Rare Dead President Dollars Found, Worth $50 Each

Stephen Joltin
I have previously written that starting this year The U.S. Mint will be producing a new, Dead President series dollar coin to replace the failed Sacajawea dollar, which in turn replaced the equally unaccepted Susan B. Anthony dollar. The U.S. Mint is hoping for public acceptance of the new dollar coin, a denomination never previously accepted by the public during the entire history of our Country.

What I did not write about was the fact that when the dollar was first produced several batches lacked the phrase "in God We Trust" on the outer rim of the coin. Most of the coins produce had this phrase making the "godless" dollar an instant rarity. This error with the phrase omitted was caused by the collar striking mechanism.

When news of the error became known the price of the anomaly was over $600 per coin. However numerous coins of this type did show up causing the price of this error coin to plummet in value to between $50 and $60 per coin. Still this is not a bad profit and considering that most people purchased at least a roll (25 coins) which would all exhibit the same error for $25 total. This roll would yield about $1,300 profit or enough for a nice Florida vacation for two. Some people purchased a whole bag of up to 1,000 coins, which if they were all error coins would bring this lucky investor $50,000 profit. Enough to buy a Lexus and still have enough left over to go on a first class two week cruise for two.

Here is how to tell if you new dollar coins are the valuable ones. First, this is the first modern coin to have writing on the rim of the coin instead of the little groves you normally see on the side of most coins above the value of a nickel. The last coin with actual writing on the rim was the liberty standing $20 gold coin produce until 1933.

So look at the rims of your new Dead President Dollar Coins if you are lucky enough to own some. If you see small incised writing which say "In God We Trust", your coin is worth only one dollar. On the other hand, if you see no writing on the rim at all, then you are one of the luck people to make an instant capital gain.

One of the big questions is will the value of the coin go up or down? This all depends on the total number of these error coins struck. If there were 1,000 or less, the value will rise dramatically. If from 1,000 to 10,000 were produced, you will still have a hot property tat will increase in value over time. 10,000 to 100,000 will be a toss up. Over 100,000 produced will probably see not much of an upward move or a slight decrease.

All in all this is a very exciting start to this new series of coins. Un-searched rolls will likely sell for a premium in rare coin stores. Since they were recently released many banks will also have unopened rolls that they will sell to their customers for no premium at all.

Good luck to all of my readers. I hope you all find many of these rare variety coins and can afford those things that only people with found money can afford. At least I hope you find enough to help with those bills that are probably accumulating in your coffee table.

Published by Stephen Joltin

I am a problem solver with 18+ years of Higher Education Credentials, last employed as the Information Systems Manager at Montgomery College in Maryland and a member of the Maryland Community College Data Pr...  View profile

24 Comments

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  • Stephen Joltin3/16/2009

    Send me a picture. There is no coin with 39 presidents on a single coin, but many medals. Another way is Google on "39 President Medal" also include a date if one is present.

  • Kelly3/16/2009

    I have a coin that has 39 presidents on it.
    Does anyone know if it is worth anything

  • Stephen Joltin9/12/2008

    Doug, I saw many of these at my favorite coin store. The owner said they had no premium. The bimetal sandwich causes color changes due to migration of metal ions from the nickel content. These are not errors. Sorry.

  • Douglas Howard1/25/2008

    I have some of the new president dollars, all are Washington, that seem to be missing the "golden" coloring. Are they worth anything extra? Thanks dhoward4@earthlink.net

  • Kristie Leong M.D.12/7/2007

    This is excellent information. I'll be checking my dollars.

  • Lorraine6/20/2007

    I've found several dead president dollars with the date placed on different areas of the coins. is that an error?

  • John Gugie6/17/2007

    I'm never that lucky.

  • Donna Porter3/27/2007

    Thanks for the tip

  • Vonnie Chestnut3/19/2007

    Thanks for the info, I will be on the lookout.

  • Stephen Joltin3/15/2007

    Jay, in the 1800's much of our money had the "in God We Trust" motto. That was because it was made of gold and silver. Now that it is base metal and has no intrinsic value, they ironically added that motto since we can't trust the money any more.

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