Owner Comments:
The year is 1976 and it was an exciting time in our country when we celebrated 200 years as an independent nation. Marking the occasion of our independence, the quarter-dollar, half-dollar, and dollar coins all had patriotic commemorative designs. The reverse of this MS-66, 1976-D “Type 2”, Eisenhower Dollar features the Liberty Bell superimposed on the moon and signifies how far we have come as a nation in 200 years. However, the history of the “Space Race” is more recent. The “Space Race” started on October 7, 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first satellite to orbit the earth. On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced a national goal of sending man to the moon and bringing him back safely before the end of the decade. On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first humans to walk on the moon, essentially ending the space race and winning an important morale victory for the United States at the height of the cold war. This technologically difficult task showed the world what people could accomplish when they have the freedom to pursue their dreams. This is the “other” message on the reverse of the 1976 Eisenhower Dollar as the Liberty Bell represents freedom and the moon, the dream. There are two major types of the 1976, copper-nickel, Eisenhower Dollar minted at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints. The reverse of the 1976 “Type 1” Eisenhower Dollar features broad letters in lower relief, whereas the “Type 2” features thinner, sharper letters.