1979-D

The 1979-D opened the Denver run of the new dollar with 288,015,744 pieces, the second-largest single-mint output in the entire series after the 1979-P. Frank Gasparro, then Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint, designed both sides: the obverse portrait of Susan B. Anthony was based on a 19th-century photograph, and the reverse was a shrunken version of his Eisenhower dollar eagle-landing-on-moon design, originally adapted from the Apollo 11 mission patch. The Susan B. Anthony Dollar Coin Act of October 1978 had directed the smaller 26.5 mm format, and Denver received the bulk of the inaugural-year production order. All Denver coins use the Type 1 Narrow Rim configuration, with a noticeable gap between the date and the inner border; the Wide Rim variety that surfaced mid-year was a Philadelphia-only die change and never appeared on Denver pieces.

Strike quality is typical for 1979 Denver work. The eagle, the lunar surface, and the eleven-sided inner border come up cleanly on coins from early die states, with weakness limited to the highest points of Anthony's hair under heavier die wear. Most surviving examples grade MS65 or MS66 from Treasury bag breaks. PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC populations thin meaningfully at MS67, and the price differential for the top tier is the only place this date carries a real premium. Roll-handled examples grading AU58 or below outnumber any genuine circulation wear, since most coins moved straight from the Mint to vault storage and never saw commercial use.

This is a regular issue in the absolute and the standard entry point for a Susan B. Anthony date set. Sealed Treasury bags still trade at coin shows near face plus a handling premium, and certified MS66 examples are inexpensive enough that the date never anchors a registry-set decision the way Philadelphia's Wide Rim or the San Francisco Type 2 proofs do. For the policy story behind the launch and the size-confusion problem that ended commercial use, see the Susan B. Anthony Dollar series history.