Five Most Popular U.S. Commemorative Coins

1921 Missouri Centennial Half Dollar

The Missouri Centennial Half Dollar features American folk hero Daniel Boone, who lived in Missouri for the last 25 years of his life, on both the obverse and the reverse of the coin.  Boone, along with 30 woodsmen blazed a 200-mile trail through rugged wilderness and into the area that became Kentucky and he is most famous for his exploration and settlement of that area.

The Missouri Exposition Committee planned a large Exposition and State Fair in 1921 and wanted a commemorative coin to help fund the extravaganza. Congress authorized the striking of up to 250,000 Missouri Centennial silver half dollars. This handsome coin celebrates the 100th anniversary of Missouri’s admission into the Union in 1821. Today, known simply as “Missouris” among collectors, these coins are the rarest of all the silver commemorative series and are highly sought after.

Robert Aitken, the designer of the Panama-Pacific fifty dollar gold piece was chosen to craft the Missouri half dollar. The obverse features a striking bust of famous frontiersman Daniel Boone wearing a buckskin shirt and a coonskin cap. The reverse reveals Boone with rifle and powder horn, and a Native American with the words “Missouri Centennial” encircling the top and “Sedalia”, the location of the 100th-anniversary exhibition on the bottom. The Philadelphia Mint struck only 50,000 Missouri half-dollars in July 1921, yet many of these exquisite coins were melted down.

1986 U.S. Statue of Liberty

This is one of the biggest-selling commemorative coins of the modern era, with coins sold totaling 15,491,169. The Statue of Liberty coin was authorized in commemoration of the centennial of the Statue of Liberty.

The funds collected from the coin sale surcharge were used to restore and renovate the Statue of Liberty and the facilities used for immigration at Ellis Island. Additional funds were also used to create an endowment that would ensure the continued upkeep and maintenance of these truly magnificent American monuments. The obverse design of the coin features a close-up view of Liberty and the reverse features a design of Liberty’s torch and inscriptions.

2000 $10 Library of Congress Bi-Metallic Coin

The last coin earned a spot on our list because it is extremely unique as this is the only bimetallic coin produced by the U.S. Mint. The $10 Library of Congress commemorative is comprised of a gold ring around a platinum center. While in American coinage, bimetallic coins are rare, historically many ancient coins were struck in a bimetallic composition. John Mercanti, the designer of the American silver eagle, designed the coin’s obverse, illustrating the hand of Minerva raises the torch of learning over the Jefferson Building. On the reverse, a laurel wreath encircles the Seal of the Library of Congress.

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