Commemorative Coins
Commemorative Coins are special coins that are made to celebrate and honor special people, places, events and institutions. These coins are usually made in limited quantity and for a limited time period, usually one year.
Commemorative Coins also help raise money for special projects. A surcharge is added to the cost of the coins that goes to these projects and organizations.
One example is the Bald Eagle Commemorative Coin Program in the United States. The surcharges from this program are paid to the American Eagle Foundation of Tennessee whose purpose is to save and protect the Bald Eagles which are the National Emblem of the United States.
The Bald Eagle was once on the Endangered Species List, but due in part to the funds received from this program, the Bald Eagle is now making a come back.
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Commemorative Coins are not usually minted for circulation even though they are legal tenderLegal Tender
Coins or currency which must be accepted in payment of debt.
Most of the time, they are meant for collectors and other people wanting a souvenir of some special event or person.
There are some exceptions however, including the United States 50 State Quarters Program, the Presidential $1 Coins and the Lincoln Bicentennial One Cent Program.
The Westward Journey Nickel Series, which commemorates the bicentennials of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition, are another example of a circulating commemorative coin series.
Other United States coins started out as Commemorative Coins and became a long running series because of their popularity. The Lincoln Cent and the Washington Quarter are a couple of examples.
Non-circulating United States Commemorative Coins
Modern Commeratives
2009
- 2009 Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Silver Dollar Program
- 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar Program
2008
- 2008 Bald Eagle Commemorative Coin Program
2007
- 2007 Little Rock Central High School Desegregation Silver Dollar Program
- 2007 Jamestown 400th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Program
2006
- 2006 San Francisco Old Mint Commemorative Coin Program
- 2006 Benjamin Franklin Coin Program
2005
- Chief Justice John Marshall Silver Dollar
- Marine Corps 230th Anniversary Silver Dollar
2004
- Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Silver Dollar
- Thomas Alva Edison Commemorative Coin
2003
- First Flight Centennial Coins
2002
- West Point Bicentennial Coin
- Olympic Winter Games Coins
2001
- American Buffalo Commemorative Coins
- U.S. Capitol Visitor Center Coins
2000
- Leif Ericson Millennium Commemorative Coins
- Library of Congress Coins
1999
- Yellowstone National Park Silver Dollar
- George Washington Gold $5
- The Dolley Madison Commemorative Silver Dollar
1998
- Black Revolutionary War Patriots Dollar
- Robert F. Kennedy Dollar
1997
- National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Dollar
- Jackie Robinson Commemorative Coins
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt Gold $5
- Botanic Garden Dollar
1996
- Smithsonian 150th Anniversary Dollar
- Smithsonian 150th Anniversary Gold $5
- National Community Service Dollar
- Centennial Olympics (Cauldron) Gold $5
- Centennial Olympics (Flag Bearer) Gold $5
- Centennial Olympics (High Jump) Dollar
- Centennial Olympics (Rowing) Dollar
- Centennial Olympics (Paralympics) Dollar
- Centennial Olympics (Tennis) Dollar
- Centennial Olympics (Soccer) Half Dollar
- Centennial Olympics (Swimming) Half Dollar
1995
- Centennial Olympics (Stadium) Gold $5
- Centennial Olympics (Torch Runner) Gold $5
- Centennial Olympics (Cycling) Dollar
- Centennial Olympics (Track & Field) Dollar
- Centennial Olympics (Paralympics) Dollar
- Centennial Olympics (Gymnastics) Dollar
- Centennial Olympics (Baseball) Half Dollar
- Centennial Olympics (Basketball) Half Dollar
- Civil War Battlefield Gold $5
- Civil War Battlefield Dollar
- Civil War Battlefield Half Dollar
- Special Olympics World Games Dollar
1994
- U.S. Capitol Bicentennial Dollar
- Women in the Armed Forces Dollar
- American Prisoners of War Dollar
- Vietnam War Memorial/Washington, DC 10th Anniversary Dollar
- Thomas Jefferson 250th Anniversary Dollar
- World Cup Tournament Gold $5
- World Cup Tournament Dollar
- World Cup Tournament Half Dollar
1993
- (1991-1995) World War II 50th Anniversary Gold $5
- (1991-1995) World War II 50th Anniversary Dollar
- (1991-1995) World War II 50th Anniversary Half Dollar
- Bill of Rights Gold $5
- Bill of Rights Dollar
- Bill of Rights Half Dollar
1992
- Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Gold $5
- Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Dollar
- Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Half Dollar
- White House 200th Anniversary Dollar
- Olympics (France and Spain) Gold $5
- Olympics (France and Spain)Dollar
- Olympics (France and Spain) Half Dollar
1991
- USO (United Service Organizations) Dollar
- Korean War Memorial Dollar
- Mount Rushmore Golden Anniversary Gold $5
- Mount Rushmore Golden Anniversary Dollar
- Mount Rushmore Golden Anniversary Half Dollar
1990
- Eisenhower Centennial Dollar
1989
- Congress Bicentennial Gold $5
- Congress Bicentennial Dollar
- Congress Bicentennial Half Dollar
1988
- Olympics (Seoul) Gold $5
- 1988 Olympics (Seoul) Dollar
1987
- Constitution Bicentennial Gold $5
- Constitution Bicentennial Dollar
1986
- Statue of Liberty Gold $5
- Statue of Liberty Dollar
- Statue of Liberty Half Dollar
1984
- 1984 Olympics (Los Angeles) Gold Eagle/Runners
- 1984 Olympics (Los Angeles) Dollar/Coliseum
1983
- 1984 Olympics (Los Angeles) Dollar/DiscusThrower
1982
- George Washington 250th Anniversary Half Dollar
Early Commemoratives
- 1951-54 George Washington Carver-Booker T. WashingtonHalf Dollar
- 1946-51 Booker T. Washington Memorial Half Dollar
- 1946 Iowa Centennial Half Dollar
- 1938 New Rochelle, New York Half Dollar
- 1937 Roanoke Island, North Carolina Half Dollar
- 1937 Battle of Antietam Half Dollar
- 1936 York County, Maine Tercentenary Half Dollar
- 1936 Wisconsin Territorial Centennial Half Dollar
- 1936 Robinson-Arkansas Centennial Half Dollar
- 1936 Providence, Rhode Island Tercentenary Half Dollar
- 1936 Norfolk, Virginia Bicentennial Half Dollar
- 1936 Lynchburg, Virginia Sesquicentennial Half Dollar
- 1936 Long Island Tercentenary Half Dollar
- 1936 Battle of Gettysburg Half Dollar
- 1936 Elgin, Illinois Centennial Half Dollar
- 1936 Delaware Tercentenary Half Dollar
- 1936 Columbia, South Carolina Sesquicentennial Half Dollar
- 1936 Cleveland Great Lakes Exposition Half Dollar
- 1936 Cincinnati Music Center Half Dollar
- 1936 Bridgeport, Connecticut Centennial Half Dollar
- 1936 Bay Bridge San Francisco-Oakland Half Dollar
- 1936 Albany, New York Charter Half Dollar
- 1935-36 San Diego-California-Pacific Exposition Half Dollar
- 1935 Old Spanish Trail Half Dollar
- 1935 Hudson, New York Sesquicentennial Half Dollar
- 1935 Connecticut Tercentenary Half Dollar
- 1935-39 Arkansas Centennial Half Dollar
- 1934-38 Texas Centennial Half Dollar
- 1934 Maryland Tercentenary Half Dollar
- 1934-38 Daniel Boone Bicentennial Half Dollar
- 1928 Hawaiian Sesquicentennial Half Dollar
- 1927 Vermont Sesquicentennial (Bennington) Half Dollar
- 1926 Sesquicentennial of American Independence Quarter Eagle
- 1926 Sesquicentennial of American Independence Half Dollar
- 1926, 1928, 1933-34, 1936-39 Oregon Trail Memorial Half Dollar
- 1925 Fort Vancouver Centennial Half Dollar
- 1925 Stone Mountain Memorial Half Dollar
- 1925 Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial Half Dollar
- 1925 California Diamond Jubilee Half Dollar
- 1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary Half Dollar
- 1923 Monroe Doctrine Centennial Half Dollar
- 1922 Grant Memorial Gold Dollar
- 1922 Grant Memorial Half Dollar
- 1921 Missouri Centennial Half Dollar
- 1921 Alabama Centennial Half Dollar
- 1920-21 Pilgrim Tercentenary Half Dollar
- 1920 Maine Centennial Half Dollar
- 1918 Illinois Centennial Half Dollar
- 1916-17 McKinley Memorial Gold Dollar
- 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition Gold $50 (Octagonal)
- 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition Gold $50 (Round)
- 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition Quarter-Eagle
- 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition Gold Dollar
- 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition Half Dollar
- 1904-05 Lewis and Clark Exposition Gold Dollar
- 1903 Louisiana Purchase Exposition Gold Dollar (McKinley)
- 1903 Louisiana Purchase Exposition Gold Dollar (Jefferson)
- 1900 Lafayette Dollar
- 1893 Queen Isabella Quarter Dollar
- 1892-93 Columbian Exposition Half Dollar
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