2008-D John Quincy Adams

Denver struck the John Quincy Adams dollar in 2008 as the second design of the year, released May 15 behind the Andrew Jackson opener and ahead of Van Buren and Monroe. Production ran to 57,720,000 pieces, well off the 2007 Denver pace and consistent with the across-the-board cooldown that hit every Presidential design once the launch novelty faded. The obverse carries Don Everhart's Adams portrait with the standard "JOHN QUINCY ADAMS / 6TH PRESIDENT / 1825-1829" legend, paired with Everhart's Statue of Liberty reverse and the incused edge inscription giving the year, mintmark, IN GOD WE TRUST, and E PLURIBUS UNUM. John Quincy was the son of John Adams, the second president, making them the only father-son pair in the White House until George W. Bush nearly two centuries later.

For collectors, the 2008-D John Quincy Adams is a clean strike most of the time, with the manganese-brass alloy showing its usual habits: bright yellow when fresh from the bag, dulling to a tan or olive cast within a couple of years. Watch the high points of the obverse portrait and the torch flame on the reverse for typical soft strikes, the soft spots that have followed this composition since it debuted on the Sacagawea dollar in 2000. Edge-lettering errors on 2008 issues are far less common than the famous 2007 Plain Edge dollars, since the Mint refined the third-step process after the first-year embarrassment, but they exist and warrant a glance at the rim of any roll-fresh coin.

The 2008-D John Quincy Adams trades as a common date in every grade up to MS66, with population reports thinning sharply at MS67 and almost nothing certified above that. Most collectors will find this issue easily as a roll-fresh coin or in original 2008 Mint Set packaging, where Satin Finish examples form a separate subset for set builders. Premium money belongs to top-pop registry pieces and authenticated edge-lettering errors, neither of which justifies cracking a slab to chase. For background on the program's authority and structure, see the Presidential Dollar series history.