The major grading services recognize the up or down orientation of the edge lettering on Presidential Dollars and Sacagawea Dollars, as follows:

POSITION A - Edge lettering reads upside-down when the President's portrait faces up

POSITION B - Edge lettering reads normally when the President's portrait faces up



Position A - Bottom coin          Position B - Top coin

The Mint applies edge lettering to the Presidential Dollars and Sacagawea Dollars in a separate process after the coins are struck by the obverse and reverse dies. Although the orientation of the lettering is expected to be random, the relative rarity of Positions A and B has not been determined. However, neither position is expected to be rare for each issues, since they are generally produced in large numbers.