The U.S. presidential dollar coin was made from 2007 to 2011. Each coin features the likeness of a U.S. president. The program was intended to mimic the state quarter program, which minted quarters honoring each of the 50 U.S. states. Making the dollar coins cost an estimated $50 million US Dollars (USD) a year, but demand for the coins was so low that 1.4 billion of the coins were relegated to storage vaults. The government stopped the program in December 2011 after spending more than $720 million USD to make them.
More facts about U.S. coins:
- The presidential dollar is not the only U.S. dollar coin. There also are Sacagawea dollars, 1804 dollars, Liberty dollars, Susan B. Anthony dollars, Morgan dollars, Peace dollars and Flowing Hair dollars, among others.
- The dollar coin program had gotten through only about half of its scheduled production before it was suspended.
- Although the dollar coins have cost taxpayers a lot of money by going unused, if they were used and the dollar bill was phased out, the coins would actually save money. This is because the coins last significantly longer than bills; coins can last for as long as 30 years, but bills wear out about every 21 months. If paper dollars were substituted with coins, the government could save an estimated $1 billion USD a year on production costs.