1971 & 1972 Ike Dollars

I seem to recall reading about this somewhere. I just can't find the source now. Wikipedia just says that they weren't included. No reason is given. I'll keep looking, though. I bet jbuck knows right off the bat.

The 1971's came out relatively late in the year. At that time mint and proof sets were ordered very early in the year, so no 1971's in the mint sets. The 1972's are a little harder to explain. This is just a theory on my part but with the Ikes running so late in 1971 they may not have been sure they were going to be out yet by early 1972 when they negotiated the packaging contract for the the 72 sets. If they didn't include it in the contract, and then the coin was issued in 71 so there would be 72 dollars it was too late to change the contract. By the time the 1973 contract was negotiated they knew there would be 1973 dollars. in the case of the proof sets, same reason for the 1971's, and in 72 they were using up the stockpile of holders which didn't have a hole for the dollar. Same reason why the 1979 set has a clear plastic ring around the SBA, using up old holders designed for Ike dollars, and the Treasury medal in the 1982 sets filling the hole in leftover holders designed for SBA dollars. You either use them or it's just money going to waste.

Yes, Conder. That explanation makes perfect sense to me. It all seems to add up. Thanks for your input.

It's interesting to see the mint being frugal here by improvising to use the old proof set cases instead of making new ones. I think the debut of this coin could have been done better.