Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States - A Complete Encyclopedia

1981-D Anthony Dollar

Coinage Context

Limited mintage: See comments under 1981-P. Specimens were made only for inclusion in Mint sets. The 1981-D has the second lowest mintage (after 1981 P) of any Susan B. Anthony dollar.

Numismatic Information Availability: Although the 1981-D Anthony dollar is much more elusive than the 1979-D and 1980-D, enough exist that obtaining one is no problem.

Mint sets: 2,908,145 Uncirculated 1981-D Anthony dollars were included in Mint sets sold by the Treasury to collectors; these sets contained the 1981-P, D and S dollars, plus other denominations cent through half dollar-total face value, $4.82; issue price of set: $11.00 (an increase of $2 from the price of the previous year's set).

Burning question of the hour: What happened to the several hundred thousand 1981-D dollars not sold with the sets?

Varieties

Business strikes:
1. 1981-D. All are of the same variety.

1981-D Anthony: Market Values

1981-D Anthony: Summary of Characteristics

Business Strikes:
Enabling legislation: Act of July 23, 1965 (clad metal), October 10, 1978, and others.
Designer: Frank Gasparro.
Weight and composition: 125 grains (tolerance 4%); outer layers of .750 copper and .250 nickel bonded to inner core of pure copper.
Business strike mintage: 3,250,000.
Comment on availability, MS-65 or better: Scarcest grade level of the issue. However, hundreds of thousands exist.
Comment on availability, MS-64: Comment as pre-ceding.
Comment on availability, MS-63: Common. Probably, well over a million exist.
Comment on availability, MS-60 to 62: Common.
Comment on availability, VF-20 to AU-58: Few exist, as the government did not place any into circulation.
Characteristics of striking: Most are well struck. Known hoards of Mint State coins: The government may retain some coins, but as of press time this has not been verified. Several hundred thousand are not accounted for by Mint set sales.

Proofs:
None.

Commentary
This is the second scarcest Anthony dollar from a mintage viewpoint.