1 Dollar (Trial Strike)

The Eisenhower Dollar Trial Strikes That Weren't Supposed to Exist

On a January morning in 1971, the U.S. Mint pressed a handful of test dollars and announced they would be destroyed. At least three were not. They carry a higher, sharper relief than any coin that ever reached your pocket — the Eisenhower dollar as its designer first imagined it. One of them sold for $264,000.