2016-D Gerald R. Ford, NIFC

Denver struck 5,460,000 Gerald R. Ford dollars in 2016, released March 8 between the February 3 Nixon launch and the July 1 Reagan launch under the Not Intended For Circulation policy in force since December 13, 2011. Ford holds the second 2016 slot by presidential succession as the 38th president; Carter, who succeeded Ford as the 39th, was still living and therefore omitted under the program's prohibition on living former presidents. With Carter skipped, 2016 ran three issues rather than four and closed the regular Presidential Dollar program. Phebe Hemphill designed and sculpted the obverse portrait, modeled on a 1975 White House photograph by David Hume Kennerly, paired with Don Everhart's Statue of Liberty reverse common to every business-strike Presidential Dollar.

The 2016-D Ford never entered general circulation, so any worn example traces back to a Mint-wrapped roll that was opened and spent rather than to a Federal Reserve release. Strike quality runs strong on the modest Denver order: the high points of the hair, brow, and lapel hold sharply, and the reverse torch flame is cleaner than on the high-mintage 2007 through 2011 issues. Watch the alloy. Manganese-brass tones to honey, olive, or rose within a year or two of striking, so a bright lemon-yellow surface a decade later almost always indicates cleaning. Edge-lettering errors of the kind that defined the 2007 Washington plain-edge variety remain possible on NIFC dates, but verified missing-edge 2016 examples are scarce enough to command meaningful premiums slabbed by PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, or NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company.

The 2016-D Ford reaches the market through 25-coin rolls, 250-coin boxes, the annual Mint Set, and the 2016 Presidential $1 Uncirculated Set. With distribution restricted to collectors, original-state survival is effectively the entire mintage, putting MS66 within easy reach and pushing condition rarity into MS68 territory. Original Mint-wrapped rolls and inexpensive certified MS67 examples remain the efficient acquisition path. The strongest collecting argument for this date is structural, sitting as the next-to-last regular-issue Denver Presidential Dollar before Reagan closes the program. For the NIFC cutover and the 2016 program close, see the Presidential Dollar series history.