John Adams Coin

 

Michael Benton, Contributor

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john adams coinTwo years after an Act of Congress in 2005, the National Mints began to produce $1 Presidential coins. Being that John Adams was the second president of the United States, John Adams coins with his likeness began to appear very early on and eventually 224,560,000 were produced. The John Adams gold coin had the second largest mintage behind only George Washington. Because of errors on the edges of some John Adams dollar coins, an increased value was created due to rarity. The John Adams dollar coin value is dependent on whether or not the coin is one of those produced with an error on the edge lettering. Some John Adams $1 coins were produced with completely smooth edges when they should have had the nation's motto engraved on them. Other John Adams gold coin value has raised significantly because a very rare number had double-lettering engraved on their edges by accident. This was caused by certain John Adams one dollar coins being put through the lettering machine an extra time while being minted.

Some of the John Adams dollar coins are worth more than face value. When the errors on the edges of the John Adams gold coin and the George Washington ones were first reported, someone sold a George Washington coin from that batch on eBay for $600. However, it has also been reported that the John Adams 1 dollar coin value could be even greater if it has a smooth edge because these are even more rare than the George Washington batch. After production of presidential gold coins for open circulation was suspended in 2011, collectors continued to seek out John Adams 1 coins and a few more were minted specifically for these collectors. There continue to be discoveries of rare minting mistakes which raise the John Adams one dollar coin value. Most of the errors on the John Adams $1 coins happened at the Philadelphia Mint, mistakes from the Denver Mint are more rare. There are two different types of double-lettering errors that can change the John Adams dollar coin worth. For one type, the lettering inscriptions both run the same direction. On the other, the inscriptions are flipped inverse of each other.

When John Adams was a member of the Continental Congress, he helped to legislate the first national currency. These so-called "Continentals" were denominated in dollars but quickly lost value because of a lack of coordination between the central Continental Congress and the various states. Too many Continentals were produced and not enough were retired from circulation, creating massive inflation. Because these were paper, they did not have any intrinsic value, unlike a John Adams one dollar gold coin. If the John Adams one dollar coin were actually made of gold, we would expect its value to change as a commodity on the stock market. In actuality, the John Adams 1 dollar coin is made of copper with manganese brass cladding. So the John Adams gold dollar coin value is truly dependent on minting errors or a collector's need.