Owner Comments:
Rowing has been contested at every modern summer Olympics since the second games in 1900 in Paris. While scheduled for the first Olympics four years before, events were not held because of bad weather. The United States is the most-decorated country in Olympic rowing, having won 84 total medals over the years, including 31 gold medals. The next-closest nation is Great Britain with 54 total medals. Despite the impressive performance of U.S. athletes at the games, the sport has relatively limited participation in the United States. Just 4,000 high school athletes and 8,000 college athletes participate in rowing in the country, and USRowing, the national governing body for the sport, has just 14,000 members. The coin nicely illustrates the sport of rowing. The design features a close-up section of a coxless four in mid-stroke. Designed by illustrator Bart Forbes, the composition makes for an attractive coin, although the upper legend XXVI OLYMPIAD is shifted left rather than centered above the rowers, perhaps to indicate a sense of direction or motion. The reverse uses the common design used on all 1996 Olympics silver dollars, featuring the logo of the games. Sales of this coin were surprisingly strong in one sense. While the authorized mintage had been lowered from 1,000,000 pieces to 500,000 in an effort to spur collector interest, just 168,148 were sold of the Proof and Uncirculated versions, about a third of the revised authorization. Nonetheless, this coin is still the second-bestselling Olympic commemorative dollar of 1995 or 1996. In the absence of another explanation, this suggests that rowing enthusiasts supported the coin, even if they themselves are few in number. By a margin of nearly 10 to 1, the majority of coins sold were Proofs, leaving a net mintage of 16,258 of the Uncirculated 1996-D Centennial Olympics (Rowing) dollar. This figure makes it among the scarcest of all U.S. commemorative dollar coins ever issued. Another interesting feature of the Uncirculated 1996-D Centennial Olympics (Rowing) dollar is that it has the lowest combined certified population of any modern coin. In other words, combining the figures of NGC and PCGS, the lowest total number of coins graded belongs to this issue. This information further supports the notion that sales were relatively strong outside of the traditional numismatic marketplace and perhaps went to rowers as well as collectors. Any mintage figure below 20,000 pieces puts pressure on the supply. Dealers actively seeking such coins need to pay a premium, which keeps the price of this issue comparatively high—among the highest of all modern commemorative silver dollars. The coin is simply not available in large numbers on the marketplace; this trend is not changing, making this coin an enduring key of the modern commemorative series.
Garrett, Jeff; Schechter, Scott. 100 Greatest US Modern Coins (Kindle Locations 4106-4109). Ingram Distribution. Kindle Edition.