2007-D James Madison

Released November 15, 2007, the 2007-D Madison closed out the Presidential Dollar program's inaugural year and gave the Denver Mint its fourth and final pass at the new format. Joel Iskowitz designed the obverse portrait, sculptor Don Everhart cut both sides, and the four 2007 issues (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison) ran in strict order of presidency. Denver struck 87,780,000 Madison dollars, the lowest of the four 2007 designs from this mint, with Washington at 163,680,000 leading and the figures stepping down through Adams and Jefferson before bottoming out here. The pattern reflects the well-documented public drop in interest as the inaugural year wore on rather than any policy shift. The lettered edge, applied as a separate post-strike step, carries the date, mintmark, E PLURIBUS UNUM, and IN GOD WE TRUST.

For collectors, the 2007 issues are the year to scrutinize the edge. The new three-stage striking process produced a small but real population of Plain Edge coins from all four designs, where the dollars left the Mint without the third step ever applied. Washington examples drew the headlines (the so-called "Godless dollars"), but Madison Plain Edge coins exist too and trade at meaningful premiums when authenticated. Beyond that, look at the high points of Madison's hair and the folds of Liberty's gown for strike sharpness, since the manganese-brass alloy tends to fill weakly on these large planchets. PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, has graded thousands of 2007-D Madisons, and the bulk of population pressure sits at MS66 with a steep falloff above MS67.

Despite the high mintage, the 2007-D Madison rewards condition collectors more than date collectors. Slabbed MS67 examples remain affordable, and Satin Finish coins pulled from 2007 Mint Sets are a separate subset worth seeking in original packaging. The wider Presidential Dollar set has not appreciated dramatically, but the 2007 first-year-of-issue coins hold their own as type pieces and as the cleanest entry into the series. For deeper background on how the program was authorized and structured, see the Presidential Dollar series history.