Q. David Bowers
"A series of ceremonial strikes by invited guests followed under the direction of Deputy Mint Director Eugene H. Essner. Among those striking either gold or silver pieces were Stephen Taylor, president of the American Numismatic Association, congressional staff officials, the designers of the coins, and members of the Commission of Fine Arts. Essner announced that the coins struck at the ceremony would be individually packaged and offered to the persons striking them for purchase. He ended the program with a final strike."
Congressmen from both houses were given the opportunity to donate a Con-gress Bicentennial coin, denomination unspecified, to the charity or other non-profit recipient of their choice. The silver dollars produced at the ceremony were Proofs with an S mintmark and the $5 gold issues were Proof 1989-W coins.
Production
Uncirculated 1989-D Congress Bicentennial silver dollars were produced at the Denver Mint and Proof 1989-S silver dollars of the same type were struck at San Francisco. Final distribution figures amounted to 135,203 Uncirculated Denver Mint coins and 762,198 Proof San Francisco Mint coins.
An Unusual Variety
A number of 1989-D Congress Bicentennial dollars were made with the reverse oriented in the same direction as the obverse, rather than 1800 apart. In a letter to the author Arnold Margolis explained how this happened: (Letter dated March 19, 1991. Arnold Margolis was visiting the Philadelphia Mint in connection with research for his book, The Error Coin Encyclopedia.) "I have some information about the die orientation of the [1989-D Congress Bicentennial] dollars. It came to me as a casual remark made while at the Philadelphia Mint. During our tour we were shown the mechanical arrangements by which the flat areas are applied to the rear shanks of the dies. These flat areas allow the installation of the dies in the presses at the correct orientation. In this manner the question of 'rotated dies' is eliminated (mostly!). During our discussions there was a casual mention that they no longer apply flats to the dollar dies. The reason was a mechanical one.
"It seems that there are two different kinds of presses used to strike the larger coins. When the dies (which had the flat areas on the shanks) were installed in one press, the coins struck had the normal orientation of the designs with respect to the obverse-reverse relationship. When the same dies were installed in the other press, the designs were misaligned 180 degrees. After a number of these coins were issued (no figures were given) and the numismatic hobby raised a fuss about them, the Mint became aware of the problem. To eliminate the problem they chose to produce round shank dies (with no flat areas). That way they could install the dies in the presses manually and orient them to produce the desired design orientation."
Harry Forman provided this information: (Letter to the author, April 7, 1991.) "I have handled 18 of these coins, and I have sold most in the $1,500 to $2,000 range. I doubt if 50 pieces are known, and I am sure the mintage can't be over 200 pieces. It definitely is a coiner's error, and only the coiner responsible can ever give us the correct figures, as he apparently realized his mistake and corrected the die alignment."
Collecting 1989 Congress Bicentennial Silver Dollars
Uncirculated 1989-D and Proof 1989-S Congress Bicentennial silver dollars are readily available in condition as issued. The 1989-D with misaligned reverse is a rarity, and only several dozen or so are known, although it is probably the case that many recipients of coins and sets have not checked their pieces for this error feature. (In a conversation with the author, April 1, 1991, Alan Herbert of Numismatic News stated that 29 different specimens had been reported to him.)
Commemorating: Bicentennial of the U.S. Congress operating under the Constitution
Obverse motif: Statue of Freedom
Reverse motif: Mace of the House of Representatives
Authorization date: November 17, 1988
Dates on coins: 1989 (also 1789)
Dates when coins were actually minted: 1989-1990
Mints used: Denver, San Francisco (plus a few pieces struck in a ceremony in Washington, D.C.)
Maximum quantity authorized: 3,000,000
Total quantity minted: Information not released by the Mint
Quantity melted: Information not released by the Mint
Net number distributed: 135,203 Uncirculated Denver Mint coins; 762,198 Proof San Francisco Mint coins
Issued by: U.S. Mint, P.O. Box 13636, Philadelphia, PA 19162-0030; also P.O. Box 8140, Philadelphia, PA 19101-8140; also Customer Service Center, United States Mint, 10001 Aerospace Road, Lanham, MD 20706
Standard original packaging: Various options (see text).
Official sale prices: Uncirculated Denver Mint coins $23 in advance (later, $26; also sold as part of other options-see text); Proof San Francisco Mint coins $25 in advance (later, $29; also sold as part of other options-see text)
Designer of obverse and reverse: William Woodward assisted by Chester Y. Martin (obverse motif adapted from Thomas Crawford's Statue of Freedom)
Interesting fact: A few were struck at a provisional "mint" set up in front of the Capitol in Washington, D. C.
(average market prices)
1990 (December) MS-65 $24
(average market prices)
1990 (December) MS-65 $1,500 to $2,000
(average market prices)
1990 (December) Proof-65 $29