Bicentennial Coins Are Easy To Acquire
by Staff EditorAmericans went all out to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of the nation in 1776. Patriotic tributes were soon everywhere when the event was commemorated in 1976. Coin collectors got their share of the action in the form of three unique coin designs that were placed in circulation for everyone to see, to spend and to save.
Preparations for celebration of the bicentennial of United States independence began on July 4, 1966, with the passage of Senate Joint Resolution 162, which launched the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission. This group was to consist of various congressmen, members of the executive branch, and 17 members of the general public. The purpose of the committee was to prepare an appropriate program of celebrations, and to report its recommendations for things such as stamps, coins and medals, to the president.
Plans for a special bicentennial coinage began in 1970 when the ARBC formed a subcommittee called the Coins and Medals Advisory Panel. In their report to President Richard Nixon, the committee recommended the striking of commemorative coins in a program that would reach the broadest number of Americans, and would include all denominations. The Mint Director, Mary Brooks, responded by suggesting coinage of a half-cent non-circulating commemorative coin. By 1972 she yielded to recommending that all 1976 coins be double dated 1776-1976, but that they carry no other change. Later she reconsidered, and eventually backed a plan to revamp all coinage for the celebration.
Ultimately on July 24, 1973, the House Committee on Banking and Currency recommended a bill that authorized production of Bicentennial quarter-dollars, half-dollars and dollar coins. Only those three coins would carry the double date, and there would be no changes to the cent, nickel and dime. Reverse designs were to be chosen from entries in an open national competition and coins were slated to be ready for circulation by July 4, 1975.
When the Mint opened the design contest, and offered prizes of $5,000 each to the winning three designs, approximately 900 entries were submitted by the December 1973 deadline. In March of the next year the winning designs were selected and the first examples of the new coins were struck at a special ceremony in Philadelphia on August 12, 1974. A Revolutionary War drummer was chosen for the quarter, a view of Independence Hall in Philadelphia was selected for the half-dollar, and a design depicting the Liberty Bell and the moon was picked for the dollar coin.
Curiously, none of the new designs contained an American eagle as required by law. In wording the legislation for these coins, use of the national emblem was purposely omitted to allow maximum room for a more patriotic theme. The most popularly suggested image for the Bicentennial coin was the Statue of Liberty with over 800 entries. It was not chosen because it was not part of the formative history of the country.
The Bicentennial coins were finished and ready to be placed in circulation on Independence Day 1975 as planned. Coinage of quarters, halves and dollars with traditional designs was halted during the years 1975 and 1976, and only the dual-dated (1776-1976) Bicentennial coins were made during that time. Proof sets for the years 1975 and 1976 contain cents, nickels and dimes with the respective dates, but the quarters, halves and dollars are all Bicentennial coins. These interesting and artistic coins are still occasionally seen in change even after more than a quarter century of use in circulation. Thousands were saved at the time they were issued, and they continue to be spent and appreciated as reminders of our national heritage. A set of all three coins in Proof or Uncirculated condition is still relatively inexpensive, and they are indispensable for any collection of American coins.
Most difficult to find in change today is the Eisenhower dollar with the Liberty Bell reverse. The old large-size dollars went out of use when the smaller Susan B. Anthony coins were introduced in 1979, but thousands of the older pieces are still around in drawers and accumulations along with examples of the Kennedy half-dollar coins that do not circulate in all parts of the country. Even the Drummer Boy quarters are becoming difficult to spot because so many of the Statehood quarters are now in circulation. Searching for Bicentennial coins is definitely worth the effort. They are an American treasure in every sense of the word.
Courtesy of The American Historic Society Coin Collector's Newsletter
