The Presidential $1 Coin Program commemorates our nation’s leaders by featuring their portraits on obverses of dollar coins. Since 2007, four Presidents per year have been honored in the same order that they served. For the last year of the program in 2016, the 37th and 38th Presidents, Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford, will be celebrated.
Only two Presidential $1 coins are scheduled to appear in 2016 because the program, authorized by Public Law 109-145, is limited to former Presidents who have been deceased for longer than two years. Ronald Reagan as the 40th President will be excluded from the $1 series since the 39th President, Jimmy Carter, is still alive.
Update: The U.S. Mint later announced that it will produced 2016 Reagan Presidential $1 Coins.
Below are the U.S. Mint candidate coin designs for the Nixon and Ford dollars. As part of the selection process, these images will be examined and reviewed by various people and committees before the final two designs are selected.
2016 Richard Nixon Presidential $1 Coin Design Candidates
The following artistic renditions issued for the 2016 Richard Nixon Presidential $1 Coin display varying poses of the 37th President of the United States. Inscriptions above the portrait are, "RICHARD NIXON," and across the bottom are, "IN GOD WE TRUST," "37TH PRESIDENT" and "1969-1974."
2016 Gerald Ford Presidential $1 Coin Design Candidates
There are also four proposed designs for the 2016 Gerald Ford Presidential $1 Coin. Inscriptions on each include, "GERALD FORD," "IN GOD WE TRUST," "38TH PRESIDENT" and "1974-1977."
Selection Process Coin Designs
Steps in the selection process include reviews by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee and the United States Commission of Fine Arts. Recommendations from these meetings are written directly to Secretary of the Treasury. Many times, designs are tweaked as a result. The United States Mint will make eventual recommendations to the Treasury Secretary who then selects the winning designs.
Reverses are common for all Presidential $1 Coins and was introduced during the coins’ debut in 2007. It features a dramatic rendition of the Statue of Liberty by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Don Everhart. Inscriptions include, "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and "$1."
Along the coins’ edge are incused inscriptions of, "2016," to indicate the year of minting and, "E PLURIBUS UNUM," as well as the mint mark. Presidential $1 coins share the same size, weight and metal composition as the Native American $1 Coins.
The Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 authorizes the U.S. Mint to produce Presidential $1 Coins. Its intent was to promote use of $1 coins as well as to provide an educational tool for Americans and visitors to remember the Presidents. Interest in dollar coins, however, did not increase and as a result, and production of $1 coins for circulation was halted. While the coins are still U.S. legal tender, since 2012, dollar coins are only produced and issued by the U.S. Mint for numismatic purposes.
