Anthony dollars were released in July 1979 with much fanfare, but the coin soon proved a massive flop. Anthony, was a champion for women's rights in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and seemed a fitting design subject in an era of equal rights. Making this first even more historic was the fact that the coin would be the first US coin to place the figure of a non-mythical woman on the obverse. Authorized by a 1978 bill signed by President Jimmy Carter, the United States Mint began production of the nation's first small-size dollar coin. That combined with its similarity in size and feel to a quarter doomed the coin from the day it was released.In 1979, the United States government undertook what many may call a socio-numismatic experiment. Anthony, a very severe-looking person by anyone's judgment, was based on a particularly unflattering photo and resulted in a coin that many have said to be one of the least attractive US Coins ever minted. The Mint's chief engraver only had time to make the front image of the coin so the old Eisenhower reverse was recycled. But the Mint claimed it couldn't make a multi-sided coin AND that an appropriate brass alloy couldn't be developed (despite the fact that other countries had already had done both), and finally feminist groups lobbied for representation of an actual woman instead of an allegorical figure.īy the time everyone agreed on a design there were only a few months left to get ready, so the Mint opted to use the same metal as that already in dimes, quarters, and halves, and to make the coin round instead of multi-sided. When first proposed it was to be multi-sided, made from a gold-colored metal, and would have carried a distinctive Liberty Head design.

The Anthony dollar is a monument to bad planning on many levels. By 1999, inflation and the use of $1 coins in vending machines and transit fareboxes had exhausted the Treasury's supplies, so a new run was authorized to meet those needs until the new Sacajawea dollars became available in 2000. Some coins were struck in 1981 for inclusion in collectors' sets. The coin was a failure almost from Day 1 due to its similarity to the quarter in size and color, so it was made for circulation in that year and 1980. MoreThe Anthony dollar introduced when the large-sized Eisenhower dollar proved to be too big and heavy for general use. Circulation coins were made in 1979, 1980, and 1999.

Value of susan b anthony coin 2000