2023-D Ohio: Underground Railroad Innovation Dollar
Circulation strike struck at the Denver Mint · 448,225 made
- Mintage
- 448,225
- Metal
- Manganese brass
- Weight
- 8.1 g
- Diameter
- 26.49 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 2023-D Ohio: Underground Railroad Innovation Dollar worth?
It's scarcer than a typical date, so even circulated examples sell above face. The best uncirculated coins are where the money is.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 2023-D Ohio: Underground Railroad Innovation Dollar rare?
- Yes. Only 448,225 were made, 16th lowest of the 58 regular issues in the series.
- Is the 2023-D Ohio: Underground Railroad Innovation Dollar silver?
- No. It's manganese brass (88.5% copper, 6% zinc, 3.5% manganese, 2% nickel). Circulating silver dollars ended with the 1935 Peace dollar. Some Eisenhower dollars with an S mint mark were made in 40% silver for collectors, but circulation Ike dollars are copper-nickel clad.
- Where is the mint mark on a 2023 American Innovation Dollar?
- On the edge, incused with the date. On this coin the mark is D, for Denver.
- How many 2023-D Ohio: Underground Railroad Innovation Dollar coins were made?
- 448,225.
What to check on your 2023-D
- Make sure the mint mark really is a D. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 2023-P (496,275 made).
- Check the date and mint mark under magnification for tooling or added letters. Scarce dates are the ones forgers alter.
- Proof or circulation strike? A proof has mirror-like fields and frosted design details and was sold to collectors, not released in change. The 2023-S Ohio: Underground Railroad Innovation Dollar Proof (61,847 made) is the one to compare with.
- Judge the grade under good light. These are sold in rolls, bags and sets, so most survive uncirculated. Value depends on luster and freedom from marks.
Low-mintage dates attract altered and counterfeit coins. Check that the mint mark and date have not been tooled or added, or buy one already certified by PCGS or NGC.
The story of the 2023-D Ohio: Underground Railroad
Denver made 448,225 of the Ohio: Underground Railroad innovation dollar. Among the 4 designs of 2023 it was the second largest Denver run, between Louisiana: Higgins boat (430,625) and Indiana: Automobile industry (452,350).
Philadelphia struck a similar number of the same design (496,275), so neither mint's version is much harder to find.
Across the whole program it sits 10th of 29 Denver designs by mintage, where the scarcest is Georgia: Trustees' Garden at 368,475.
More on the 2023-D
Denver's 448,225 Ohio dollars trail Philadelphia's 496,275 by about 48,000, a far wider gap than on any 2020 or 2022 design. That makes the D the version to look for if you're completing the Ohio pair, though neither is scarce by any normal standard. Among Denver's 2023 coins, Indiana at 452,350 came in a little higher. It was still well above the 383,600 of Denver's Mississippi that year.
Ohio was admitted in 1803 as the seventeenth state, so its coin opened the 2023 releases. Cincinnati, across the river from Kentucky, is home to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. River towns along Ohio's southern border were known crossing points for freedom seekers. Beth Zaiken's design centers on two hands and a breaking chain. Check the knuckles and chain links on a Denver coin, since they're the highest points and show rub or nicks first. A clean, lustrous example is worth face value or a small premium, with top certified grades bringing a little more.
How to recognize it
The Ohio: Underground Railroad design
Ohio's coin honors the Underground Railroad, the secret network that helped enslaved people escape to freedom before the Civil War. Lying across the Ohio River from slave states, Ohio had many routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers and those who aided them. The reverse shows two clasped hands, the upper arm pulling the lower one upward as a chain fixed to a shackle on the lower wrist breaks apart. It carries the inscription UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. Beth Zaiken designed it and Stephen Layne sculpted it.
The American Innovation Dollar design
The obverse shows the Statue of Liberty in profile with IN GOD WE TRUST and $1. Each reverse honors an innovation or innovator from one state or territory, issued in the order the states joined the Union. The date, mint mark and E PLURIBUS UNUM are lettered on the edge, which is where to look for the mint mark.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | American Innovation Dollar (2018–present) |
|---|---|
| Year | 2023 |
| Mint | Denver Mint |
| Mint mark | "D" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 448,225 |
| Face value | $1 |
| Composition | Manganese brass (88.5% copper, 6% zinc, 3.5% manganese, 2% nickel) |
| Weight | 8.1 grams |
| Diameter | 26.49 mm |
| Edge | Lettered with the date, mint mark and E PLURIBUS UNUM |
| Designer | Various artists |
Other 2023 American Innovation Dollar issues
Mintage: American Innovation dollars (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.