Presidential Dollar Coins - Golden $1 President Coins

The purpose of the Presidential Dollar Coin Program was to honor each US President by depicting them on a new one dollar coin. The planning of this program first began on May 17, 2005 when US Senator John E. Sununu (R-New Hampshire) introduced the idea in Senate Bill 1047. The bill was sent to the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, where on July 29, 2005, it was deemed favorable without amendment. Once this was done, the Senate voted to approve it on November 18, 2005 and the House of Representatives passed it shortly later on December 13, 2005. Two days later, it was then sent to US President George W. Bush and then signed the "Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005" into law on December 22, 2005.

This new program started on January 1st, 2007. The design on the obverse (front side or heads side) of the Presidential dollar coins depicted US President George Washington and the reverse (back side or tails side) of the coin depicted a common Statue of Liberty design that would be used on all of the coins throughout the series. Each year, 4 different US Presidents would be depicted on the coins and the new design would be released around every 3 months. The Presidents would be depicted in the order that they were inaugurated into their term in office.

The reverse of the dollar coin would depict the Statue of Liberty, which was designed by US Mint Engraver and Sculptor Don Everhart (who also designed and engraved a number of other US President portraits for this series). Also depicted on the back is "$1" and the words "UNITED STATE OF AMERICA" along the rim. The obverse of the coin depicts a portrait of a US President with their name above their relief portrait along the upper rim. Along the lower rim depicts the words "#th PRESIDENT" (whatever number president they were), and the date range in years that they served in office. The words typically found on US Coinage, "LIBERTY", was noticeably absent on this coin. It was decided that the Statue of Liberty was sufficient enough to symbolize "LIBERTY".

The edge of the coin itself had words on it. It was the first time an official US coin had lettering on the edge since 1933 when the Saint Gaudens Gold Double Eagle was last minted. The words on the edge included 13 stars (★), the year of mintage and the mintmark. In addition, our motto "E PLURIBUS UNUM" was depicted. Also, the words "IN GOD WE TRUST" was first depicted on the edge of the coin between 2007-2008. In 2009, "IN GOD WE TRUST" was moved to the obverse of the coin along the bottom rim and before the President number. So if you were looking for many of these words and information about the coin, take a quick look at the edge of the coin!

Location of lettering, year and mintmark on Presidential Dollar Coin
Photo showing location of lettering, year and mintmark location on the edge of the Presidential Dollar Coins.



Although the bill authorizing the Presidential $1 Coins did not specify a color, it did state that the specifications should be the same used on the current Golden Dollar. At the time, this would be known as the Sacagawea Golden Dollar. Due to the failure of the Susan B. Anthony dollar, due to it's size and color being similar to the US Quarter Dollar, the newer Sacagawea dollar was minted in a golden color to help people distinguish it better. The Presidential dollars were minted with the same color as well. These coins are not really made out of gold, nor gold plate. In fact, the coin metal composition is 88.5% Copper, 6% Zinc, 3.5% Manganese and 2% Nickel, with the Manganese bronze giving it a golden color. The Sacagawea dollars and Presidential dollars are being produced at the same time, and they still are. The law requires that even after the Presidential gold coin program ends, the Sacagawea dollar shall still be minted.

It turns out that the $1 Sacagawea Coin was not very successful, not many people used it. The US Mint was hoping that a design change would help induce more interest in the coin, and also educate the American public about our past US Presidents. With the astounding success of the 50 State Quarters, the Mint had also hoped that the gold Presidential dollars would become successful as well. If the public still didn't accept the coin, the US Mint hoped that collectors would still be as enthusiastic about the dollar coins as they were for the 50 State quarters.

The first Presidential dollar coins (depicting George Washington) were released on February 15th, 2007 in honor of President's Day, which was held only 4 days later on February 19th, 2007. The US Mint announced in the following month on March 8, 2007 that they had produced an error. It turns out that a number of these first coins were minted without the edge lettering, which was supposed to include the year, mintmark, "E PLURIBUS UNUM" and "IN GOD WE TRUST". PCGS estimates that around 50,000 of these errors were produced. At first, these coins sold for as much as $600 on eBay, but later sold for around $50. These coins are sometimes known as "Godless Dollars" due to the fact that "IN GOD WE TRUST" didn't appear anywhere on the coin's surface.

The John Adams Presidential Dollar also included a few error varieties. One type of dollar had plain edges like the Washington coin, with no lettering on the edge. Another variety included doubled lettering on the edge, which is a result of the coin going through the US Mint's lettering machine twice and the text overlapped each other. In some cases, the doubled lettering is inverted or upside-down, overlapping each other as the the coin gets flipped around and goes through the lettering machine twice. There are countless variations of this coin. Half of the coins have their lettering upside down when the face of the coin is up, or vice versa.

During the production of the first 3 Presidential coins, over 100 million of the general circulation coins for each president were minted at the Denver Mint and Philadelphia Mint. and between 1-3 million collector proof coins being minted at the San Francisco Mint, on average. That number slowly declined into the range of 30-60 million. Unfortunately, the demand for these coins was slim and they weren't circulating, as feared. A huge stockpile and surplus of these coins built up through 2011. In fact, 1.4 billion of these dollars were still in stockpile. If laid on top of each other in a single stack, it would be equivalent to a length between Chicago and Los Angeles. It was decided that starting in 2012, the production of the Presidential dollars be reduced tremendously, typically between 3-5 million coins at each mint would be produced for each President. These coins would be produced only for the coin collectors in order to reduce the massive stockpile. (If you're a coin collector, these are the ones to really go after as these rarer coins are bound to be worth something later on!)

The Presidential dollar coin series is intended to last until 2016. The law requires that in order for a US President to be honored on the coin, they must be deceased for a minimum of 2 years. No living president is allowed to be depicted. Ronald Reagan currently qualifies to be the final US President to be honored in the series, after Gerald Ford. Even though Jimmy Carter came before Ronald Reagan, he is still living and would not qualify to be depicted on the coinage, unless be somehow passes away by 2014. If any other post-Reagan Presidents pass away before 2014, they would be depicted after the Ronald Reagan coin. If the program does end in 2016 and another President passes away, it would require an additional Act of Congress to honor that President on the dollar coin.

Below is a table chart, which organizes all of the Presidential Dollar Coins produced and the ones still scheduled to be produce. This table depicts large, high quality images for each coin design, the President's name, tear of mintage, mintage figures for each Mint (referencing to presidential dollar coin prices and values, and other details), release date of the coin, President's term in office in years and the designer and engraver of the obverse of the coin. This table is incomplete and still growing, so we will add pictures and new details as the US Mint releases the new coins in future years:

Design Image President Name / Year Release Date Mintage Term In Office Designer / Engraver
2007 Presidential Dollar Coins:
2007 George Washington Presidential Dollar Coin George Washington

2007
February 15, 2007 P: 176,680,000
D: 163,680,000
S: 3,965,989
1st President

1789-1797
Joseph Menna
2007 John Adams Presidential Dollar Coin John Adams

2007
May 17, 2007 P: 112,420,000
D: 112,140,000
S: 3,965,989
2nd President

1797-1801
Joel Iskowitz

Charles Vickers
2007 Thomas Jefferson Presidential Dollar Coin Thomas Jefferson

2007
August 16, 2007 P: 100,800,000
D: 102,810,000
S: 3,965,989
3rd President

1801-1809
Joseph Menna
2007 James Madison Presidential Dollar Coin James Madison

2007
November 15, 2007 P: 84,560,000
D: 87,780,000
S: 3,965,989
4th President

1809-1817
Joel Iskowitz

Don Everhart
2008 Presidential Dollar Coins:
2008 James Monroe Presidential Dollar Coin James Monroe

2008
February 14, 2008 P: 64,260,000
D: 60,230,000
S: 3,083,940
5th President

1817-1825
Joseph Menna
2008 John Quincy Adams Presidential Dollar Coin John Quincy Adams

2008
May 15, 2008 P: 57,540,000
D: 57,720,000
S: 3,083,940
6th President

1825-1829
Don Everhart
2008 Andrew Jackson Presidential Dollar Coin Andrew Jackson

2008
August 14, 2008 P: 61,180,000
D: 61,070,000
S: 3,083,940
7th President

1829-1837
Joel Iskowitz

Jim Licaretz
2008 Martin Van Buren Presidential Dollar Coin Martin Van Buren

2008
November 13, 2008 P: 51,520,000
D: 50,960,000
S: 3,083,940
8th President

1837-1841
Joel Iskowitz

Phebe Hemphill
2009 Presidential Dollar Coins:
2009 William Henry Harrison Presidential Dollar Coin William Henry Harrison

2009
February 19, 2009 P: 43,260,000
D: 55,160,000
S: 2,809,452
9th President

1841
Joseph Menna
2009 John Tyler Presidential Dollar Coin John Tyler

2009
May 21, 2009 P: 43,540,000
D: 43,540,000
S: 2,809,452
10th President

1841-1845
Phebe Hemphill
2009 James K. Polk Presidential Dollar Coin James K. Polk

2009
August 20, 2009 P: 46,620,000
D: 41,720,000
S: 2,809,452
11th President

1845-1849
Susan Gamble

Charles Vickers
2009 Zachary Taylor Presidential Dollar Coin Zachary Taylor

2009
November 19, 2009 P: 41,580,000
D: 36,680,000
S: 2,809,452
12th President

1849-1850
Don Everhart
2010 Presidential Dollar Coins:
2010 Millard Fillmore Presidential Dollar Coin Millard Fillmore

2010
February 18, 2010 P: 37,520,000
D: 36,960,000
S: 2,224,613
13th President

1850-1853
Don Everhart
2010 Franklin Pierce Presidential Dollar Coin Franklin Pierce

2010
May 20, 2010 P: 38,220,000
D: 38,360,000
S: 2,224,613
14th President

1853-1857
Susan Gamble

Charles L. Vickers
2010 James Buchanan Presidential Dollar Coin James Buchanan

2010
August 19, 2010 P: 36,820,000
D: 36,540,000
S: 2,224,613
15th President

1857-1861
Phebe Hemphill
2010 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Dollar Coin Abraham Lincoln

2010
November 18, 2010 P: 49,000,000
D: 48,020,000
S: 2,224,613
16th President

1861-1865
Don Everhart
2011 Presidential Dollar Coins:
2011 Andrew Johnson Presidential Dollar Coin Andrew Johnson

2011
February 17, 2011 P: 35,560,000
D: 37,100,000
S: 1,972,863
17th President

1865-1869
Don Everhart
2011 Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Dollar Coin Ulysses S. Grant

2011
May 19, 2011 P: 38,080,000
D: 37,940,000
S: 1,972,863
18th President

1869-1877
Don Everhart
2011 Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Dollar Coin Rutherford B. Hayes

2011
August 18, 2011 P: 37,660,000
D: 36,820,000
S: 1,972,863
19th President

1877-1881
Don Everhart
2011 James A. Garfield Presidential Dollar Coin James A. Garfield

2011
November 17, 2011 P: 37,100,000
D: 37,100,000
S: 1,972,863
20th President

1881
Phebe Hemphill
2012 Presidential Dollar Coins:
2012 Chester A. Arthur Presidential Dollar Coin Chester A. Arthur

2012
February 5, 2012 P: 6,020,000
D: 4,060,000
S: 1,438,710
21th President

1881-1885
Don Everhart
2012 Grover Cleveland 1st Term Presidential Dollar Coin Grover Cleveland

2012
May 25, 2012 P: 5,460,000
D: 4,060,000
S: 1,438,710
22nd President
(1st Term)

1885-1889
Don Everhart
2012 Benjamin Harrison Presidential Dollar Coin Benjamin Harrison

2012
August 16, 2012 P: 5,640,001
D: 4,200,000
S: 1,438,710
23rd President

1889-1893
Phebe Hemphill
2012 Grover Cleveland 2nd Term Presidential Dollar Coin Grover Cleveland

2012
November 15, 2012 P: 10,680,000
D: 3,920,000
S: 1,438,710
24th President
(2nd Term)

1893-1897
Don Everhart
2013 Presidential Dollar Coins:
2013 William McKinley Presidential Dollar Coin William McKinley

2013
February 19, 2013 P: 4,760,000
D: 3,365,100
S: 1,449,415
25th President

1897-1901
Phebe Hemphill
2013 Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Dollar Coin Theodore Roosevelt

2013
April 11, 2013 P: 5,310,700
D: 3,920,000
S: 1,449,415
26th President

1901-1909
Joseph Menna
2013 William Howard Taft Presidential Dollar Coin William Howard Taft

2013
July 9, 2013 P: 4,760,000
D: 3,360,000
S: 1,449,415
27th President

1909-1913
Barbara Fox

Michael Gaudioso
2013 Woodrow Wilson Presidential Dollar Coin Woodrow Wilson

2013
October 13, 2013 P: 4,620,000
D: 3,360,000
S: 1,449,415
28th President

1913-1921
Don Everhart
2014 Presidential Dollar Coins:
2014 Warren G. Harding Presidential Dollar Coin Design Warren G. Harding

2014
February 6, 2014 P: 6,160,000
D: 3,780,000
S: 1,373,605
29th President

1921-1923
Michael Gaudioso
2014 Calvin Coolidge Presidential Dollar Coin Design Calvin Coolidge

2014
April 10, 2014 P: 4,480,000
D: 3,780,000
S: 1,373,605
30th President

1923-1929
Phoebe Hemphill
2014 Herbert Hoover Presidential Dollar Coin Design Herbert Hoover

2014
June 19, 2014 P: 4,480,000
D: 3,780,000
S: 1,373,605
31st President

1929-1933
Phoebe Hemphill
2014 Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Dollar Coin Design Franklin D. Roosevelt

2014
August 28, 2014 P: 4,760,000
D: 3,920,000
S: 1,392,798
32nd President

1933-1945
Joseph Menna
2015 Presidential Dollar Coins:
2015 Harry S. Truman Presidential Dollar Coin Design Harry S. Truman

2015
February 5, 2015 P: 4,900,000
P Reverse Proof: 16,812
D: 3,500,000
S: 1,272,462
33rd President

1945-1953
Don Everhart
2015 Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Dollar Coin Design Dwight D. Eisenhower

2015
April 13, 2015 P: 4,900,000
P Reverse Proof: 16,795
D: 3,645,998
S: 1,272,462
34th President

1953-1961
Joseph Menna
2015 John F. Kennedy Presidential Dollar Coin Design John F. Kennedy

2015
June 18, 2015 P: 6,160,000
P Reverse Proof: 49,226
D: 5,180,000
S: 1,272,462
35th President

1961-1963
Don Everhart
2015 Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Dollar Coin Design Lyndon B. Johnson

2015
August 18, 2015 P: 7,840,000
P Reverse Proof: 24,221
D: 4,200,000
S: 1,272,462
36th President

1963-1969
Michael Gaudioso
2016 Presidential Dollar Coins:
2016 Richard Nixon Presidential Dollar Coin Design Richard Nixon

2016
February 3, 2016 P: 5,460,000
D: 4,340,000
S: 1,196,673
37th President

1969-1974
Don Everhart
2016 Gerald Ford Presidential Dollar Coin Design Gerald Ford

2016
March 8, 2016 P: 5,460,000
D: 5,040,000
S: 1,196,673
38th President

1974-1977
Phebe Hemphill
2016 Ronald Reagan Presidential Dollar Coin Design Ronald Reagan

2016
July 1, 2016 P: 7,140,000
D: 5,880,000
S: 1,196,673
S Reverse Proof: 47,449
40th President

1981-1989
Richard Masters

Joseph Menna
2020 Presidential Dollar Coins:
2020 George H.W. Bush Presidential Dollar Coin Design George H. W. Bush

2020
December 4, 2020 P: N/A
D: N/A
S: N/A
41st President

1989-1993
Elana Hagler

Joseph Menna
Possible Future Presidential Dollar Coins:
To Be Determined Jimmy Carter

2016
To Be Determined To Be Determined 39th President

1977-1981
To Be Determined
To Be Determined Bill Clinton

To Be Determined To Be Determined 42nd President

1993-2001
To Be Determined
To Be Determined George W. Bush

To Be Determined To Be Determined 43rd President

2001-2009
To Be Determined
To Be Determined Barack Obama

To Be Determined To Be Determined 44th President

2009-2016
To Be Determined
To Be Determined Donald Trump

To Be Determined To Be Determined 45th President

2016-2020
To Be Determined
To Be Determined Joe Biden

To Be Determined To Be Determined 46th President

2020-Present
To Be Determined

      - Things get confusing when Presidents are listed in the gray area. According to the rules of the Presidential Dollar Coin Program, a US President can only be honored in the series if they have been deceased for no less than two years. Most of the Presidents listed in the gray area are still living, and would not yet qualify to be depicted on the coinage. If any other currently living President passes away, they would be depicted next on the list 2 years after their death. As it currently stands, George H.W. Bush would be the final President depicted in the Presidential Dollars Series.




Coin Chart: Tap a '+' sign to expand further coin details. Click coin image to view full-size image.