As the US Mint announced at the beginning of last December, they have selected the designs for the Presidential Dollar Coins that are coming this year. In 2014, the presidential collection will feature the 29^th to the 32^nd presidents of the United Stated, namely Harding, Coolidge, Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Presidential Dollar Coin collection is a program started in 2007 at the directive of the Congress that asked the Mint to release four dollar coins each year for general circulation. In spite of the fact that over the past few years the Mint released an impressive number of coins, it appears that the American public never actually took to them. Due to the substantial amount of unused presidential dollar coins that were never in demand, the Mint decided to discontinue the program in 2011.

It wasn’t the Mint’s first failed attempt

While it is true that the 2007 program was an express directive from the US Congress, it is necessary to mention that the US Mint is not at its first attempt to get the public to embrace the dollar coins. As some collectors recall, the Mint tried to introduce the Susan B. Anthony dollar in 1979, a release that was a complete failure, because numerous people complained the coins can be easily confused with quarters.

In a further effort to capture the public’s attention, the Mint also issued the Sacajawea dollar in 2000. Apparently, they learned something from the failed release of the Susan B. Anthony trial, as the new coin incorporated several features that made it clearly distinct from other coinage in circulation. Nevertheless, even the large marketing campaign didn’t help the Sacajawea dollar capture the hearts of the general public.

The revised Presidential Dollar Coins program

Even though the 2007 program was rather unpopular, the Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner stated that the Mint didn’t discontinue the Presidential Dollar Coins, but rather decided to issue them in smaller numbers. The current program is scheduled to take place until 2016 and the last presidents to appear on the coins are Nixon, Ford and Reagan. If you’re wondering why George Bush, Clinton, Bush Jr. and Obama are not making the list, it’s because a president needs to be dead for two years before becoming eligible to appear on the presidential dollars.

Currently, the assortment addresses passionate collectors who can hardly wait to get a complete set of these commemorative coins. All signs indicate that third time’s a charm and that this year the dollar coin might actually get some takes.

The special features of the Presidential Dollar Coins

The traits of the presidential coins are rather interesting and the coinage is the first in the US history to have engravings at the edge of the coin. While you might say that this is just a trick to make the coins more attractive for collectors, in reality the feature was necessary to make enough room to add more information about each president. Moreover, instead of the word “liberty” common for the US coinage, the Presidential Dollars introduced the Statue of Liberty on the back for this purpose.