1986 Prestige Proof Set

A Prestige Proof set is produced by the U.S. Mint containing one or more proof commemorative coins released in the same year, as well as a proof cent, nickel, dime, quarter and half dollar. This expanded set contained the Statue of Liberty Half Dollar and Silver Dollar commemorative coins in addition to the five coins included in the regular set.    Designed by John Mercanti, the obverse of the silver dollar features a view of the Statue of Liberty with the main building of Ellis Island in the background. The inscriptions include Liberty, Ellis Island, Gateway to America, In God We Trust, and the date. The reverse of the coin was designed by John Mercanti with assistance from Matthew Peloso. The statues hand with a lit torch are depicted with the concluding words of Emma Lazaruss poem The New Colossus. These words are engraved on a bronze plaque mounted inside the statue. The reverse inscriptions include United States of America, the famous words Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the motto E Pluribus Unum, and the denomination One Dollar. The obverse of the half dollar coin depicts a ship of immigrants entering New York Harbor. The skyline is circa 1913, with an image of the Statue of Liberty in the foreground and a rising sun in the background. The inscriptions include Liberty, In God We Trust, and the date 1986. The obverse was designed by Edgar Z. Steever IV. The reverse of the coin features a family of immigrants witnessing a view of America from a pier or wharf at Ellis Island. The inscriptions read United States of America, A Nation of Immigrants, E Pluribus Unum, and the denomination Half Dollar. The reverse was designed by Sherl Joseph Winter.      A proof coin is a coin struck using a special, high-quality minting process, and made especially for collectors. Modern proof coins are struck twice on special polished dies and have mirror-like fields and frosted devices. This set is  in original government packaging as pristine as the day the were first released to the public.