Here is the first of three posts from Steve Roach offering insight on some valuable first-year dollar coins:

The theme that unites the three coins selected for this week’s market analysis came by chance. The Eisenhower dollar, Peace dollar and Trade dollar featured each represent the first year of issue of each of their respective types. Some collectors collect first-year of issue coins, and a curious public likes to save new coins. Thus, first-year examples often survive in higher numbers and in finer grades as they were kept as keepsakes rather than used in commerce. These three dollars are exceptional, but each in different ways. 

The Coin
Richly Toned 1971 Eisenhower dollar, MS-65

The Price
$2,256.09 

The Story
With a mintage exceeding 47 million, a 1971 Eisenhower dollar is a common coin. Even in high Mint State grades like MS-65, it’s relatively available with Professional Coin Grading Service certifying 832 at that grade level. 

A normal PCGS MS-65 example might sell for $60 to $80 at auction. At a Sept. 13 GreatCollections online auction, a PCGS MS-65 1971 Eisenhower dollar with extraordinary color sold for a massive $2,256.09, or more than twice what an MS-66 example might bring. 

The unique color on this particular dollar, with rich blue, yellow and rose tones, is closer to what one would expect to see on a silver issue; however, the circulation strike is made from a copper-nickel clad composition, which does not typically tone in rainbow hues. 

Still, it does not represent a record for a 1971 Eisenhower dollar. PCGS has graded four examples in MS-66+ and one of these sold for $10,281 at an October 2014 Stack’s Bowers Galleries auction.