FYI - You Can Order Ikes!

I scored some Ikes yesterday at a Wells Fargo. The teller told me she ordered 100 of them and was surprised to see them come in two days later. I bought 40 of them off of her, not that I needed any, but because I like Ikes.

I've made a cursory run thru them. One is a 1972 in mint state. Some others look like they've seen some use and I'd doubt they'd command anything over face. I may use them to tip my favorite waitresses or something. I don't know.

It's a shame that places like Tombstone AZ and Virginia City NV don't have their merchants use these to hand out in change. The tourists would get a kick out of it. I think some other western towns with history could also use these.

I guess I'm missing the connection with Eisenhower dollars and western towns with a history?

Exactly!

biokemist nailed it. I remember reading where large silver dollars circulated in the west, whereas in the east they didn't do well. In one book that I read about the Unabomber, the folks in Montana didn't trust paper dollars so the silver dollars circulated well into the sixties. Thus, a connection of sorts, between large dollar coins and the small western towns.

I know that Ikes did circulate some in Nevada. I remember a neighbor telling me that if you asked someone to break a five for you, you'd get five Ikes back.

not to be insulting (or sounding stupid) to anyone out there. The way I understand it there was around 35 years between last Peace dollars & Eisenhower dollars being issued. I'm active Half Dollar Searcher, but cant help feel that finding silver dollar is very unlikely prospect.

Except in the western states the Morgan dollars never really circulated much and the Peace dollars even less. In fact the Peace dollar was never really intended to circulate at all. The only reason for its existance was to serve as a backing for silver certificates.

Actually, if you can find Ikes, I'd think it should be pretty easy to find Morgan/Peace dollars at face value too. Consider how many silver dollars are still sitting in Grandpa's dresser drawer, just waiting to be cashed in by someone who doesn't know any better. Most of the younger generation--including most bank employees--have no clue what a "silver" coin is anymore.

To add to this, I never thought I'd ever encounter any red seals in my searches of $2 bill straps from the banks....but I've picked up about six of them.

I guess I'll have to hit that Wells Fargo again to get the rest of the Ikes. You never know!