By Jeff Garret
Want to collect this series?
Start with the remarkable group of inaugural 2000 issues and decide how far your budget can take you.
The U.S. Mint recently made an unusual move when it auctioned five examples of the 2000-W Sacagawea Dollar struck in gold. Collectors had never before had access to these numismatic “delicacies.” The five coins sold for prices ranging from $350,000 to $500,000 each.
The story behind those coins, and the short-lived Sacagawea Dollar series itself, offers one of the most fascinating chapters in modern U.S. numismatics.
The Mint also celebrated the coin’s 25th anniversary in 2025 with another gold Sacagawea Dollar. Collectors responded enthusiastically and quickly purchased all 7,500 coins.
Collectors can assemble a basic set of Sacagawea Dollars from 2000 through 2008 without much difficulty. However, anyone seeking every significant variety, special strike, and rarity will need a considerable fortune.
The Sacagawea Dollar Arrives
The U.S. Mint introduced the Sacagawea Dollar in 2000. A golden color and plain edge helped distinguish it from other coins of similar size.
The earlier Susan B. Anthony Dollar had struggled because its size and color too closely resembled the circulating Quarter Dollar. Congress addressed that problem through the United States Dollar Coin Act of 1997, which mandated a new alloy and a different appearance for the next Dollar coin.
The Mint struck the Sacagawea Dollar on a pure copper core with an outer layer of manganese brass, which gave the coin its distinctive golden color.
Famed sculptor Glenna Goodacre created the obverse design. It depicts Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who assisted the Lewis and Clark expedition. Thomas D. Rogers created the reverse.
The Mint’s 2000 launch produced one of the most complex and rarity-filled first years in U.S. coinage history.
Here are the major issues from that remarkable debut year.
2000-P Goodacre Presentation Finish
Mintage: 5,000
Graded by NGC: 302
Finest Graded by NGC: MS 68
Glenna Goodacre enjoyed a good working relationship with then-Mint Director Philip Diehl. She also showed remarkable foresight when she asked the Mint to pay her $5,000 design fee in newly struck Sacagawea Dollars.
On April 5, 2000, Diehl and two Mint Police officers personally delivered the coins to Goodacre’s studio during a special ceremony.
During early Sacagawea Dollar production, the Mint encountered discoloration problems. As a result, Mint personnel gave many of Goodacre’s coins a burnished appearance that created a distinctive finish.
Those coins eventually produced a financial windfall for Goodacre.
Her studio began selling the presentation pieces for about $200 each. Buyers purchased nearly 3,000 coins before U.S. Mint officials protested the sales. Goodacre then stopped selling them.
In 2010, Coin World published a 10th-anniversary article about the Sacagawea Dollar. The article discussed the presentation coins, the controversy surrounding the sales, and approximately 2,000 pieces that remained unsold.
Thanks to Google, I found Goodacre’s agent and contacted him about the remaining coins.
A few months later, her agent, Dan Anthony, called me. He apologized for the delay and explained that they had misplaced the coins. Eventually, they found the group in a wine cellar.
They also wanted to sell them.
A quick trip to Santa Fe resulted in my purchase of all 2,000 coins.
I quickly placed most of the coins into the marketplace, although I retained several pieces for my collection. I also developed a strong relationship with Goodacre and her agent.
Later, I helped facilitate the transfer of Goodacre’s archival material and early Sacagawea Dollar designs to the Smithsonian’s National Numismatic Collection, where they remain today.
That material provides a fascinating look at numismatic “what could have been.”
2000-P Cheerios Prototype Sacagawea Dollar
Mintage: 5,500
Graded by NGC: 62
Finest Graded by NGC: MS 69
This famous Sacagawea Dollar variety features an early reverse design with prominent diagonal lines on the eagle’s tail feathers.
The Mint used this early die style before modifying the eagle’s tail feathers for regular production. The later design shows the feathers with parallel lines.
The Mint also used the prototype reverse for the small group of 2000-W gold Sacagawea Dollars discussed below.
To promote the new Dollar coin, the U.S. Mint worked with General Mills on a nationwide treasure hunt. General Mills placed 5,500 Sacagawea Dollars into Cheerios cereal boxes, at a rate of roughly one coin for every 2,000 boxes.
Collectors did not recognize the distinctive reverse variety until 2005, when a collector sent an example to NGC for authentication and grading.
By then, consumers had already spent or scattered most of the coins.
Examples still surface occasionally. When they reach auction, they can command prices in the thousands of dollars.
The variety also creates headaches for coin shops across the country because members of the public often struggle to identify the subtle reverse differences.
2000-W Gold Sacagawea Dollar
Mintage: 39
Net Mintage: 12
The U.S. Mint produced 39 Sacagawea Dollars in 22-karat gold in 1999, reportedly at the West Point Mint, although Philadelphia has also entered the discussion surrounding their production.
The Mint later melted all but 12.
Mint workers struck the coins with the prototype reverse design, which features boldly detailed tail feathers. As noted above, the Mint also used that prototype reverse on the early circulation strikes that later appeared in Cheerios cereal boxes.
The Mint sent the surviving dozen gold coins aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia to honor astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to command a Space Shuttle mission.
The coins traveled approximately 1.8 million miles.
After the flight, the government stored them at Fort Knox. The Mint last displayed the coins publicly at the 2007 World’s Fair of Money in Milwaukee.
More recently, the U.S. Mint sold five examples. Those sales immediately created some of the rarest and most expensive modern U.S. coins in collector hands.
2000-P Sacagawea Dollar
Mintage: 767,140,000
Graded by NGC: 7,089
Finest Graded by NGC: MS 69
The enormous mintage makes the 2000-P Sacagawea Dollar extremely common. Collectors can locate examples with little effort.
However, this issue also has an interesting international connection.
Several hundred million Philadelphia and Denver Sacagawea Dollars went to Ecuador, where people used them extensively in everyday commerce.
2000-D Sacagawea Dollar
Mintage: 518,916,000
Graded by NGC: 1,751
Finest Graded by NGC: MS 69
The Denver issue also remains common.
However, collectors face a much greater challenge when searching for examples at the very highest levels of preservation.
2000-D Sacagawea Burnished Millennium Dollar
Mintage: 75,000
Graded by NGC: 439
Finest Graded by NGC: MS 69
The U.S. Mint offered the United States Millennium Coin and Currency Set in its 2000 Holiday Catalog.
Each set contained a 2000 American Silver Eagle, a 2000-D Sacagawea Dollar, and a $1 Federal Reserve Note with a serial number beginning with “2000.”
The Mint sold the sets for $39 each.
The Sacagawea Dollar in the Millennium set displays a distinctive finish similar to the appearance of the Goodacre Presentation coins discussed above.
2000-S Sacagawea Dollar Proof
Mintage: 4,047,904
Graded by NGC: 17,963
Finest Graded by NGC: PF 70 Ultra Cameo
The reported mintage reflects the total number of coins included in the year’s Clad and Silver Proof Sets.
Additional 2000 Sacagawea Dollars
The Mint produced still more unusual Sacagawea Dollars during VIP ceremonies at the Philadelphia and Denver Mints.
In some cases, invited dignitaries and guests pushed the buttons that struck individual coins.
Collectors rarely encounter these pieces today, which makes them especially desirable.
Yet the Mint still had one more extraordinary chapter to add to the story.
During the 2000s, someone at the Mint produced a small number of mule errors that combined the obverse of a Washington Quarter with the reverse of a Sacagawea Dollar.
Research suggests that Mint employees probably produced the coins intentionally.
2000 Sacagawea Dollar / Washington Quarter Mule
Authorities arrested two different Mint employees in connection with the case.
The U.S. Mint never sought the return of the coins. As a result, collectors can buy and sell the mules freely, although at very high prices.
One collector became especially fascinated with the issue and, at last count, owned the majority of the known examples.
A First Year Unlike Any Other
Many numismatists enjoy collecting first-year issues. Few modern U.S. coins offer a challenge as deep or as varied as the 2000 Sacagawea Dollar.
Collectors can pursue ordinary Philadelphia and Denver circulation strikes. They can hunt the Goodacre Presentation coins, Millennium Set pieces, Cheerios prototypes, special VIP strikes, the gold space-flown Dollars, or the famous Washington Quarter mule.
Together, these coins document the Mint’s latest major attempt to create a practical alternative to the paper Dollar.
Despite decades of experimentation, Americans never embraced Dollar coins for everyday commerce on a large scale.
Coin collectors, however, became the beneficiaries of that experiment.
The Sacagawea Dollar may have struggled to replace paper currency, but its extraordinary first year created one of the richest collecting fields in modern American numismatics.
IMHO the failure of $1 coins in the US can be traced to lack of action by both Congress and the Treasury. Every other country that’s successfully introduced a 1-unit coin has also taken two other steps to ensure circulation:
First, they’ve discontinued their equivalent paper note once enough coins had been struck. Our Congress however has bent to the paper lobby and forced continued printing of a billion or more paper dollars every year.
Second, those countries make wide use of a 2-unit denomination. By reducing the number of coins needed to make change, it blunts the very real objection to carrying “a pocketful of $1 coins” often cited by opponents. The US as we all know still treats the denomination as a historical curiosity
Those are great observations. I noticed in the CCAC minutes not long ago, they made recommendations for larger denomination coins. I don’t recall if those were intended for circulation, or just for collecting purposes. As both a collector and someone that uses dollar coins regularly to try to spark more interest in them, I would love to see the Mint produce larger denomination coins.
I regularly get rolls of dollar coins from my bank and credit union. I go through them to see if I find anything to fill holes in my collection, and I have just about completed the Presidential series in that way. Today, I went through the rolls I got on Friday and found 2 George H. W. Bush dollars and a Proof Herbert Hoover dollar. I also found some exceptionally nice dollars from the 2000 to 2008 Sacagawea series, the Native American series and the Presidential series. No Innovation dollars this time, though, but I did get 3 full rolls of Innovation dollars not too long ago.
Thank you for rescuing the archival material and getting it into the safe hands of the Smithsonian.
Great article on the Sacagawea Dollar.
fingers crossed
who knew? A lot of money was made for early buyers!
Such a beautiful coin! Interesting about the Washington quarter obverse error.
very good article!
never knew there were so many examples of this coin. I do wish the US would encourage more $ 1 and $2 coin use.
interesting read
Very nice set of coins
Interesting Article!
Hope I win!
This was one of my favorites!
I am not a big fan of modern coins unless it has some gold or silver in it.
I have a couple of these, I’ll have to take a closer look!
I always end up tucking them away somewhere when I come across one.
More information I was not aware of.
Hope I win!!
Very interesting article. I would not have guessed there were so many variations
I knew about the Cheerios dollars (wish I had one) but never knew about this history. My issue with the Susan B.s were the size… I spent one as a quarter once, never carried another one. Great article and interesting information!!
@Charles Emerick IMO the issue wasn’t so much the coin’s size but the fact that the Mint and Treasury ignored expert advice to strike it with a distinctive color and planchet. E.g. cents and dimes are closer in size than quarters and dollars, but the only ones that were ever mixed up were the 1943 “steelies” that were similar in color. More currently, Canada’s quarter and the iconic “Loonie” are almost identical in size to their US counterparts but are rarely if ever confused, because they have distinctive appearances and tactile signatures.
This comment is for the extra entries in the coin giveaway #612 thank you
I loved the article about the Sacagawea dollars! Very informative.
I inadvertently misspelled my last name. It is Hackenkamp not Hacy.
Great info!……
Great article!
This is a great article about an often overlooked coin. I am currently working on a dollar set that includes the Sacagawea, Native American, Presidential and Innovation Dollars in Proof and/or Reverse Proof. This set would be easy enough, both in cost and availability,to complete for new and old collectors and is beautiful to boot. I never considered trying to collect some of these others within the 2000 Sacagawea, but you may have just given me a challenge!
When the first Sacagawea dollars were produced I thought it felt like a real gold coin. Don’t remember the Cheerios contest.
Super informative article.
Didn’t know they made them 8n gold
I love this coin
I just never got into Burnished coins. Cameo looks SO nice! :)
Very interesting information on this coin.
Had no idea there was this much info about this coin.
still looking
@burt eschen If by “still looking” you mean looking for one of the gold specimens, finding one will be *very* unlikely. As the article explains, only minuscule numbers were struck and their travels were closely monitored.
Quite interesting
Great article. Didn’t realize there were that many different releases.
Couple of eyebrow raising moments in here for this casual reader: Cheerios! and, Ecuador?
I missed the 2000 Cheerios coin. Started collecting in 2002 when my son was born. Grabbed the 2025 gold coin this year. Personally I have a problem when the mint auctions off coins like the Flowing Hair on Stack’s Bowers. Mint should be for all the people and not just the rich. At least the silver flowing hair gave you a chance to get one randomly.
I would love to find a Cheerios dollar! I check every 2000 P dollar that I come across, in the unlikely event that I actually do find one.
nice article
Very educational read! Thanks!
Nice article, didn’t know about some of these scarcer issues. Thanks
Great artoc;e1
Great article!
Have a few, must check.
Mule coins are pretty interesting. I didn’t know about this one but I’ll be looking for them now!
Great article. Not sure why $1 coins never seen to be used in circulation
Now I’m going to looking for them and looking closely at them.
What an interesting coin series, I learned quite a bit.
Great article. Thanks for your diligence in research.
Previously unaware of the Sacagawea story or coins..Very interesting read..Would really love to win one to add to my collection.
I like reading these articles. They are always so in formative.
I did not know they were released in solid gold.
Have to check my 2000’s.
Iconic coin!
I think the Cheerio dollars and the mule are the best part of the series. The gold coins is a money grab by the mint.
Very informative! Thank you
The eagle in flight depicted on the reverse of these coins is one of the nicest looking eagle representations on any US Mint coin, IMHO.
very interesting
Love these.
I have a small coin collection , included is a 1947 wheat penny a a John Adams gold tone dollor with no mint mark . I would like to sell them , somethings have come up in my life and I would like there value and your thoughts. Thanks Ms Michelle.
@Michelle Even today, late-1940s wheat cents don’t bring major premiums unless they’re in top condition. In average condition most will retail for less than $1, often much less.
Your presidential dollar (sp) DOES have a mint mark, but it’s on the coin’s edge where it’s almost impossible to find … or read.
I love coins, but the fact is that people just don’t want to carry a pocket full of dollar coins when bills are far more convenient. Basically, dollar coins are for collecting, not spending.
@JG: As I mentioned in my introductory comments, other countries have successfully used higher-denomination coins for many years. Unlike the US they all make wide use of a $2 (or equivalent) denomination which blunts the very real objection to needing multiple dollar coins. I’ve spent time in Canada, Australia, and the EU; it was very rare to receive more than a single $1 / €1 coin in change.
Very good article.
Interesting stuff
Not so long ago yet my grandchildren never heard of these. I like a dollar coin but can’t find them, even at the bank. Now if I could only remember how to spell her name…
Interesting article. These coins were distributed as change out of vending machines at the Indianapolis airport. When we traveled we always used the vending machines and collected these $1 coins.
Very nice explaination of the coins history
Great article. The dollar coin will never flourish as long as the $1 bill remains prevalent.
Very interesting article
I have a few of these. I need to get a closer look at them!
Maybe I AM an odd duck. Just do not comprehend why half dollar and dollar coins are not more often used by public, especially the dollar coin over a paper dollar.
@Michael Gabany: I’ve examined the half dollar’s saga in some depth. The coins circulated regularly until 1964, albeit at somewhat lower levels than other denominations. That year the Treasury made two decisions that in retrospect ensured its demise.
> First, instead of striking the JFK design a one-year commemorative honoring the beloved president they chose to make it permanent. That led to significant hoarding of half dollars as mementos, not just in the US but abroad. Arguably a return to the Franklin design in 1965 – something that reportedly was discussed but quickly dismissed – would have short-circuited hoarding.
> More importantly, Mint Director Mary Brooks agreed to a compromise with silver interests who wanted the half dollar to become what they called a “prestige” coin. Retaining 90% silver composition was a non-starter so as all collectors know, 1965 and later half dollars were to be struck in 40% precious metal. At the time it was thought that demand for raw silver would never exceed the debased coins’ face value …
… until it did.
The Mint however clung to the 40% composition for five years. Nearly all silver-clad halves were hoarded just like their 90% predecessors. By the time the Mint *finally* opted to strike halves in cupronickel, people had become accustomed to using multiple quarters to make change. The fifth slot in most cash drawers became a catch-all for paper clips and such; some manufacturers even eliminated it entirely from new production.
By the mid-1970s the half dollar had become a curiosity to many people. My experience using them was that it was treated much like $2 bills – as a curiosity, as a supposed “rarity”, or even as a suspected counterfeit. And here we are.
Wish I’d bought a few.
Always enjoying learning new things!
A great coin and a great article.
Excellent article! Lot’s of information, new to me.
nice.
Nice article. I always liked the native American coin series.
Never realized there were so many variations of her dollar..used to see them regularly in circulation. Good, informative article.
$1
Is the serial number on the coin? Good luck everybody on the coin giveaway!
Great article, there was a lot going on during the first year of this coin!
The collectors were kind of greedy weren’t they and I totally misted the General Mills thing.
I can remember years ago, anytime one did any business at the Post Office, very often, one would receive change in the form of dollar coins.
That’s the only place I ever saw them being used regularly.
I didn’t realize that there was so much to know about the 2000 Sacgewea dollar. I’ll be keeping my eyes open!
Great article!
Thanks!
Great article. I have several of the Native American series coins just because I never spent them. I’m going to give them a closer look.
Thanks
Great article
Wonderful information on the 2000 Sacagawea Dollar.
Interesting article
Some of the major banks still have many rolls that can be roll checked
I keep on learning it always a good thing.
Absolutely love this series and been collecting them from the first issue date.
I never found a “Cheerios” issue but, my brother’s friend claims to have several. He jut can’t find them ):
Very interesting information. I thought the Mint protesting Goodacre selling the coins she received for payment kind of like an employer telling an employee to stop making so much money in the stock market. Very typical of a government agency though.
Awesome coin. Details are stunning
Very interesting article.
Great article. I have collected these coins since they first came out in 2000. Great series.
Great article. I will have to take my coins out and enjoy looking at them again.
Cheerios was always my favorite cereal, but I was never able to find a Cheerios dollar. I did get a few of the Cheerios cents. Still have them today and I check every 2000P dollar for those detailed tail feathers!
Quite interesting!
I wish I had eaten more Cheerios back in the day!
A very interesting article.
Learn something new every day. Thank you.
Great article. Collecting came later in life when my son became interested in coin collecting 2 years ago. Wish I had the foresight to obtain the Cheerios giveaway at the time.
This is one coin I never favored, and don’t care about collecting.
It`s really sad that everyone didn`t get a chance to own one.
Very interesting. I just wish that I could have gotten more involved in numismatics when I was younger.
Great article very informative
Interesting facts about the coin i didnt know
not my favorite issue … ugly design …
I’ve read this article before but didn’t remember about all the little things that are done to make it basically impossible for the average collector to get a complete set. a coin should be minted without any special versions, errors happen but getting their friends special coins should not be allowed.
Merely as a consumer/user, guess I never really noticed the smooth edge of this coin – coupled with the ubiquitous presence of paper dollars, which quashed the general circ of these, certainly.
To many varieties to get involved. I have a few 2000’s but haven’t look at them lately.
interesting article
Interesting read
So many people love this coin. The history of these coins just kills me. Thanks.
Good luck detecting the “subtle reverse differences”.
Great article on the Sacagawea dollar
Comment
I met retired chief engraver Frank Gasparro in the course of my job. He told me all of his suggestions for the dollar coin – multiple sided, different sizes, yellow metal, and a vibrant, youthful Susan B Anthony. The only one the Mint (finally) followed through on was the yellow metal. As for the portrait? The powers that be caved to Susan B’s last living relative, who wanted her remembered as she remembered her. Not the energetic young-ish activist, but the old bat who looked like George Washington.
Never bothered to collect them, but very interesting article
Great article. I have a roll of 25. Didn’t know what to do with them. Now I do!
Have several stashed away somewhere…
Very Interesting, I have a few Sacagawea Dollars, Of course none are Gold ! Be Nice to Win.
These were fun to collect when they first came out because I was just a kid and it was something new
Love the cheerios angle!!!
Why were coins sent to Ecuador? Is this normal or is there some sort of backstory?
I’m always buying rolls and loose dollar coins from my bank and credit union. What I don’t stick into my collection or into the collections of my son and grandson gets spent.
Excellent article. It’s interesting to see how many versions of this coin were made
Beyond the commons, I cannot imagine finding any of these coins in my change. What a gift that would be!
Fascinating article…… Thanks
Fascinating article. I have a few stashed away somewhere. Maybe I should examine the reverses…
While going through dollars I found a 200-P with a 90 degree rotated reverse die. I’ve heard this is not totally uncommon in the issue, but have not found any documentation on how common or uncommon. Is there anyone with any knowledge on the rarity of that type of error?
Always loved this design. Great to hear about the many variations.
Another oddity to yearn for.
I remember getting these in change from vending machines at six flags and that was the first time I saw them.
Interesting information about this coin
Wait … Mint employees stamp unauthorized coins? Shocking.
That mule coin is very intriguing. Got something new to search for!
Here we go!…
As always, a very interesting article by CW. Thanks
Where’s the wounded/speared eagle?