Chester Arthur 2012 US Presidential One Dollar Coin
The Chester Arthur Presidential Dollar marked a significant shift for the coin series created to honor the former Presidents of the United States. This was the first coin which was not produced and distributed for general circulation, but only struck in limited quantities for release within numismatic products.
Leading up to the sixth year of the series, there had been some controversy and debate about the status of the program. The legislative requirement for Federal Reserve Banks to make the coins available during an introductory period led to an unintended stockpile of coins, stored at the expense of taxpayers. In response, several bills were introduced in Congress seeking to limit or abolish the series. Meanwhile, a study by the GAO determined savings of billions of dollars if the United States switched from paper dollars to coins. This prompted a bill which would require the transition to dollar coins within four years. Although none of the legislation became law, the Treasury Department used existing authority to suspend production of the coins for circulation.
After a delay from the original release date, the United States Mint began sales of rolls and boxes containing circulating quality examples of the Chester Arthur Presidential Dollar from either the Philadelphia or Denver Mint. On April 5, 2012, sales began for 25-coin rolls priced at $32.95, 250-coin boxes priced at $275.95, and 500-coin boxes priced at $550.95. On April 30, 100-coin bags were offered for sale priced at $111.95 each. All products came in special numismatic packaging, which indicated the President, mint mark, and face value of the contents.
Sales levels for these products quickly surpassed the US Mint’s initial demand estimate of 5 million coins. This required the Mint to restart production of the coins to fulfill demand from collector orders. Across the Philadelphia and Denver Mint facilities, the Mint would strike 10,080,000 circulating quality coins in total.
Later in the year, Chester Arthur Dollars were also included in the typically offered First Day Cover, annual sets, and newly introduced 4 coin sets.
The obverse of the Chester Arthur was designed and sculpted by Don Everhart. The portrait was surrounded by the required inscriptions indicating the President’s name, “In God We Trust”, the order of the Presidency, and the years served.
The reverse design of the coin carried the familiar rendition of the Statue of Liberty also designed by Don Everhart with inscriptions “United States of America” and the denomination “$1″.
Chester Arthur had assumed the Presidency in October 1881, following the assassination of James Garfield. He had only served for six months in the position of Vice President and prior to that was Collector of the Port of New York. During his tenure as president, he became a champion for civil service reform.
Chester Arthur Presidential Dollar Coin Specifications:
Diameter: 26.5 mm
Weight: 8.1g
Thickness: 2.0 mm
Edge: Lettered
Composition: 88.5% copper, 6% zinc, 3.5% manganese, 2% nickel
Mintage: 6,020,000 (Philadelphia), 4,060,000 (Denver)
Presidential $1 Coin — Lady Liberty Reverse Statue of Liberty, 1886
She is the work of sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, who enlisted the assistance of engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, designer of the Eiffel Tower, to help him solve some of the structural challenges presented by creating a statue of such magnitude.
The Statue of Liberty was completed in 1884 and shipped to the United States in June 1885, having been disassembled into 350 individual pieces that were packed in over 200 crates for the transatlantic voyage. In four months’ time, she was re-assembled in New York Harbor, standing just over 151 feet from the top of the statue’s base to the tip of the torch her right hand holds high above the waters of New York Harbor.
Originally intended as a gift to celebrate the American Centennial in 1876, the Statue of Liberty was given to the United States as a symbol of the friendship forged between the new American government and the government of France during the American Revolutionary War.
The tablet she holds in her left hand carries the inscription "July IV MDCCLXXVI" in reference to the July 4, 1776, signing of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the Nation.
There are 25 windows running the length of Lady Liberty’s crown, which is topped by seven rays, meant to convey both the light of the sun and the seven seas and continents of the world.
For millions of Americans, the Statue of Liberty was the first sight that their ancestors saw as they arrived in America after having left their homes in search of a better life for themselves and for their families.
To celebrate her 100th anniversary, the Statue of Liberty was featured on a United States commemorative coin in 1986. In 1997, a close-up image of the Lady Liberty was chosen for the obverse of the new American Eagle platinum coins.
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| Chester Arthur 2012 One Dollar Coin Cover |
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| Chester Arthur 2012 Presidential One Dollar Coin & First Spouse Medal Set |
Presidential $1 Coins
Presidential Dollar Coins feature larger, more dramatic artwork, as well as edge-incused inscriptions meant to revitalize the design of United States coins and return circulating coinage to its position as an object of aesthetic beauty.The U.S. Mint launched the Presidential $1 Coin Program in 2007. The 10-year initiative includes one dollar coins featuring obverse designs honoring the Presidents in the order in which they served in office.
Read less Image of Presidential $1 Coins
The U.S. Mint produces and issues four Presidential Dollar coins per year, each with a common reverse design featuring a striking rendition of the Statue of Liberty. The program was authorized by the Presidential $1 Dollar Coin Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-145).
2007 Presidential Dollars
2008 Presidential Dollars
2009 Presidential Dollars
2010 Presidential Dollars
2011 Presidential Dollars
2012 Presidential Dollars
Chester Arthur Grover Cleveland, First Term Benjamin Harrison
2013 Presidential Dollars
2014 Presidential Dollars
2015 Presidential Dollars
2016 Presidential Dollars
Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 21st President of the United States (1881–1885); he succeeded James A. Garfield upon the latter's assassination. At the outset, Arthur struggled to overcome a slightly negative reputation, which stemmed from his early career in politics as part of New York's Republican political machine. He succeeded by embracing the cause of civil service reform. His advocacy for, and subsequent enforcement of, the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was the centerpiece of his administration.
Arthur was born in Fairfield, Vermont, grew up in upstate New York, and practiced law in New York City. He served as quartermaster general in the New York Militia during the American Civil War. Following the war, he devoted more time to Republican politics and quickly rose in the political machine run by New York Senator Roscoe Conkling. Appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to the lucrative and politically powerful post of Collector of the Port of New York in 1871, Arthur was an important supporter of Conkling and the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party. In 1878 the new president, Rutherford B. Hayes, fired Arthur as part of a plan to reform the federal patronage system in New York. When Garfield won the Republican nomination for president in 1880, Arthur, an eastern Stalwart, was nominated for vice president to balance the ticket.
After just half a year as vice president, Arthur found himself in the executive mansion due to the assassination of his predecessor. To the surprise of reformers, Arthur took up the cause of reform, though it had once led to his expulsion from office. He signed the Pendleton Act into law and strongly enforced its provisions. He gained praise for his veto of a Rivers and Harbors Act that would have appropriated federal funds in a manner he thought excessive. He presided over the rebirth of the United States Navy, but was criticized for failing to alleviate the federal budget surplus, which had been accumulating since the end of the Civil War.
Suffering from poor health, Arthur made only a limited effort to secure the Republican Party's nomination in 1884; he retired at the close of his term. Journalist Alexander McClure later wrote, "No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted as Chester Alan Arthur, and no one ever retired ... more generally respected, alike by political friend and foe." Although his failing health and political temperament combined to make his administration less active than a modern presidency, he earned praise among contemporaries for his solid performance in office. The New York World summed up Arthur's presidency at his death in 1886: "No duty was neglected in his administration, and no adventurous project alarmed the nation." Mark Twain wrote of him, "It would be hard indeed to better President Arthur's administration." Over the 20th and 21st centuries, however, Arthur's reputation mostly faded among the public. Although some have praised his economic policies, present-day historians and scholars list him among the bottom half when ranking the American presidents.