The 2013 5-Star Generals Silver Dollar

Most American coins honor one person at a time. This one honors two — and they belong together.

George C. Marshall and Dwight D. Eisenhower were the two ends of the same war. Marshall, as Army Chief of Staff, built the force that fought World War II from a peacetime skeleton into millions of soldiers. Eisenhower, the man Marshall chose, commanded that force across Europe. Put their portraits on one coin and you have the architect and the field commander, the planner and the executor, side by side.

There was a quieter reason to pair them, too. Both men had studied at the same place: the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas — the school that turns combat officers into the staff officers who run armies. Five of America's most famous "five-star" generals passed through it, as students or instructors. The coin exists to mark that school's 132nd anniversary and, by law, to raise money for the foundation that supports it.

So in 2013 the Mint struck a three-coin set honoring all five of those generals. The silver dollar — the centerpiece — went to Marshall and Eisenhower.

The obverse — the "heads" side — carries both generals in profile against a striped field, with the five-star insignia of their rank set between and above them. Their names ring the edge: GEORGE C. MARSHALL and DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER. The artist behind the portrait was Richard Masters, one of the Mint's outside designers in its Artistic Infusion Program; Mint sculptor-engraver Joseph Menna turned the drawing into the steel die that strikes the coin.

The reverse — the "tails" side — leaves the men behind and turns to the school itself. At its center sits the Leavenworth Lamp, the lamp of knowledge that serves as the emblem of the Command and General Staff College, with the college's heraldic crest on its side. It is a deliberate piece of symbolism: these generals were not born commanders, the coin argues; they were taught. The reverse was designed by Barbara Fox and likewise sculpted by Joseph Menna.

The pairing across the three coins is worth knowing. The silver dollar holds Marshall and Eisenhower. The clad half dollar carries Henry "Hap" Arnold and Omar Bradley. The $5 gold coin stands alone with Douglas MacArthur. Five generals, three denominations, one school.

This is a modern commemorative, which shapes how collectors think about it. Modern commemoratives were never released into circulation — you bought them from the Mint, in a box, with a certificate. That changes what "rare" means.

The number that matters is the mintage. Congress authorized up to 500,000 silver dollars, but the public bought far fewer: 69,283 of the proof version (struck at Philadelphia, mint mark P) and just 34,638 of the uncirculated version (struck at West Point, mint mark W). The mint mark — the small letter showing which facility made the coin — is how you tell them apart. The uncirculated coin is the scarcer of the two by a wide margin, and that scarcity is the main reason a collector chooses one over the other.

Because these coins came from the Mint already pristine, condition is rarely the drama it is with old circulated coinage — most surviving examples grade very high. The interest here is the subject and the relatively low sales, not the hunt for an unworn survivor. A coin that pairs Marshall and Eisenhower, struck in 90% silver, sold in modest numbers, tends to hold a quiet appeal for collectors of military and World War II themes.