Eager for a Thomas Jefferson dollar? Can?t wait until the Aug. 16 official release date? Ken Potter has some.

On Aug. 8, Potter announced that he had acquired ?P? and ?D? Jefferson dollars and would be offering them for sale.

First he was having them certified as early releases by J.T. Stanton, president of PCI Coin Grading Service, Inc.

Potter, a coin error/variety authority and dealer from Lathrup Village, Mich., explained that while one of his suppliers was looking for $1,000 boxes of John Adams dollars, intending to search for double edge lettering errors and smooth edge errors, he was told by a bank that they had five unopened boxes of the coins that he could purchase.

Upon picking them up, he found that the bank had sold him three boxes of 2007-P Jefferson dollars along with two boxes of Adams dollars.
A special seal on the Jefferson dollar boxes reads ?DO NOT BREAK SEAL UNTIL AUG 16.?

Potter acquired the Jefferson dollars from his supplier and shipped them out for certification the same day.

PCI certified these dollars Aug. 8 ? eight days before the coins were intended to be officailly released ? and placed them in newly introduced ?J.T. Stanton Signature Series? holders, Potter said. The holders specify that the coins were pre-released on Aug. 7, 2007.

Potter said he then set out to find out if anybody in the hobby had obtained any of the Denver Mint Jefferson dollars. Inquiries led him to a dealer who had obtained several thousand. He purchased those and had them shipped to PCI for certification as well.

Many of the Philadelphia coins would be back to him by Aug. 9, Potter said, and he expected Denver strikes to be available within a couple more days.
Price for an MS-65 in PCI?s ?J.T. Stanton Signature Series? holder is $24.95. A ?P? and ?D? pair costs $48.

For more information, contact Potter at telephone (313) 255-8907 (evenings) or (313) 268-3280, or e-mail him at KPotter256@aol.com.

He also has information about these ?pre-release? Jefferson dollars on his Web site at www.koinpro.com.