No 40 percent silver dollars were minted after 1974. The appetite for collecting had diminished too. Money was being spent minting coins which did not circulate. One coin expert estimated that 70 percent of circulating Eisenhower dollars were being used in casinos.īy 1978, the writing was on the wall for the Eisenhower dollar. Their main advantage was in gaming, where they were often used in place of casino tokens. The new coins were large and heavy, which meant that they weren’t popular for everyday use. That gave rise to the nicknames “brown Ikes” and “blue Ikes”, by which the coins are still known today. The first mint state silver coins were enclosed in film and a blue envelope. The first proof coins were presented in a plastic holder inside a brown wooden box.

For the collecting market, some coins were also produced with a silver cladding, making them 40 percent silver. So the new dollars were made with a copper core and clad in a mixture of nickel and copper. The rise in silver prices since 1965 meant that a silver coin was too expensive to produce. After a couple of years of wrangling over what the coins would be made from, the first Eisenhower dollars were minted in 1971. There were calls to honor him on the nation’s coinage. Then, in March 1969, former president Dwight D. With no new large-scale dollars having been produced for over 30 years, the issue was becoming ever more pressing. One was that the US gaming industry needed new silver dollars for use in slot machines up and down the country. But by 1971, two factors combined to change that. No other coin in this format had been minted since the last “Peace Dollar” in 1935.

A PR69DCAM (deep cameo) 1978 silver dollar is today valued at around $30.Ĭlassic large, silver dollars had gone out of favor for some years before the arrival of the Eisenhower dollar. Only proof and uncirculated coins were made at the San Francisco mint. And we’ll also cover the history and features of this fascinating coin. So what does that mean for the 1978 silver dollar value? We’re going to look at that question. The last one was minted in 1978, marking a moment in US numismatic history. Its size, weight and luster set it apart from modern versions. There’s something wonderful about the classic silver dollar.

Rare 1972 eisenhower dollar