We have talked a great deal about modern commemoratives gracing Whitman Publishing’s 100 Greatest United States Modern Coins list. More specifically, we have talked about a run of commemoratives stemming from the 1990s, including the next one we are about to break down. Authors Jeff Garrett and Scott Schechter will help us along with this fourth edition pick that was once deemed a dud and has since been deemed a treasure.
#88 – 1996-D Centennial Olympics (Tennis) Dollar Commemorative
If it is not obvious by now, this Olympic Tennis Dollar commemorative is one of a slew of commemoratives issued for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Including Proof and Uncirculated versions, there were 32 issues total. This program, along with several other years during the 1990s that would see annual issues, was the biggest reason modern commemoratives would significantly decrease in the years following. Poor sales were the result of oversaturation, leaving some of the issues to see very small mintages, including the Tennis themed dollar commemorative.
Just 15,983 1996 Uncirculated dollars were sold along with 92,016 Proofs. The Uncirculated mintage number is the third lowest in the entire commemorative program. In addition, tennis, while growing in popularity over the years, is not the first sport to come to mind when it comes to Olympic sports. In fact, at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, tennis was not an official sport of the games.
Since its introduction in the first edition, the 1996 Centennial Olympics Tennis Dollar Commemorative from Denver has fallen one spot from #87.