Some of those who purchased a box of Cheerios back in 2000, and namely in January, got very lucky because they received more than a plain breakfast, they found a very special golden coin, called Sacagawea.

It is not just a simple dollar. Each one of these golden coins from Cheerios is currently sold among collectors for several thousand dollars.

 It is interesting to note that the U.S. Mint was the one to spend $53,000,000 in 2000 on marketing and advertising. The attention-catching strategy worked just fine.

An interesting promotional step was made when twelve exclusive 22-karat gold Sacagawea's coins were sent into outer space. Before proof coins were launch into circulation they were sent up, back in 1999, on Space Shuttle Columbia.

Probably the most creative and effective campaign was the one when the U.S. Minted made a partnership with General Mills. The campaign focused on placing new millennium pennies along with 5,500 Sacagawea coins inside 11 million boxes of Cheerios.

Just like the coins sent into space, the Cheerios boxes were place on grocery shelves before the coins found in some of the boxes were introduced into circulation. That was really inspiring since at that time the new gold dollars were only available in boxes with Cheerios. Only in the late January they were issued to the Federal Reserve Banks.

Due to the fact that there was a huge buzz around the new golden dollars, the Mint had to work quickly. The golden dollars had to be struck by the General Mills before 2000, because then they could have time to package the coins within the boxes and by January could be ready to be sold from the grocery shelves.

The most interesting part starts here. Both pennies and the golden dollars were delivered just fine. However, the U.S. Mint decided to slightly change the design for the coins being in circulation.

Apart from the Sacagawea coins that supposed to go to banks and public, the new golden dollars from Cheerios boxes had just the same design as the proof 22-karate space coins.

The 5,500 turned out to be very rare and thus very valuable, apart from other Sacagawea coins, which being produce in 2000 circulated in billions.

The official story was presented by spokeswoman Joyce Harris in her statement from the U.S. Mint, which was released on June 17, 2007:

"5,500 Golden Dollars of a ‘high detail’ feather variety (12 tail feathers) were manufactured and shipped to General Mills as part of the Golden Dollar promotion in October 1999, under a detailed arrangement that they not be released until January 2000. Prior to manufacturing the coins for release to the Federal Reserve in 2000, the feather detail was softened and the center tail feather was recessed to solve a die manufacturing issue. Recessing the center tail feather gives the illusion of a 13th feather, but that was not the intent."

The Real Value of the Sacagawea Cheerios Dollars

An article from November 12, 2007 issue of Coin World quoted the U.S. Mint's officials, who stated that they discussed how a collector on eBay acquired a 2000-P Sacagawea (Cheerios dollar) graded PCGS MS-66 for $9,999.99.

In addition a Cheerios dollar coin was auctioned by Heritage Auction Galleries for $11,500, being graded PCGS MS-67.

The owners of Sacagawea Cheerios dollars, which are in reasonable condition, may catch several thousand dollars for them. In addition coins or the genuine boxes of Cheerios may be found on such auctions as eBay.

Facts on the Sacagawea dollar Cheerios program:

The official starting date of the program was January 1, 2000

The Mint delivered for each box of Cheerios 11 million Millennium Lincoln cents

Every 2,000 Cheerios box included a 2000-P Sacagawea golden dollar

Every 4,400th box of cereals included a voucher one could exchange for 100 dollar coins

It was estimated that the Cheerios promotion program, only through the cereal boxes, ended up with 132 million exposures to the public.

Below there you may find interesting the manufacturing facts of the 2000 Sacagawea coins along with survey results:

The production of each Sacagawea golden coins cost 12 cents, by making 88 cents the U.S. Mint was able to deposit to U.S. Treasury above $800 million in profits of coin

By the end of 2000, the Mint issued more than a billion of golden dollars; 700 million coins were launched into circulation

83% of American citizens new about this fact

78% supported its issuance

42% of adults had received one