1972 Eisenhower Silver Dollar
"Blue Ike" Packaging
The United States Mint produced special Eisenhower Silver Dollars for collectors for most years of the series. These coins were struck with a composition of 40% silver or "silver clad", rather than the typical composition of 90% silver, and produced at the San Francisco Mint. These coins were not issued for circulation, but offered for sale directly to collectors at a premium.
The uncirculated versions of the Eisenhower Silver Dollars were packaged within blue envelopes. Within the envelope, the Eisenhower Dollar was sealed within one window of a cellophane wrapper with a blue plastic token sealed in a second window. Because of the color of the outer packaging, many collectors refer to these coins as "Blue Ikes".
Blue Ikes were offered for four years from 1971 to 1974. During this time, the coins were sold to collectors for $3.00 each. When the coins were first announced, the US Mint stated that they intended to produced 150 million of the silver content coins. This proved to be ridiculously optimistic. Under 7 million of the coins were sold in 1971, and the sales totals dropped to lower levels in subsequent years.
The lowest mintage Blue Ike was the 1973, with only 1,883,140 produced. This coin carries a premium above the other uncirculated Silver Eisenhower Dollars.
