 1953
34	34	Mamie Eisenhower	2015	N/A	N/A	N/A	1953 - 1961
35	35	Jacqueline Kennedy	2015	N/A	N/A	N/A	1961 - 1963
36	36	Lady Bird Johnson	2015	N/A	N/A	N/A	1963 - 1969
37	37	Pat Nixon	2016	N/A	N/A	N/A	1969 - 1974
38	38	Elizabeth Ford	2016	N/A	N/A	N/A	1974 - 1977
‡	39	Rosalynn Smith Carter	‡				1977 - 1981
39	40	Nancy Davis Reagan	2016	N/A	N/A	N/A	1981 - 1989[21]
‡	41	Barbara Bush	‡				1989 - 1993
‡	42	Hillary Rodham Clinton	‡				1993 - 2001
‡	43	Laura Bush	‡				2001 - present

† — The act ²⁰explicitly states that Alice Paul will appear on the coin issued under the first spouse program despite President Arthur's being a widower prior to being president. Since Paul was never Arthur's spouse, then the coin will not have a served date.
‡ — In order for this spouse to be honored, the respective president must qualify for a coin (see above).

Other provisions

The act also has two other provisions, for:

★ Issuance of a $50 bullion coin reproducing the 1913 Buffalo nickel designed by James Earle Fraser.

★ Redesign of the reverse of the Lincoln cent in 2009 to show four different scenes from Abraham Lincoln's life in honor of the bicentennial of his birth. These four scenes include:

★ # his birth and early childhood in Kentucky;

★ # his formative years in Indiana;

★ # his professional life in Illinois; and

★ # his presidency in Washington, D.C.
In 2009, numismatic cents which have the metallic copper content of cents minted in 1909 will be issued for collectors.
After 2009, yet another redesigned reverse for the Lincoln cent is supposed to be minted; this "shall bear an image emblematic of President Lincoln's preservation of the United States of America as a single and united country," and so may replace the Lincoln Memorial reverse in use since 1959. However, it could be argued that the Lincoln Memorial itself meets the requirements of the Act through its design elements (mainly the 36 columns representing the states at his death and the names of all 48 states when it was constructed, and currently, all 50 states), so it is theoretically possible that the Lincoln Memorial reverse could return.

See also

★ Mint-made errors

Notes

1. http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/coin/index.cfm
2. http://www.usmint.gov/downloads/Whats_New/News_Views/2006-04.pdf
3. http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/testimony/2006/20060719/default.htm
4. http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/coin/index.cfm?action=RemoveBarrier
5. 31 USC § 5112 (n)(2)(E):

6. 31 USC § 5112(n)(8):

7. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/3/7/143725.shtml?s=ic
8. ''Canadian Press:'' U.S. Mint goof: Unknown number of new dollar coins missing 'In God We Trust'
9. http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?action=press_release&ID=755
10. CBS News: "Godless" Dollar Coins Slip Through Mint
11. Associated Press: Dollar Coins Missing 'In God We Trust'
12. Collectors report fake 'Godless' dollars
13. Colo. couple find faceless dollar coin
14. Washington Dollar Errors discusses a variety of actual and rumored minting errors.
15. http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/coin/index.cfm?action=schedule
16. http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/coin_production/index.cfm?action=production_figures&presYear=2007#starthere
17. http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/coin_production/index.cfm?action=production_figures&presYear=2007#starthere
18. http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/coin_production/index.cfm?action=production_figures&presYear=2007#starthere
19. 31 USC § 5112 (o)(5)(A) says:

20. Alice Paul is explicitly specified in 31 USC § 5112 (o)(D)(ii)
21. Numismatist Magazine, February 2007, Volume 120, Number 2, Presidential Spouses, p. 29, Editor-in-Chief, Barbara J. Gregory

References

★ U.S. Mint Presidential $1 Coin Act page

★ U.S. Mint First Spouse Program page

★

★ Senate Bill 1047 at Thomas.loc.gov.

★ Full Text (PDF) at from the United States Government Printing Office

★ Report by the Congressional Budget Office on the cost of H.R. 902 (the companion to S. 1047), which includes information on seigniorage for the State Quarter program. April 12, 2005

★ Anderson, Gordon T. "Congress tries again for a dollar coin". CNN/Money. April 28, 2005

★ Press release, Nov. 21, 2005: Legislation to Redesign Lincoln Penny Passes Senate; Creates Presidential $1 Coin Program Similar to 50 State Quarters Program

★ Information on the Presidential Dollar Coin Program

★ Information on the Washington Dollar Errors