What's considered the key date in a 32 coin set of Eisenhowers?
Scavenger
Posts: 987
The 32 coin set contains the business strikes and proofs (the only variety in the Dansco album is the 1976 type 1 & 2)
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If you start to pay attention to condition, you'll find some of the clad uncs are quite difficult to find with nice clean fields & without a lot of hits and/or planchet nicks on the central devices. If you buy nice ones raw they won't necessarily cost much when you finally do find them, but the hunt can be tougher than you'd have guessed.
1972 type 1, 1971-D Friendly Eagle, Peg-legs......
As for the 32 date set, NOT including varieties, and in 'collector grade' BU/Proof, I would agree with the 1973-S.
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IMO, the 1976 T1 should be considered the Key as most of them are crap.
An MS65 will really set you back a couple of hundred bucks whereas all the others in MS65 are relatively cheap.
After that you could go with the 1971 which is another expensive coin in a lowly MS65.
1973-S Silver Proofs are a "traditionally" expensive coin but no where near being a Key.
I suppose if you were collecting a common circulated set that the 73-S could be considered a key due to its expense but the real keys lie elsewhere.
The name is LEE!
Only about half of mint set issues might be deemed MS-61 or better
and the others can be quite unsightly. The 1973 issues average high-
er grade than this.
Why People Should Collect These Coins
Usually, when you think of really collectable coins, the humble Eisenhower Dollar isn't on our list for some reason. Often, the term collectable is associated with old coins or the new commemorative coins such as State Quarters or the new designs of the Jefferson Nickel leaving poor Ike
out in the cold. Afterall, the coin is not 90% silver, there are no real key dates and they are plentiful even in uncirculated straight from the mint condition at extremely reasonable cost.
So, why even bother writing an article about a coin that doesn't seem to hold much interest you ask? The answer is simple.
There was a time when Morgan Dollars were not considered worthy of collecting either and now they are one of the most popular coins that you can collect in excellent condition for reasonable cost depending on what your perspective of reasonable that is.
For that reason, since the Eisenhower Dollar is readily available, since it is extremely reasonably priced, it would take very little effort to complete a Eisenhower Dollar collection and a completed collection in any coin is worth having.
The Eisenhower Dollar was minted from 1971 to 1978 after a five year ban on Silver Dollars. The idea came about to honor President Dwight D. Eisenhower on a dollar coin who had recently died at the time the coin was proposed.
There was some political wrangling about the design of the coin. A bill was introduced in 1969 to make a commemorative coin marking the moon landing along with the Eisenhower design. The wrangling lasted for more than a year before a compromise was reached and both were commemorated.
The Eisenhower Dollar was designed by Chief Engraver Frank Gasparro. His design portrays on the obverse (front) a bare-headed, left-facing profile bust of the late president. Arranged in an arc above him is the legend LIBERTY, while the motto IN GOD
WE TRUST appears in two lines below Eisenhower's chin. The date is at bottom, with the mintmark (if any) above it and to the right. Gasparro's initials FG are on the truncation of the bust. The reverse depicts the American eagle, an olive branch of peace in its talons, descending onto the moon. The distant Earth is in the field above and to the left. The motto E PLURIBUS UNUM is centered above the eagle, and the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is arranged in an arc around the upper periphery. The value ONE DOLLAR is superimposed on the moon's surface along the lower periphery. An arc of small stars surrounds the eagle, Earth and the motto. The initials FG appear below the eagle's tail.
The first coins were not ready until November 1, 1971 and collectors snapped up a good portion of these coins being so late in the year and the 1972's were ready to be minted. Despite that, 1971's are still readily available. Enough of the 1971's were minted to reveal that the public still didn't really want to carry around heavy dollar coins. The mint then significantly dropped off the minting of the remaining years and the 1973 series only minted enough to fulfill orders for uncirculated sets for collectors. This left a net mintage of less than 2 million each for the Philadelphia and Denver Mints.
The upcoming Bicentennial resulted in a competition for commemorative designs to grace the reverses of the quarter, half and dollar, respectively. The winning design for the dollar's reverse was submitted by Dennis R. Williams, whose design was of the Liberty Bell superimposed on the moon. His initials are found to the right of the bell's clapper. The regular dollar coinage dated 1974 continued until the middle of 1975, when production of the new Bicentennial designs dated 1776-1976 began. This left no dollar coins dated 1975. The Bicentennial pieces were first released in the fall of 1975, and their mintage continued through the following year. The regular design was again minted in 1977 and 1978. For the last two years of minting, there is no silver in the Ike Dollar. It was terminated due to the smaller dollar known as the Susan B. Anthony which turned out to be extremely unpopular.
There are no rare dates within the regular coinage of Eisenhower dollars. However, 1971 and 1972 dollars from the Philadelphia Mint were poorly made and are more difficult to locate than other years. A small quantity of silver-clad dollars were made at the Denver Mint in error and may be found dated 1974-D, 1976-D or 1977-D.
<< <i>Well, just because its the most expensive certainly doesn't qualify it as the "key".
IMO, the 1976 T1 should be considered the Key as most of them are crap.
An MS65 will really set you back a couple of hundred bucks whereas all the others in MS65 are relatively cheap.
After that you could go with the 1971 which is another expensive coin in a lowly MS65.
1973-S Silver Proofs are a "traditionally" expensive coin but no where near being a Key.
I suppose if you were collecting a common circulated set that the 73-S could be considered a key due to its expense but the real keys lie elsewhere. >>
Good job Lee, I have a friend starting a set of these.
<< <i>
The upcoming Bicentennial resulted in a competition for commemorative designs to grace the reverses of the quarter, half and dollar, respectively. The winning design for the dollar's reverse was submitted by Dennis R. Williams, whose design was of the Liberty Bell superimposed on the moon. His initials are found to the right of the bell's clapper. The regular dollar coinage dated 1974 continued until the middle of 1975, when production of the new Bicentennial designs dated 1776-1976 began. This left no dollar coins dated 1975. The Bicentennial pieces were first released in the fall of 1975, and their mintage continued through the following year.
>>
There was a design change to both the obverse and reverse midway
through 1975 creating the type I and type II. There are no known mules
but it's quite possible they exist.
The design competition was set up so the first place winner went on the
quarter, second place on the half, and third place on the dollar. It's poss-
ible the resultant coins influenced the selection process but the dollar de-
sign was the third place winner, not the winner of the place on the dollar.
The 1972 Type 2 dollar is very scarce and has acheived a great deal of recognition. It is listed in the Red Book and PCGS will attribute them without a variety fee.
The 1971 D FEV, I predict, will someday be as famous.
<< <i>73-S proof >>
like my newest one! YAY!!!
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