Michigan SMI

(State Monetary Initiative)

Michigan was the first of the 25 state Liberty Dollars produced in 2006

The #1 Michigan Liberty Dollar

The Michigan Liberty Dollar is here, and they are beautiful!  They come in three varieties;

Serial numbered (SN) with state outline hallmark

Hallmarked (HM - no numbers)

General Issue (GI - no numbers or hallmarks)

There were only 250 Serial Numbered .  There will never be any more, so they will not be available for long.  Be sure to get one while you can still find it.

There were even less Hallmarked only versions.  The GI is fairly common since it has been ordered multiple times in quantity by various Michigan RCOs.

There is something interesting about the Michigan hallmark only pieces.  By scrutinizing the hallmarks, I was able to do some logical rationalization about the process Bernard von NotHaus (creator of the Liberty Dollar) went through to produce these pieces (he personally hand stamped all of the numbered and hallmarked pieces).  I found that all of the numbered pieces had sharp, cleanly stamped full hallmarks.  Of the hallmarked pieces I received, only 35 of them are fully struck.  32 of them have weakly struck hallmarks in which the initials MI or the upper peninsula outline are only partially struck or non-existant.  Nothing unusual there, but now comes the interesting part.  The weakly struck pieces show how difficult it must have been to hold the hallmark die perfectly straight while striking.  It appears that in an effort to get the hallmark fully struck, some pieces were hit twice or else the hammer bounced.  I have six pieces with fully struck, double die hallmarks.  I have another seven with double die hallmarks in which parts are not fully struck.  When buying these pieces, be sure to inquire about this feature.  Some of the varieties of hallmark are scarce.  The varieties are;

 Below is a photo of all 25 state SMI (only RCOs from 25 states participated, so the 50 state set does not exist).  Each of them is serial number 57 from its respective state.  There is also a close up of the state hallmark.  There are very few (less than 50) of these matched number sets in existence.  Some states had only 100 pieces numbered and many of those have been sold to the public already.  Completing matched number sets other than the ones Bernard von Nothaus and I put together will be virtually impossible.  They are sure to become very valuable in the future once people recognize the significance of the grass roots effort of the Liberty Dollar to restore our nation to freedom via sound money.  21 of the existing matched number sets are in the hands of various RCOs who participated in the SMI effort.  7 sets have been sold to private collectors.  The rest belong to Bernard von NotHaus and myself.  As of this writing (2/23/2009), I still have sets #86 & #91 available for sale on ebay.  After they are sold, it will be nearly impossible to find a set for sale.

All 25 SMI states use this obverse

SMI set #57