2011-D Andrew Johnson

Denver opened the 2011 Presidential Dollar production year with Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth president, struck for circulation alongside the Philadelphia issue and released on February 17, 2011. The 37,100,000-piece Denver mintage continued the steep step-down that began in 2009: Denver had struck more than 60 million Andrew Jackson dollars three years earlier, and the 2011 figure sat at roughly 60 percent of that level. Federal Reserve banks were already sitting on enormous unreleased inventory of 2007-2010 issues, and 2011 was the last year the Mint pressed Presidential Dollars in true circulation quantities. On December 13, 2011, Vice President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced the suspension of new releases into commercial channels, and every Presidential Dollar struck after that date was a collector-only Not Intended For Circulation issue.

The Denver coin shows the typical manganese-brass clad strike characteristics of late-program issues: the orange-gold finish on a fresh roll coin shifts to brown within months once the surface oxidizes, which is normal and not a defect. Look at the high points of Don Everhart's portrait, particularly the cheekbone and brow, where weak strikes show flatness, and check the edge lettering for completeness. The Mint applied the date, mintmark, IN GOD WE TRUST, E PLURIBUS UNUM, and thirteen stars in a third strike after the obverse and reverse press; missed-edge "Plain Edge" errors turned up in 2007 and 2008 but are scarce on 2011 production. Counterfeits are not a concern at this date and price level.

This Andrew Johnson Denver dollar is a common date in any grade and trades essentially at face value from original Mint-wrapped rolls. Where it earns collector attention is the 2011 calendar year as a whole: Andrew Johnson, Grant, Hayes, and Garfield are the last four Presidential Dollars struck for true commercial use, and a complete 2011 P+D set in Brilliant Uncirculated has become the natural endpoint for Presidential Dollar circulation collectors. Population reports from the Professional Coin Grading Service show the issue clustered at MS66 and MS67, with MS68 examples thin and condition-rare. For series context, see the Presidential Dollar series history.