Whatever Happened to the Sacajawea Coin?

Susan B. Anthony $1 Silver Coin

Whatever Happened to the Sacajawea Coin?

The government has been trying to introduce a dollar coin for most of my lifetime.

They estimate they could save $5.5 billion over thirty years if they could stop producing the dollar bill in favor of a coin.

Dollar bills are cheaper to make, about 3 cents apiece, but coins last longer.

Dollar coins cost about 12 cents to make. But coins last 30 years to paper bills’ 18 months. After six years, coins are cheaper.

But, so far, people don’t like anything the government has tried.

History of the Dollar Coin

The most recent attempt was the Sacajawea golden $1 coin.

The government thought they had learned from their experience with the silver Susan B. Anthony $1 coin.

So, to keep people from mistaking it for a quarter, as they had with the silver Susan B., they colored it yellow.

But, they kept it about the size and weight of a quarter so it would still work in the vending machines that had been tooled to accept it.

It’s not even gold, as you might expect, but brass. The golden Sacajawea coin has no gold in it.

So, yellowish. Goldish.

People were not impressed.

They looked at it in their hands and had the same reaction.

It feels like a quarter.

It is not enough that it is a slightly different color. It is not even enough that it has this weird 11-sided design on it, meant to mimic and honor the Apollo 11.

The shape, size and weight of the coin make it feel like a quarter.

Why Is the Government Putting Less and Less Gold and Silver in Our Coins?

Reading through the history of gold and silver coins, you might understand how the government could get a little skittish about putting valuable, sometimes wildly fluctuating metals in our coins, like silver and gold.

After all, dollar bills have no intrinsic value.

But, if you’re in a hurry to make change, you want something to distinguish it from other coins in your hand.

People are not vending machines, which is where both the Susan B and Sacajawea coins are largely used.

Transit companies use them in making change.

Laundromats, the Post Office for awhile, and some slot machines accept them.

Launched in 2000, production of the Sacajawea was discontinued in 2011 due to high U.S. Mint stockpiles.

The Susan B. Anthony only lasted in production from 1979 to 1981, except for a brief return in 1999.

Presidents, A Mixed Bag

The Kennedy half-dollar has been so popular that it is barely in circulation.

Most people keep them for souvenirs.

It has been in production since 1964.

It was meant as a tribute to John F. Kennedy, after his assassination in 1963.

The Eisenhower dollar, in production from 1971-1978, conformed to what most people think they want.

It is a coin with about ten times as much metal as a dime, four times as much as a quarter, twice as much as a half dollar.

It was so heavy people wouldn’t use it.

Production of Presidential dollars, initiated in 2007, was suspended in 2011.

Like the Sacajawea coins, the U.S Mint has high stockpiles of Presidential dollars.

Again, the yellow coins contain no gold.

The government was trying to imitate the state quarter program, honoring four Presidents a year.

We got up to James Garfield.

History of U.S. Gold and Silver Dollar Coins

What are the different metals the government has used for dollar coins?

Silver dollar coins

Flowing Hair Dollar 1794–1795
Draped Bust Dollar 1795–1803
Gobrecht Dollar 1836–1839
Seated Liberty Dollar 1840–1873
Trade Dollar 1873–1878 (Business & Proofs struck), 1879–1885 (Proof Only)
Morgan Dollar 1878–1904, 1921
Peace Dollar 1921–1935
American Silver Eagle 1986–present (bullion, not for circulation, 99.9% pure silver)