The 2007 George Washington dollar coin was the first of the Presidential Dollar Coins to hit the minting presses. As such, this dollar coin is often seen as the most valuable of the various presidential dollars the US Mint has produced since then.
Timing is just a part of what makes the George Washington dollar valuable, however, so, let’s examine what else makes this coin special and why you might be interested in it.
2007 George Washington Dollar Coin Details
- Category: Presidential Dollars (2007-2020)
- Mint: Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco
- Mintage: 344,325,989
- Obverse Designer: Joseph Menna
- Reverse Designer: Don Everhart
- Composition: Manganese and Brass
- Diameter: 26.5 mm
- Edge: Lettered
- Weight: 8.07 g
Made with manganese and brass, the George Washington coin doesn’t include any silver or gold even though they are also called “gold dollars”. The reason why these dollars are only gold-colored but don’t include actual gold is to make sure people don’t hoard them for their melting value.
What makes it valuable isn’t its metal composition, of course, but what the coin symbolizes, its rarity (particularly in mint/uncirculated condition), the fact that there have been no George Washington dollars before 2007, as well as the occasional error in production.
2007 George Washington Dollar Coin Value Chart |
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| Mint mark | Uncirculated (MS/PF 60) | Uncirculated (MS/PF 65-68) | Uncirculated (MS/PF 70) |
| George Washington “D” Dollar Coin | ~$15 | ~$300 | $1,000+ |
| George Washington “P” Dollar Coin | ~$15 | ~$300 | $1,000+ |
| George Washington “S” Proof Dollar Coin | n/a | $300-$1,000 | $1,000+ |
2007 George Washington Dollar Coin Value and Varieties Guides
2007 George Washington “P” Dollar Coin
- Place of minting: Philadelphia Mint
- Mint mark: P
- Year of minting: 2007
- Quantity produced: 176,680,000
- Designer: Joseph Menna & Don Everhart
- Edge: Lettered
The Philadelphia Mint was tasked to print the bigger chunk of the 2007 George Washington coins – more than the other two mints combined, albeit by a small margin.
The over 176 million coins minted in Philly sound like they’d make this variant of the coin less valuable but that’s not really the case as there are close to as many Denver coins and the two variants are virtually indistinguishable aside from their different mint marks.
2007 George Washington “D” Dollar Coin
- Place of minting: Denver Mint
- Mint mark: D
- Year of minting: 2007
- Quantity produced: 163,680,000
- Designer: Joseph Menna & Don Everhart
- Edge: Lettered
With over 163 million coins minted, the Denver Mint is responsible for almost half of the 2007 George Washington dollar coins. These coins were minted with the same specifications as those from the Philadelphia Mint.
2007 George Washington “S” Proof Dollar Coin
- Place of minting: San Francisco Mint
- Mint mark: S
- Year of minting: 2007
- Quantity produced: 3,965,989
- Designer: Joseph Menna & Don Everhart
- Edge: Lettered
As usual for the President Dollar Coins program, the San Francisco Mint only produced proof coins for the George Washington Dollar. The total number was close to 4 million and, as proof coins, these were struck with much higher quality and detail and are, therefore, more valuable on average.
2007 George Washington Dollar Coin History
It may surprise many people that there wasn’t a George Washington one dollar coin prior to 2007 even though it seems like there should have been. The reason we finally got a one dollar coin with the image of the first US president was George Bush’s 2005 decision to put forward the President Dollar Coins program.
According to that program, the US Mint would make new 1 Dollar coins for every US president that has passed away at least two years ago. Starting with George Washington, the Mint has produced coins with the busts of all eligible US presidents up to the last one to pass away, Ronald Reagan.
Of all of the presidents featured in the President Dollar Coin program, George Washington’s coins are by far the most valuable. This seems to be due to numerous factors:
- As the first US president, George Washington holds a special place in the minds of most Americans even compared to some of the other late and great presidents such as Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK, and others.
- George Washington hadn’t had a US dollar minted with his bust before even though it feels like he should have.
- Being the first coins of the President Dollar Coins program, the George Washington dollars naturally attracted the most attention.
And then, there are the typical factors that make a coin valuable – its rarity, quality, and certain production errors it might have been made with. In the case of the George Washington dollar coin as well as all other coins of the President Dollar Coins program, the rarity is built-in as each of them was minted only once in limited quantities.
As for the potential continuation of the program – it is expected that such coins will continue to be minted two years after the passing of each subsequent former US president, however, approval from Congress will still be required for that to happen.
Regardless, Bush’s President Dollar Coin program seems to have been a huge success with numismatists as some of the coins it produced – including the George Washington dollar coin – have become quite popular.
2007 George Washington Dollar Coin Grading
The George Washington coins that made it to wide circulation won’t fetch you a price much higher than their face value of $1. A circulated dollar that has somehow remained particularly pristine may cost $2 or even up to $10 for a 65 grade and $75 for a 68+ grade. Such instances are rare, however, and it’s usually not worth the time to look too hard at a circulated 2007 George Washington dollar.
The coins that are worth much more, however, are the ones that never made it to wide circulation because they were bought up by collectors right away. The US Mint allowed everyone to purchase boxes of up to 250 coins upon the coin’s release and later do with them as they wish. Such uncirculated coins are almost always in a much better condition and are more highly valued.
What’s more, the George Washington “S” proof dollar coins that were minted by the San Francisco Mint have a much higher detail and quality overall – as proof coins traditionally do – and can sell for even more. Depending on the error, an MS/PF 68+ quality coin can sell for $17,000+.
As for the logic behind grades such as MS/PF 65, 68, 70, and so on – numismatists typically use scales such as the Sheldon coin grading scale which ranks the visual quality and lack of wear and tear in a coin on a 1-to-70 scale.
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Lists of 2007 George Washington Dollar Coin Errors
As with all other coins out there, good quality and rarity aren’t all that factor into the coin’s value. Another major contributor is the presence of any unique production quirks and errors that make the coin even more unique.
Of course, we can chalk that into the “rarity” category as well since the idea of production errors inflating a coin’s price is that they turn it into a less common variant of the base coin. However, the extra detail here is that not all coin errors are made equal. What collectors and numismatists are looking for in a coin error isn’t just how rare it is but also whether it looks good.
For example, a blank planchet error where the whole coin is blank as nothing has been minted on it may make a coin rare, however, it also makes it entirely unappealing and uninteresting – it’s just an unminted coin.
George Washington Dollar Coin Plain Edge Error
A plain edge dollar, also referred to as a dollar with no edge lettering, is exactly what it sounds like – a coin that was minted without the lettering on the coin’s side edge.
The practice of lettering coins was initially invented to make sure that people won’t shave off the edges of the coins to get some of their gold or silver for themselves while cheating those they were trading with. Eventually, lettered edges were largely replaced by reeded edges that served the same purposes.
The 2007 President Dollar Coins program returned to the old traditional lettered edges and (almost) all George Washington dollar coins’ edges were lettered with “In God We Trust”. Those that don’t have that lettering aren’t all that rare but are still quite sought-after and can fetch very good prices. They are also jokingly called “Godless dollars”.
George Washington Dollar Coin Broad Strike Error
The broad strike error on George Washington dollar coins is seen as quite attractive by collectors and increases the average price of these coins well into the hundreds of dollars and above. This error occurs when the coin gets struck while out of the collar die. This typically makes the coin spread out further than normal, i.e. it makes it flatter and thinner.
These coins do still weigh as much as they usually do, of course, as they are made of the same quantity of material. Additionally, for a true broad strike, all the details of the coin’s design must still be visible. When this happens and the coin’s quality is kept good, the value of such a piece can be quite high.
George Washington Dollar Coin Blank Planchet Error
This type of error can happen on any coin and the George Washington one dollar coins are no exception. The error can also happen on either the obverse, the reverse, or both sides. In the latter case, the coin can only be identified by its lettering (unless it isn’t missing too), its size, weight, and composition, or if it’s possible to track its history.
Even though such errors are relatively rare and peculiar, they are not all that valuable as such coins don’t look like anything special – they are literally just blank planchets.
George Washington Dollar Coin Double-Edge Lettering Error
The double-edge lettering error is much rarer than the plain edge error. It makes the George Washington dollar coins that have it quite valuable and different, including between one another as every doubled lettering can look slightly different.
Another reason why this error is so special is that lettered coins are generally rare nowadays – so, while both lettered and reeded coins can have a plain edge error, only lettered coins can have a double edge error.
2007 George Washington Dollar Coin FAQ
Is a George Washington dollar coin rare?
Circulated George Washington dollar coins aren’t particularly rare or valuable, just as most other dollar coins. Those coins that never made it into circulation and are therefore in pristine condition as well as the proof coins from the Philadelphia Mint are quite valuable, however, even though they too are not particularly rare either, at least not compared to many old coins that we only have limited numbers of.
The high value of the George Washington dollars, even though they are not awfully rare yet is a good indication that they are a good investment, if that’s what you’re looking for.
Why were the 2007 George Washington dollar coins made?
The George Washington dollar coins, alongside all other coins from the President Dollar Coins program of 2007, were made with the idea of commemorating the past presidents of the United States of America. The idea was that there are many former US presidents that either never got to be the faces of US currency or never made it on the one dollar coin.
George Washington himself is one such example as he is the face of the US one dollar bill but hadn’t had a one dollar coin prior to 2007.