Other Presidential Dollar Collectibles

Every series of coins has additional collectibles that are not part of a regular date and mintmark collection, but are tied to the series in one way or another. These type of collectibles are not only fun to collect, but really add zest to any collection, often at a nominal cost. Below I will chronicle some of the unconventional collectibles related to the Presidential Dollar series. I will be adding to this page often as the series progresses.

PCI's PRESIDENTIAL DOLLAR
SAMPLE SLAB

The release of the Presidential Dollars in 2007 necessitated the invention of a new type of slab. It was the first time since 1933 that the United States Mint put edge lettering on a circulating coin. With lettering on the edge of the Presidential Dollars, it is desirable to be able to view the edge, especially when it comes to edge lettering errors.

Here are some sample slabs made by several of the third party grading services as examples of their version of the new type of slab. Generally, sample slabs are given out at coin shows by the respective third party grading service to demonstrate their product.

Sample slabs have become very collectible. There is even a web site devoted to them - SampleSlabs.com.

NGC Sample Presidential $1 Slab
NGC's PRESIDENTIAL DOLLAR
"EdgeView™ Holder" SAMPLE SLAB

ICG Sample Presidential $1 Slab
ICG's PRESIDENTIAL DOLLAR
"Presidential View™ Holder" SAMPLE SLAB

ANACS PRESIDENTIAL DOLLAR SAMPLE SLAB

PCI Coin Grading Service, Inc. certified and graded some 2007 P and D Thomas Jefferson Presidential Dollars that were released more than a week before the official release date of August 16, 2007. The Jefferson dollars were not supposed to be released to the public until that date, yet these were acquired on August 7th by Michigan Coin Dealer, Ken Potter.

Mr. Potter announced that “due to fortunate events” he was able to acquire Philadelphia and Denver issue Thomas Jefferson Presidential dollars well over a week before their official release date. He explained that while one of his suppliers was looking for John Adams dollars in order to search for double edge lettering and smooth edge errors that he (the supplier) was told by one bank that they had five unopened boxes of the coins that he could come and purchase. After picking them up he discovered that they had actually sold him two boxes of Adams dollars along with three boxes of the Thomas Jefferson dollars. Potter acquired these early release Philadelphia Mint coins from his supplier and then set out to see if anybody in the hobby had the good fortune of obtaining any of the Denver Mint coins early. After some investigating, Mr. Potter was directed to a dealer who had obtained several thousand of the Denver Mint coins. Mr. Potter purchased those as well.

The official date of issue is marked on each sealed box of 1,000 coins. The seal reads: "DO NOT BREAK SEAL UNTIL AUG 16". Financial institutions handling the coins were also sent a memo from the U.S. Treasury Department indicating that the coins should not be released to the public until that date. Question: Since some of the coins did get out early, how do you prove later that you have a pre-release coin? Answer: You have them certified as such by a third-party grading company. Potter had the coins shipped immediately to PCI. They were then certified by J.T. Stanton, CEO of PCI, and placed in PCI's "Signature Series" holders beginning on August 8th, a full eight days before the coins were intended to be officially released. The label on the holders indicate that the coins were "Pre-Released 8-7-07".

Some of the "D" mint pre-released coins were accidentally labeled as being graded on "8-8-08" instead of "8-8-07". When the error was discovered, they were immediately returned to PCI to be corrected. However, before the error was discovered, 8 pieces had already been mailed out to customers.

A maximum number of 3,000 per Mint was planned but cut short due to JT Stanton's unexpected departure from PCI.
The final number of these pieces made are as follows:

Philadelphia Mint Pre-release: 50.
Denver Mint Pre-Release with correct label: 75.
Denver Mint Pre-Release with error label: 8.

PHOTO COURTESY PATRICIA FINNER, VP ANA

Four Hundred of these NGC encapsulated 2007 George Washington Dollars were given out to active duty military personnel and veterans with at least two years of service as token of appreciation for their service to this country. The giveaway began August 2, 2008 at the American Numismatic Association's World's Fair of Money^® held in Baltimore, Maryland. The giveaway will continue until the supply is depleted. The idea was the brainchild of Patricia Finner, Vice President of the American Numismatic Association. The 400 dollar coins for this project were donated by Silvertowne of Winchester, Indiana.

These are listed on pages 364-365 of the book "Sample Slabs", 2nd edition, released in July 2016. The pieces that start with the serial number prefix 1972006-XXX are assigned catalog number ICG-100-4-5. The pieces that start with serial number prefix 1972007-XXX (such as the one pictured here) are assigned the catalog number ICG-100-4-6. There were 200 made for each serial number prefix.

Click HERE to go to the Sample Slab Book.com's website.

Every four years a newly elected, or re-elected, President of the United States recites the following oath:

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States,
and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Even though available at the Denver and Philadelphia Mint gift shops in April 2007, what has become known as Presidential "Oath Dollars" didn't become widely known to the numismatic community until July 2008 when they were offered for sale on the TV shopping network HSN. By this time, several hundred had been purchased from the Denver Mint gift shop and placed in an ANACS holder. The Mint's gift shops are run by Aramak, a private contractor. Aramak commissioned the Penny Press Mint to encase 1,000 of each presidential dollar from each mint in an aluminum ring. They originally sold in the gift shops for $4.99. The price was later increased to $5.99.

The obverse of the aluminum encasement reads "PRESERVE, PROTECT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES". The reverse has 50 stars and 50 rays and is from a stock die used with other Penny Press Mint products. The Penny Press Mint's mint mark, "PPM", is on the reverse of the aluminum encasement at 6 o'clock.

Even though the aluminum encasement IS NOT a U.S. Mint product, these pieces have become collectible to many collector's due to it being sold exclusively at the Mint's gift shop. Others think of these pieces as "gimmicky" with minimal value. Each collector can decide for themselves.

Back in 2003 I sought to have a punch made with my logo "www.SmallDollars.com". I commissioned Joe Paonessa, a talented Hobo Nickel carver, to make the punch for me. I periodically counterstamped stray coins of all denominations and either spent them or gave them away. During this period I met Jeff Kelley, a prolific counterstamper. We traded some of our creations with each other both for collecting and spending. Since I wasn't doing as much counterstamping as I would have liked, I eventually sent Jeff my counterstamping punch so he could use it for the purpose in which it was intended. In the Spring of 2007 I decided I wanted to have some counterstamped dollars made and put into slabs to give away to major contributors to this web site. Jeff agreed to counterstamp 25 George Washington Presidential Dollars for me, using a technique he often uses to color the counterstamp so that it will show up better on the coin. Jeff counterstamped approximately 50 George Washington Dollars, picking out the best 25 to color and send to me. Jeff also counterstamped the reverse with his signature "JBK" counterstamp. ("JBK" = Jeffrey Blake Kelley) This counterstamp can be seen at about 4 o'clock on the reverse on Miss Liberty's left hand. After receiving the coins, I sent them to PCI to have them slabbed with "Compliments of www.SmallDollars.com" on the label. Mintage: 25 George Washington Dollars in PCI holders (14 with upside down edge lettering and 11 with right side up lettering).		2007-P GEORGE WASHINGTON DOLLAR COUNTERSTAMPED WITH THIS WEB SITE'S LOGO IN A PCI HOLDER
		CLOSE-UP OF THE OBVERSE	CLOSE-UP OF THE REVERSE SHOWING WHERE THE COUNTERSTAMPER'S INITIALS "JBK" WERE PLACED

These ICG Sample Slabs were created exclusively for this web site. Twenty-five of the 2007-P George Washington Presidential Dollars were give out by ICG at the 2007 Summer FUN Show, held July 12 - 14 in West Palm Beach, Florida. The remainder were given out by this web site.

These www.SmallDollars.com "sample slabs" are listed on page 197 of the book "Sample Slabs", 2nd edition, released in July 2016. The catalog number assigned to them is ICG-100-1-6. Click HERE to go to the Sample Slab Book.com's website.

"POSITION B"

The number made breaks down as follows:

2007-P Washington $1: 35 made (Edge lettering: 25 "Position B"; 10 "Position A").
2007-D Washington $1: 25 made (Edge lettering: 16 "Position B"; 9 "Position A").
2007-P Adams $1: 25 made (Edge lettering: 9 "Position B"; 15 "Position A"; 1 Unknown).
2007-P Jefferson $1: 25 made (Edge lettering: 16 "Position B"; 8 "Position A"; 1 Unknown).

PHOTOS COURTESY OF & COPYRIGHTED BY KEN POTTER

"POSITION A"