2016-S Gerald R. Ford Proof

San Francisco struck 1,196,592 proof Gerald R. Ford dollars in 2016, the second of three designs in the year's Presidential Dollar Proof Set rather than the four-coin set that ran every prior program year. Carter, the 39th president, was still living and therefore omitted under the rule barring living former presidents, leaving Nixon, Ford, and Reagan as the 2016 designs. The set went on sale February 16, 2016 at $17.95 and was also bundled into the United States Mint Proof Set. The 1.196 million figure continues the steady proof-set decline, sliding under the 1,373,569 produced for each 2014 design and well under the 1,706,916 of 2011. Phebe Hemphill designed and sculpted the obverse portrait, paired with Don Everhart's Statue of Liberty reverse.

San Francisco proof Presidential Dollars are struck twice on polished planchets with frosted dies, producing the strong contrast between mirrored fields and frosted devices known as Cameo. The standard expectation on a 2016-S Ford is Deep Cameo, the strongest grade of contrast, abbreviated DCAM by PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and Ultra Cameo, abbreviated UCAM by NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company. Coins missing those designations are uncommon enough that they trade at a small discount rather than a premium. The grade ceiling sits at PR70 DCAM, where microscopic field marks around the higher-relief obverse portrait typically separate a 70 from a 69; since proofs never circulated, the line is a question of surface fineness rather than design wear.

Collector use is straightforward. The coin fits a complete 40-coin Presidential Dollar proof run, a 2016-only three-coin proof set alongside Nixon and Reagan, or a single-design Ford three-coin set with the Philadelphia and Denver business strikes. Raw proofs from broken-up Mint sets remain inexpensive, and PR69 DCAM slabs trade for modest premiums; PR70 DCAM coins carry a step up but stay accessible compared with the 2007 first-year proofs that anchor the high end of the program. The 2016-S Ford is the second-to-last regular proof before Reagan closes the program, with the 2020-S Bush proof a four-year-later coda outside the 2007-2016 design run. For the program close, see the Presidential Dollar series history.