Owner Comments:
The Oprah Winfrey show debuted in September 1986, or, perhaps more accurately, it replaced AM Chicago, which had run from 1974-1986 and which Winfrey had hosted since 1984. The Oprah Winfrey show ran until 2011. A 25-year run for a talk show is pretty darn impressive when you think about it.
I don’t know how relevant this show or Oprah are to most people today now that the show has been off the air for over 10 years, but, growing up, I don’t know that there was anyone who didn’t know who Oprah was and a lot of people watched it and talked about it - making it a bit funny to realize that the show debuted the year we were born. I do wonder if a random 15-25 year old, if asked today, would know who Oprah is or know about the Oprah Winfrey show and it is funny to think that, at this point, knowing who Oprah is may finally becoming a way to date yourself, but I think my hairline and my grey are starting to do that for me.
The show also gave us little, spin-off, “gems” like Dr. Phil, which started in 2002 and is still on the air as of late 2021. So, it has now earned its own, also impressive, 20-year run.
75% Copper, 25% Nickel (Cupronickel) over a pure copper center / core
Mintage: 504,298,660
5.67 grams
24.3 mm diameter
Designer: John Flanagan
Eagle Reverse (1932-1998)
This coin and the 1986-P half are the only remaining pieces of the original set that was made by submitting coins from mint sets we bought at coin shows and searched through. The promising coins were submitted for grading to fill these registry sets. The kinds of grades we got on average and the fact that so many of those coins have subsequently been replaced by already graded, higher grade examples I guess says a lot for just how bad my stepfather and I are at grading coins.