Currency

Of the Bicentennial coinage, the Eisenhower dollar is the most elusive, making unremarkable circulated coins perhaps worth pennies over their face value. Nevertheless, it’s fun to find one!

Standard US Mint Proof Set of uncirculated, polished coins.

There’s nothing exceptional about the infamous two-dollar bill. This Series 1976 specimen is special only because it appears that it has never been folded and is in nearly new condition.

The standard, circulated Bicentennial Kennedy half dollar is still worth just about 50 cents, but collectors on the Internet seem willing to pay much more. More than half a billion were made over the course of their two-year production run.

There’s not too much that’s special about these 1976 coins except, well, they’re clean and uncirculated. In addition to the specially produced Bicentennial dollar, half dollar, and quarter, the 1976 dime, nickel, and penny are also part of the sets.

Like modern coins, this one is still pretty much worth its face value: 25 cents. It remains in general circulation.

There are many dubious sellers of expensive Bicentennial quarters online, claiming that no mint mark or a filled in D on the mint mark are somehow special. Both the Philadelphia and West Point mints produced 1976 quarters with no mint marks, so only Denver quarters can be distinguished from the others…and the D is so small that normal wear often makes it look flat.

We used to call these “Drummer Boy Quarters,” as if they had something to with Christmas. The colonial drummer design was the result of a nationwide competition.