You are thinking Kennedy halfs as someone else already posted. 1964 was 90% and 1965-70 was 40%.
For info on the silver Ikes, do a search for “Brown and Blue Ikes”.
So what do magicians want with Eisenhower dollar coins? They are large American coin, so I suppose for coin tricks, they’re more visible at a distance.
Pretty much just that - and because of the size a little tougher to do than a Susan B or Sackie. And at face value you can hand out a couple per show to the kiddies and not hurt the bottom line much.
Just called my bank today and they said they put the order for the Eisenhowers in and should be coming in with their next shipment.
Also, I spoke to the Cash Services department at the local Houston branch of the Federal Reserve, and he said that they definitely do have Ikes for order, but that I needed to have my bank call him to work out getting them for me, as they don’t work with the public directly (I already knew this).
By the time I called my bank back to give them this new information and the man’s name and number, I found out they had already put the order in for me! Hopefully will be here within a week.
Now that you resolved that, I wonder what other unusual coins or bills one can special order from the Federal Reserve. I see that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing sells dollar bills in uncut sheets or one-dollar notes with at least three sevens in a row in the serial number, or ones with serial numbers beginning with 168 or 8888 (considering auspicious by Chinese people). Anything else fun you can get a bank to special order (especially something like the Eisenhower dollar coins that can be ordered at face value)?
I’m a little surprised that just going to a bank and asking if they had any didn’t work. They’re still legal tender (I assume that term applies to coins), and I wouldn’t think they would be that collectible as to drive prices high.
The only other “unusual” ones I can think of would be the other dollar coins (Susan Bs, Sacs, and Presidentials, but many banks will have these on hand without having to order them), half dollar coins (JFKs), and $2 bills.
Eisenhowers are in a special situation it seems where if you can get a cooperative bank, you can get them at face value through special order, but they aren’t necessarily very easy to order and lots of banks won’t even order the half dollars for you.
Eisenhowers are really not in general circulation anymore. As other posters mentioned, they do show up from time to time as people will spend them here and there, but banks definitely don’t keep large amounts of them (or any amount unless someone has recently deposited some) on hand. Furthermore, because of federal reserve regulations, the Ikes have to be bagged separately for storage from all the other dollar coins, so when banks order dollar coins (rare enough as it is), they will always just get a mix of Susans, Sacs and Pres coins.
And BTW, all US money is always legal tender in perpetuity, but that doesn’t mean you can just go down to a bank and ask for 2 dollar coins or 3 dollar coins that haven’t been minted since the 1800’s. (Ikes haven’t been minted since the 70’s so they are in a similar situation, it’s only by people’s good graces that you can still get them it seems)
Banks also do not have to accept any money. Usually they are good with any currency (I gave my cousin-semi-daughter and her husband $800 in heavily worn $2s for their wedding and the bank never blinked) but coins can be another story because of shipping fees to get rid of them. A lady called the shop and asked what we would pay for a large Polar Water bottle of bicentennial quarters she had saved up from change. I told her “75% of face value”. Once she got done calling me names I explained that for that quantity banks would want them rolled and may only take $250 or so at a time. It could take her (or us) a year or more to get rid of them all and we can’t do that for free. Everyone saved the darn things and unless they are mint perfect all they are is pocket change. She called me some more names and then slammed the phone down on me.
Two hours later she calls me back and asks if someone could meet her at the curb to unload them. I laughed a little and said “Talked to your bank, huh?” She said yes. She also said it was unfair and I agreed but that’s just the way it is.
Now on the other hand a good bank story --------- we got called by a bank one day. This little old lady was trying to deposit a load of silver dollars, large sized bank notes, gold, and other stuff at face value. The bank manager let her know that the stuff was potentially worth way more to a coin dealer than face but ------- she insisted she didn’t know any dealers, didn’t trust any dealers, didn’t want to risk being robbed. She knew the manager, trusted him ---- and that was that. He knew and trusted us so we went down and had a confab with her (and him) in his office. We ended up paying around $26k for what was like $1100 face. I think the manager got a home-made dinner out of it, we got some great material, and the lady didn’t have to worry about food for a while. All in all a good day in the universe.
Why didn’t the idiot just start spending them a few at a time instead of trying to get rid of the whole thing at once?
My ex had a job for awhile that involved him sitting at a desk listening to recordings for most of the day. He took up slight of hand to keep his hands busy. He liked using different size coins just for different things, and having different coins just for variety.
I mentioned this to a friendly teller at the bank, and he told me to come back in in a couple weeks during his shift. I did, and made a withdraw from my account in a handful of different coins (mostly Kennedy Half-Dollars). He worked at two branches , and several of the tellers got into the game of collecting coins. I also know (Because I ran into it while looking on their website), that the credit union in my hometown collects all their odd denominations at the main office.
When I was bank teller, we would set aside any of the more unusual currency because sometimes teachers would come in and request a complete set of coinage (this was before the 50-states quarters, so it was possible to do for under $20). We’d give them as complete a set as we could muster with all the odds and ends that came in from the citizenry in random coinage deposits. It was kind of fun.
Wheat pennies, Bicentennial quarters, Kennedy half-dollars, $2 bills were some of the more commonly seen somewhat rare currency. But Eisenhower is quite rare in circulation, I don’t know if I ever saw one cross my teller station
Wow never once even crossed your teller station? That’s crazy.
But then again, I’ve never seen one in circulation, ever. In fact, I only ever got 1 JFK half dollar in change in Seattle once at the space needle, and never saw one in the wild again after that either.
So yeah, Ikes are weird that way. Of course, it probably doesn’t help that they are hard to order and are worth more than face value, even mundane/circulated ones. Why spend it for a buck when you could sell it to a coin collector for 1.05 or more?
Check ALL of your coins. A couple of years ago, I found a nickel with a smudgy face and thanks to a mumismatic friend, I knew that it was worth something. Got 6 cats fixed out of that deal.
You are honestly the nicest person I’ve met online. You are going through all this bother and expense to spread smiles wherever you go.
I am not sure if you are being serious or not, but I think it is great to measure the profitability of a transaction by how many cats you can fix 
Also $2.00 bills are good for the tipping as well. Be careful - as some people don’t understand they are real money. That is the same with anything not in normal circulation (although I think this has gotten better since the state quarters and currency redesigns).
I remember working retail and we had to count the drawer out every night. We kept $250 and deposited the rest noting any shortages or overages. I am very careful when I count money. Currency is counted three times - twice on the front - once on the back. The bank would make notes if we were off on out deposits - and I was never wrong.
So anyway - when we had two people closing - we’d check the other. I counted out the drawer and I came up with $250. My manager said she counted $251.00. Of course, I go and recount: $250. She does the same: $251.
So we count it together. We agree on everything until we get to the very last part. We are up to $249 at this point - she picks up the dollar coin and throws it back in the til -
Her: “that makes it $251”.
Me: “um that’s a dollar coin”
Her: “no it’s not - it’s worth two dollars”
Me: [pick up the coin and turn it over and gently point to the words “one” and “dollar”]
Her: “hmm - why did I always think they were worth two dollars?”
Me: [thinking: I don’t know - maybe the same reason you spell ladder with two t’s]
Luckily we didn’t come across many of those. I don’t think some people realize how rare they are in everyday commerce - she wasn’t the first cashier I had to explain something to about currency. I did run across a few silver certificates, but that was maybe once a year or so. When you got someone spending a $2.00 bill - it appeared sometimes they were low on cash and finally using that $2 that grandma gave them five years prior [actually come to think of it - I think that’s what happened to mine ].
I remember going to Vegas back in the day (late 70’s) and the dollar slots accepted and spit out Ikes.
I recall having a bucket of 300+ Ike dollars (which I eventually gave back, of course).
mmm
Thank you for the nice compliment. I think the last person who spoke to me directly about my temperament/personality said that I was “so despicable” so obviously it just depends on what day you catch me.
Also, I have read about how the Ikes were widely used in dollar slot machines, so that’s probably the only way you’d ever have seen them in the wild.
I can’t wait to get that call from my bank and get my Ikes! 
ETA: so far I have used $2 bills and dollar coins (not Ikes yet of course) at fast food places and no one has given me any trouble or said anything about them. So I think the vast majority of people are aware they are real money, and know how to count the coins correctly. It’s funny that the coworker from a previous poster thought they were worth 2 dollars though (there were 2 and 3 dollar coins in the past I believe).
A bit late to the party, but I do recall someone special ordering a box of Eisenhower Dollars back when I was doing the Armored thing in 2006. It can be done.
Oh wow Chimera that’s very interesting. Thanks for sharing that anecdote with us. Can you give us any more details about it?
Well, we are in a city with a Federal Reserve branch (Minneapolis). I was picking up the cash and coin from our vault one morning before our route and there was a large box of Ikes in the mix, going to a local bank. I asked our vault people and they said it was a ‘special order’ for some occasion for one of their customers.
Here’s a link to the Federal Reserve Bank services page, which includes Ikes. As it says, the standard ordering unit is a box of 1,000;
http://www.frbservices.org/operations/currency/coin_depositing.html