Susan B. Anthony Dollar (1979-81, 99)
The reverse depicts an eagle flying above the moon (with Earth in the background), a design adapted from the Apollo 11 mission insignia that was also present on the previously issued Eisenhower Dollar. It was one of the most unpopular coins in American history.
The 11 sided shape matches the Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages that enclosed a silicon wafer left on the moon. The original design called for the coin itself to be a hendecagon (or, perhaps more accurately, an 11-sided curve of constant width), but vending machine manufacturers protested this plan, claiming that available vending machine technology would require extensive (and expensive) retooling to accommodate the irregular-shaped coin originally proposed.
Because of their similar size and color, it was found to be easy to mistake the coin for a quarter. The originally planned hendecagon shaped edge, which would have distinguished it from the quarter, had been replaced with a depiction of an hendecagon and the same reeded edge as the quarter, thus compounding the confusion.
The Anthony dollar was disparagingly referred to as the "Carter quarter" or the "Anthony quarter". Almost one billion Anthony dollars were produced for circulation (Additional dollars were produced as numismatic items). The coin was released July 2, 1979. A $1 postage stamp was also released nationwide on the same day, allowing philatelic/numismatic first day souvenirs to be produced.
While a large quantity were produced in 1979, they failed to circulate well (despite the slogan "Carry three for Susan B"). A minimal number were produced in 1980. In 1981, none were produced for circulation, but instead were produced for numismatic sets marketed by the Mint. Many of those mint sets have been broken up, and it is not unusual to find 1981 dated Anthony dollars in circulation.
At the end of production, the Treasury was left with hundreds of millions of the coins in its vaults. In the 1980s and into the 1990s, vending machines (especially transit and postal machines) began to take higher denomination notes, when previously they had been effectively limited to one dollar notes. While change could be given in quarters and smaller coins, more and more of such machines began to give change in dollar coins.
This led to an increased call on the Treasury's supply. By 1998, the Treasury's stock of dollar coins was near zero. The Mint lacked the appropriate power to modify the layout of the coin, also it was not regarded feasible to launch the brand new Sacagawea dollar prior to two thousand.
Consequently, following the longest hiatus for the exact same design and style of a circulating dollar coin in United states history (one full year longer in comparison to the Morgan silver dollar), the coin was restruck in 1999.
Because the Sacagawea dollar's two thousand launch, the Susan B. Anthony dollar circulated together with it: both coins possess equivalent metallic signatures to vending equipment.
