Old $1 Coin Brings Change for Change’s Sake

The $1 Susan B. Anthony coin that Americans rejected 20 years ago is staging a comeback.

U.S. Mint officials announced Thursday that they will strike an undetermined number of the coins later this year because the mint’s stockpiles of coins carrying the suffragette’s image will be exhausted before a new gold-colored $1 coin can be introduced in January.

The old coins were struck from 1979 to 1981 and were one of the biggest disasters in recent U.S. coinage. Americans spurned the coin as too similar to the quarter.

The coins sat unused in Federal Reserve Banks, but then demand suddenly surged several years ago as the U.S. Postal Service began offering them as change in its stamp vending machines. Transit authorities also have begun using them in large numbers.

Mint Director Philip N. Diehl said demand for the coin is now so strong it will eliminate the agency’s remaining supplies before the new $1 coin bearing the image of the Indian guide Sacagawea can be introduced. The design for that coin was unveiled at the White House on May 4, but full-scale production of the coin has yet to begin. Officials said they are still testing metals that will be used in the coin.

The mint’s decision to strike the Anthonys with a 1999 date was a victory for Washington lobbyist James C. Benfield of Bracy Williams & Co. Representing a group called The Coin Coalition, Benfield for years has been pressing for a new $1 coin, citing the rising demand for such a denomination.