Susan B Anthony Dollars

That's right Dearborn, we all wanted nice shiny coins in our collection, but we didn't know better, so we wiped them down from time to time...

A very high percentage of 1979 mint sets have two dollar coins that are badly tarnished. The1980 sets are much better but still nearly a third of the D and S are tarnished and a quarter of the Phillys. '81 sets are much better yet but about 5% are bad.

Of course Gems are no less likely to be destroyed or affected than typical coins. Millions of these coins have been cut out and spent as well.

I can't figure out why the " Red Book" lists the 1981 P-D-S Susan B Anthony dollars were issued "Mint Sets" only, but with different mintage numbers for each mint?
1981-P: 3,000,000
1981-D: 3,250,000
1981-S: 3,492,000

It's pretty complicated and I'm not sure I remember all the details but they weren't really "mint set only" and there are bookkeeping issues as well. In those days mint set totals weren't included in production numbers so catalogers sometimes got numbers from other sources. Also many mint sets are returned for cause and otherwise and these sets have been processed in various ways. The long and short of it though is that some few coins were released in solid date bags and IMS mixed bags as well. The Denver mint tends to be the most sought after by wholesalers but this might merely reflect the better quality of the Denver mint specimens.

There were also three piece sets of 1981 SBA souvenir sets but these are difficult to find and were probably low mintage. On a related note the near date '79 can be found in the souvenir sets.

It's not true they were released only in mint sets.

But I've heard of almost no coins being released in bags so there could be bookkeeping issues as well.

If it help[s any people have been pondering this discrepancy for many years. Numismatic News ran at least a couple stories about it. They were able to turn up at least one bag of '81 dollars. They were Denvers IMS. It was also reported the coins appeared to be mint set quality. I seriously doubt there are hundreds of thousands of these coins in bags though since I've never heard of any others.

Interesting. I have heard that the 1981 SBA dollars were also available only in mint sets as well.

I am enjoying my combined SBA/Sacagawea dollar set. The Sacagawea in particular is quite a spectacular coin as well, though. I don't know, maybe later on I will go the full mile and dedicate an album for them by themselves. Maybe. Who knows. I definitely prefer the design of the standard Sacagawea compared to the rebranded Native American dollar.

There's something that I really like about small dollar coins on a collectable scale. They are a decent size, and honestly, seem to be geared more towards collecting anyways. Obviously, dollar coins have really never been that popular in the US it seems, especially small dollar coins. Dollar coins in general are pretty nifty.

But, thumbprints have always bothered me, even when I was a wee lad in the late 70s and early 80s.

My biggest crime then was using acid thiourea to remove them from some of my cents. It did the job, but turned them Pepto Pink in the process.

When I was a "wee lad", I used to clean my prized possessions with toothpaste and a brush before I handed them over to my Boy Scout Master.
I was still awarded a merit badge...