Andrew Jackson Dollar

Our auction adventure was so exciting, for the first time in almost two years I missed the launch of a Presidential Dollar. Last Thursday, while you were reading about our carload of old books, numismatists were drooling over the newest in the U.S. Mint’s series of dollar coins featuring past U.S. presidents: Andrew Jackson.

Our seventh president, Jackson had a speckled history, adored and abhorred in almost equal parts, in both cases for his strong-arm politics and expansionist ideals. Our current monetary system, relying on currency exchanges and heavy debt, would have incensed Jackson. He opposed paper currency, preferring a system (as he believed the Constitution required) where coins had a financial value equal to the precious metals they were made from, and he believed paper currency not secured by precious metals undermined the value of U.S. money. Having his own coin, despite the lack of serious precious metals within, would definitely have pleased the president.

His opposition to paper currency and intent to disband the national banking system during his presidency may have generated some subtle revenge from those printing paper currency: according to this site, Jackson was one of the most frequent faces on state-issued unsecured paper currency that he so opposed. During the period after Jackson eliminated the Bank of the United States, he tried to enforce gold or silver backing by requiring the independent banks to trade in ‘specie’, or silver coin only, when trading with the federal government. The goal largely failed, resulting in a depression and banking collapse, and eventually government banking control returned after his departure from office.

The most common Andrew Jackson currency you’re familiar with — probably due to using an ATM machine — is the $20 bill. Backed by both the gold and silver standards over the years, Jackson probably would have accepted the firm foundation of his currency. In 1928, Jackson replaced Grover Cleveland on the front of the twenty, and has been the face of the twenty for the past eighty years. Prior to appearing on the twenty, Jackson also appeared on various treasury notes and bonds in the $5 – $10 face-value range. These notes can be quite rare, varying in size and style from year to year, and can be worth hundreds of dollars on the collectible currency market today.

As for the presidential dollar, the U.S. Mint continues its stretch of avoiding serious minting errors. The coin has been out for a few days now, and in the past most new presidential coins have minting errors for sale on eBay before the coin is even officially released, but reports of errors on the Jackson dollar have been remarkably silent. The Jackson dollar has some of the slight “errors” that are common to all the presidential dollars, such as normal die wear and variances in the edge lettering. One interesting variance being presented in the Jackson dollar is amusingly referred to by one seller as “Sad Eyed Andy.” In these cases, the die used either has noticeable wear around the eyes, affecting the coin’s relief. When comparing to the Mint’s sample image of the photo, the difference is very slight, and not unexpected in the minting process.