The late 1970s and early 1980s saw the creation of two different dollars that only stuck around for a short period of time. Their uniqueness, however, contributed to their collectability today despite their little to no acceptance back then. Today’s blog featuring a coin from Whitman Publishing's fourth edition of the 100 Greatest United States Modern Coins series will look a little closer at one of those dollar coins and a variety it managed to create that leaves collectors still searching for them. Authors Jeff Garrett and Scott Schechter will help us along as always.
#86 – 1979-P Susan B. Anthony Dollar, Wide Rim
In October of 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Susan B. Anthony Coin Act, declaring that the smaller coin would be easier to handle and cheaper to produce. This happened amid the production of the Eisenhower dollar, which measured 38.1mm in diameter compared to the Susan B. Anthony which measured 26.5mm. The reduction in diameter, as well as in weight, allowed for massive savings in cost.
While the cost came down to produce the new dollars, they did not go without their own set of issues. Number one: they resembled the quarter dollar. Only slightly bigger, the dollar was the same color and became what authors Garrett and Schechter call “a liability.” The law that authorized the production of the coins only laid out a specific design: Susan B. Anthony on the obverse and a representation of the emblem of Apollo 11 on the reverse which depicts an eagle landing on the moon. The Mint would go on to add an 11-sided inner border to discern the difference between the new dollar and quarter dollar.
The coins were first issued in 1979 with a narrow rim. Despite the minute changes to the design to differentiate the coins, the criticism still came from the public that it was too similar to the Washington quarter. After this, the rim widened. Turns out, the Denver and San Francisco mints struck only Narrow Rim coins in 1979 and would change in 1980. The Philadelphia Mint, however, put the Wide Rim into production immediately and that is how the variety was conceived. In 1980 and 1981, the coins would only be struck with the Wide Rim.
Information regarding the Wide Rim dollars is not as clear cut as one would expect. Issued over 30 years ago at this point, the dollars were not recorded by the Mint as far as how many were struck. If following the die use, reports gather that almost half of the mintage struck in 1979 at Philadelphia may have been the Wide Rim variety. However, the availability of coins to collectors is much less. They are not considered scarce, but hard to come by in higher grades.
This coin has moved down seven spots from #79 since the first edition of this publication.