The "Ike Dollar" was the first dollar coin produced after the last of the Peace Dollars were struck in 1935.
It was a long haitus of 36 years before new legislation to create a new dollar coin was introduced in October 1969 after the Coinage Act of 1965 eliminated the silver content from circulating US coins and forbid the minting of silver dollars.
Eisenhower Silver Dollars, 1971 - 1976, BU
All Eishenhower Dollars 1971 to 1976 bore the same obverse.
All of the silver "Ike" coins were minted at the San Francisco Mint in 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1976. These coins were either uncirculated or proof.
Uncirculated Ike coins came sealed in a cellophane with a blue plastic token in a blue envelope.
The Uncirculated coins referred to as the "blue Ikes" and the silver proof as "brown Ikes".
The Ike coins minted in 1975 and 1976 for the Bicentennial came with a silver Washington Quarter and a silver John F Kennedy half dollar for that year.
The reverse of the coin design which was based on the mission insignia from the Apollo 11 space flight was determined to be particularly appropriate by Congress since the space program began under Eisenhower’s administration.
The legislation to create a new dollar circulating coin in October 1969 commemorates former President and Five Star General Dwight D. Eisenhower who had died earlier that year and the Apollo 11 space flight, which marked man’s first steps on the moon.