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1 Dollar Columbus Quincentenary
| Issuer | United States Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1992 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar (1785-date) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A bold rendering of the Santa Maria under full sail dominates the field, depicted bow-on with billowing sails and waves breaking at the hull, the designer's initials TDR incused at lower center. To the upper right a compass rose and a globe showing the Western Hemisphere are prominently featured. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA curves along the upper periphery, with ONE DOLLAR and E PLURIBUS UNUM inscribed in the right field. The dual dates 1492 and 1992 appear in the lower exergue, flanking the ship's keel, commemorating the five-hundredth anniversary of Columbus's first voyage. |
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| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
Congress authorized the Columbus Quincentenary coinage in 1992 as part of a broader commemorative program that also included a half dollar and gold five-dollar piece — a three-coin approach that critics at the time argued was a deliberate revenue-maximizing structure rather than a coherent commemorative concept. Sales were disappointingly weak across all three denominations, a pattern that contributed directly to congressional hearings in the mid-1990s examining the overuse of commemorative coinage and ultimately led to statutory limits on commemorative programs going forward.