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Presidential Dollars

Published April 1, 2026

Dollars

Coin Design History

Presidential Dollars (2007–2016; 2020)

Collectors Key Editorial  •  Dollar Series
Author NameChris D.Date PublishedApril 1, 2026 DenominationDollar Years Issued2007–2011 (circulation); 2012–2016 (collectors only); 2020 (George H.W. Bush) Obverse DesignersMultiple sculptors; one per president Reverse DesignerDon Everhart (Statue of Liberty; constant throughout series) CompositionManganese brass clad over pure copper core Weight8.1 grams Diameter26.5 mm EdgeLettered: date, mintmark, 13 stars, E PLURIBUS UNUM; plus IN GOD WE TRUST (2007–2008 only) MintsPhiladelphia (P), Denver (D), San Francisco (S)

The Program Was Modeled on the State Quarter's Success and Repeated the Dollar Coin's Failure

Congress authorized the Presidential $1 Coin Program through Pub. L. 109-145, enacted December 22, 2005. The legislation's sponsors pointed directly to the 50 State Quarters program as justification: rotating designs had driven the public to collect quarters, and the same mechanism applied to the dollar might finally achieve what the Eisenhower, Susan B. Anthony, and Sacagawea dollars had not. Four new obverse designs per year, each featuring a deceased president in order of service, with a president required to have been deceased for at least two years before appearing on a coin. The program was intended to run until every eligible president had been honored. The first coin, depicting George Washington, became available on February 15, 2007. The series continued through 2016 at Ronald Reagan, the last president then eligible under the two-year rule, with Jimmy Carter still living. A final coin honoring George H.W. Bush, who died November 30, 2018, was issued December 4, 2020.1

The reverse design, by Mint sculptor-engraver Don Everhart, depicts the Statue of Liberty in an angled, close-perspective view that places the full figure off-center with her torch-bearing arm extended toward the coin's center. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA curves around the upper border; the denomination $1 appears below the statue. LIBERTY does not appear on the obverse of any Presidential dollar, the decision having been made that the Statue of Liberty on the reverse conveyed the concept adequately. The obverse of each coin carries the president's name above the portrait and the ordinal number and years of service below. Presidential portraits were assigned to individual sculptor-engravers at the Mint, producing some variation in style and relief across the series while maintaining a common layout.2

Edge Lettering Made This the First Circulating Coin Since 1933 to Carry Inscriptions on the Edge

The Presidential dollar's edge carries the date, mintmark, thirteen stars, and E PLURIBUS UNUM, incused by a separate Schuler edge-lettering machine after the coin's obverse and reverse are struck. From 2007 through 2008, IN GOD WE TRUST also appeared on the edge, making it the only place on those coins where the national motto was found. The edge-lettering process was the first of its kind on a circulating coin since the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle last struck in 1933, and the use of a separate production step introduced a new failure mode into the manufacturing sequence. In early 2007, before the end of February, coins were being reported that had passed through the striking process without receiving any edge lettering. The Mint estimated that approximately 50,000 Washington dollars were released without edge inscriptions. Because IN GOD WE TRUST was absent from both the coin's face and its (missing) edge, the press quickly labeled them "godless dollars." The designation stuck, though PCGS formally catalogued them as Missing Edge Lettering coins, which is the accurate description of the error.3

The public reaction to the "godless dollar" was considerably more intense than the error warranted. Email chains circulated claiming the Mint had deliberately removed the national motto; calls for boycotts followed. Congress passed H.R. 2764 in December 2007 requiring that IN GOD WE TRUST be moved from the edge to the obverse or reverse of all Presidential dollars beginning in 2009. The change took effect with the William Henry Harrison dollar, the first 2009 issue. From 2009 onward, the edge carried only the date, mintmark, thirteen stars, and E PLURIBUS UNUM. The controversy inadvertently produced two distinct edge configurations that now separate the series into a pre-2009 and post-2009 collecting context, with the 2007 and 2008 coins also being the only issues from which a genuine godless error can be struck.4

The Program Produced 1.4 Billion Surplus Coins Before Circulation Production Was Suspended

The anticipated State Quarter effect did not materialize for the dollar. Mintages during the first year of the program approached $1 billion worth of coins, and production continued at scale through 2011 despite clear evidence that the coins were accumulating in Federal Reserve vaults rather than circulating. By the time Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner suspended production for circulation in late 2011, 1.4 billion Presidential dollars sat unused in storage. The program continued but shifted entirely to collector sales from 2012 through 2016; those NIFC (Not Issued for Circulation) issues were produced in quantities tied to collector orders, typically between eight and ten million coins per president, and were sold directly by the Mint in rolls, bags, and sets. The gap between the hundreds of millions struck annually in 2007 and 2008 and the single-digit millions produced per president after 2011 is the structural divide that creates the series' limited but genuine collecting interest.5

The Presidential dollar repeated a pattern by now well established in the mint's modern history: a large-mintage program producing coins nobody spent, accumulating in vaults at a scale that alarmed Congress, leading to the same conclusion the Eisenhower and Susan B. Anthony dollars had reached before it. What the State Quarter program's success had actually demonstrated was that the public would engage with a denomination it was already using, not that changing designs could turn a denomination the public had rejected into one it would adopt. The logic that carried the Presidential dollar program into law was the wrong lesson from the right evidence.

Building the Set

A type set requires one coin. A complete series set by date and mintmark, including Philadelphia and Denver business strikes for each president and San Francisco Proofs, is achievable but large. The circulation-era coins (2007–2011) from both Philadelphia and Denver are common in all grades and trade at or near face value in circulated condition; high-grade uncirculated examples command only modest premiums. The NIFC-era coins (2012–2016 and 2020) carry higher per-coin premiums in any grade, as their lower mintages mean they were not distributed through banks and cannot be found in pocket change. For the 2007 and 2008 dates, the Missing Edge Lettering errors are the series' primary collector targets: these are genuine production errors, present in all four 2007 presidents and some 2008 dates, and are distinguishable from counterfeits (coins with the edge lettering filed off) by the presence of the collar die's characteristic marks on a genuine error edge. No Presidential dollar date is genuinely rare in any conventional sense; the series' appeal rests on its presidential theme and its structural varieties rather than on condition scarcity or low mintage. The primary specialist reference is Bowers, Q. David, A Guide Book of Modern United States Dollar Coins (Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2016).6

Notes

  1. Pub. L. 109-145 enacted December 22, 2005; the 50 State Quarters program as stated justification; four presidents per year in order of service; the two-year death requirement; the program's intent to run until all eligible presidents were honored; George Washington as the first coin released February 15, 2007; the series ending at Reagan in 2016 because Jimmy Carter remained living; and the George H.W. Bush coin issued December 4, 2020 following his death on November 30, 2018 are from Bowers, Q. David, A Guide Book of Modern United States Dollar Coins (Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2016), pp. 1–40, with the 2020 Bush issue noted from U.S. Mint announcement records.
  2. Don Everhart's reverse design (angled close-perspective view of the Statue of Liberty, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA above, $1 below); the absence of LIBERTY from the obverse; the obverse layout (president's name above, ordinal number and years of service below); and the assignment of obverse portraits to individual Mint sculptor-engravers are from Bowers, A Guide Book of Modern United States Dollar Coins, pp. 40–80.
  3. The edge-lettering content (date, mintmark, thirteen stars, E PLURIBUS UNUM; plus IN GOD WE TRUST on 2007–2008 issues); the Schuler edge-lettering machine as a separate post-strike production step; the first circulating coin with edge lettering since the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle last struck in 1933; the discovery of Missing Edge Lettering errors before the end of February 2007; the Mint's estimate of approximately 50,000 Washington dollars released without edge inscriptions; and PCGS's formal designation are from Bowers, A Guide Book of Modern United States Dollar Coins, pp. 80–120.
  4. The public reaction to the missing IN GOD WE TRUST; the email chain claims of deliberate removal; H.R. 2764 passed December 2007 requiring the motto's move to the obverse or reverse; the change taking effect with the William Henry Harrison 2009 issue; and the resulting pre-2009 and post-2009 edge configurations are from Bowers, A Guide Book of Modern United States Dollar Coins, pp. 110–140.
  5. First-year production approaching $1 billion in coins; the 1.4 billion coin surplus accumulated by 2011 in Federal Reserve vaults; Treasury Secretary Geithner's suspension of circulation production in late 2011; the NIFC era from 2012 through 2016 with mintages of approximately eight to ten million per president; and the shift to direct Mint collector sales are from Bowers, A Guide Book of Modern United States Dollar Coins, pp. 140–180.
  6. The type set (one coin); the complete series set by date and mintmark; common grades for 2007–2011 circulation-era dates at or near face value; the NIFC-era premium structure; Missing Edge Lettering errors in 2007 and some 2008 dates as the primary collector targets; the distinction from filed-edge counterfeits; and the primary reference are from Bowers, Q. David, A Guide Book of Modern United States Dollar Coins (Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2016).

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