Adolph Weinman's Liberty in all her finery.

Since 1986, millions of US Silver Eagles have been minted with a nominal denomination of $1. Almost immediately after their introduction the price of silver collapsed. Extraordinary industries sprang up to enhance the appeal of the Eagles. Very early some Eagles began appearing with "hand painted" and enamelled designs, either using the underlying relief or overlaid without regard to it. More recently, cut decals of many kinds, like this one, have largely replaced hand painting.

The Silver Eagle received a huge collecting boost with release of the State Quarters series in 1999. Today "added value" is created by grading to a fare-thee-well for slabbed series of all kinds.