Thomas Jefferson $1 Coin is Coming August 16

The third presidential dollar coin will be released into the public starting August 16th. It’ll feature Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president and author of the Declaration of Independence.

A few will get the new coins early in a ceremony honoring Jefferson at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington on August 15th. There, Jefferson re-enactors will hand out the presidential coins at a news conference to introduce the new Thomas Jefferson $1 coins. Also, aside from the official news conference, there will be a special coin exchange area where the public can swap out their money for the Jefferson $1 coins.

According to the United States Mint coin production numbers, over 340 million Washington and nearly 225 million Adams circulating Presidential $1 coins were produced. Although there are millions ready for circulation, it’s not surprising that many have never seen or have seldom been used in daily circulation. In that sense, the presidential coins seem to be experiencing the same difficulties in daily-use acceptance as the Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea Dollars. The dollar bill is just too popular and convenient.

The new Thomas Jefferson $1, like its predecessor, won’t be a rare collectable coin by any stretch of the imagination. However, it’s the third release in the series so it’ll be attractive for more coin collectors compared to later presidential coin releases.

Each Presidential $1 coin features an edge-incused inscriptions of the year of minting, the mint mark, "E Pluribus Unum," and "In God We Trust". A main reason for this design was to allow for a more prominent presidential image on the coin’s front or, as coin collectors describe it, the coin’s obverse. However, there’s a new law in the works that would remove the edge-letterings of "In God We Trust" and "E Pluribus Unum" and instead place them back to the traditional front and reverse. Should that happen, there’s the potential for this year’s presidential coins to have greater desirability for collectors.

Of course the biggest hopes for collectors would be mint errors with the Jefferson $1 coins similar to the Washington and Adam presidential $1 errors. Given this is the third run at the series, these hopes are certainly reduced.