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The 1976 Bicentennial Dollar was issued to honor the nation’s 200th anniversary. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView. Click image to enlarge.

On July 4, 1976, the United States was celebrating its 200th birthday, and amid the patriotic fervor that swept the nation was the release of special dollar coins that paid homage to the country’s bicentennial. The design of the dual-dated 1776-1976 Bicentennial Dollar coin first emerged in 1974 after the nation held a competition to choose the special reverse motif for the circulating commemorative coin.

The winner whose design was chosen for the 1976 Bicentennial Dollar was Dennis R. Williams, a sculpture student in his early 20s when he submitted his design of the Liberty Bell superimposed upon the Moon. It was a nod to the times, connecting a symbol of early Americana with Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell to patriotic contemporary ambitions – and successes – that the nation’s space program achieved with the first Moon landing and subsequent Lunar missions.

Beginning in 1975, more than 220 million clad Bicentennial Dollars were struck for circulation with the 1776-1976 date – more than enough to supply each of the 213 million Americans of the time with at least one example. Additionally, the United States Mint struck clad proofs that were included in the regularly produced 1975 and 1976 proof sets. But that wasn’t all. Special times call for special offers. The U.S. Mint offered two unique products with its 40% silver three-piece uncirculated set and 40% silver three-piece proof set, each assemblage containing one 40% silver example of the 1976 Bicentennial Quarter, 1976 Bicentennial Half Dollar, and 1976 Bicentennial Dollar, each bearing an “S” mintmark from the San Francisco Mint.

Further intriguing collectors was the early discovery that there were two reverse types for the 1976 Bicentennial Dollar. Type I shows the key reverse lettering in thick, sans-serif font. The lettering was refined with a font featuring more slender characters and serfied feet on the Type II design. The Type I 1976 Dollars were produced for a relatively short time early in the coin’s production run in 1975 and have therefore proven notably scarcer than their more prolific Type II counterparts.

Comparisons between the Type I and Type II 1976 Dollar reverses. Courtesy of PCGS. Click image to enlarge.

While none of the various 1976 Bicentennial Dollar issues is rare in the absolute sense, the coin becomes a conditional rarity in the upper grades – a reality for essentially all of the Ike Dollar issues. This is particularly the case with the clad business strikes, which were handled and processed with less consideration for contact marks and other detractions that come with bulk production of heavy coins like the Eisenhower Dollar.

Consider, for example, a gorgeous 1976 Type II Dollar graded PCGS MS67+ that fetched $10,800 in a January 2024 Heritage Auctions event. Thankfully for collectors of more modest financial means, you can buy beautiful examples of this popular dollar type for less than $25 to $50 in eye-appealing grades of MS65 or MS65. Any of these coins would look terrific in a PCGS Registry Set, and there are many categories to choose from that accommodate this super coin from the 1970s.