Flowing Hair struck over Anthony

The 40th anniversary of the 1977 Flowing Hair mini-dollar design by Frank Gasparro is being commemorated by a new numismatic issue from Ken Potter.

He is offering exact-size faithful reproductions of the proposed design struck over 1979 Susan B Anthony dollars.

The dies were cut by internationally renowned sculptress Heidi Wastweet.

The Flowing Hair Liberty design was intended to replace the rarely used and unwieldy Dwight D. Eisenhower clad dollar.

This new commemorative represents the coin that was ultimately rejected in favor of the now familiar – though unpopular and short-lived – Susan B. Anthony dollar.

Gasparro, who was chief engraver of the U.S. Mint, naturally favored his earlier proposal, but it was his duty to design the Anthony coin as mandated by Congress.

The Anthony dollara was issued starting in 1979. Ultimately, there were only four years of issue, 1979-1981 and 1999.

All the original Liberty patterns were destroyed by the U.S. Mint when the Anthony proposal became the law of the land.

Two-hundred of the replicas were struck by Potter on top of 1979 Anthony dollars. You might call this process Miss Liberty’s revenge.

Each resulting coin will be unique in that subtle hints of the under-strike will show to slightly different degrees on each coin. These historic coins are encapsulated in Air-tite holders and accompanied by numbered certificates of mintage.

Potter noted that despite the fact he has sold thousands of Anthony dollars over the years he never liked the design from the first time he saw it. He said he was the very first dealer to promote the 1979-S Type II mintmark proof dollars.

“I first heard about the two mintmark varieties from Adolph Weiss, president of the long defunct PAK Full Step Nickel Club in reference to it being on the nickels (and the balance of denominations).

“I began to search out complete proof sets and any with Type II dollars offering to pay dealers full bid. It was kind of a joke among local dealers that I was willing to pay $21 for full Type II sets and a bit less for partial sets with the Type II dollars.

“I was able to buy several hundred sets at that price and single dollars broken out of sets for normal type prices. Within a month or two the same dealers were buying them back from me at a significant price over what I paid them just a few weeks earlier and sold a lot of them through my retail catalog.”

Potter said he was also the first dealer to advertise the 1979-P Wide Rim/Near Date dollars in large ads in national numismatic publications such as Numismatic News where he ran up to full page ads for a number of years in the 1980s that always included this coin saying he sold thousands of that one coin alone.

“I put that coin on the map,” he said, “and it went into the Red Book in short order. Now I am so happy to at least be able to destroy of couple of hundred of this ugly coin by having them overstruck with Gasparro’s beautiful Liberty design on top.”

Potter noted that the overstrikes were struck from the same dies that were used to strike pure silver and copper issues by Royal Oak Mint over a decade ago. He indicated that he still has a very small supply of those pieces in stock but too few to include in his ads.

All coins will bear the word COPY inconspicuously worked into the reverse in accordance with the Hobby Protection Act of 1973. He asks that folks not ask for one without this mark as they are considered counterfeit by him if released in that manner.

The coins are priced at $65 each plus $3.99 postage per order. Order Limit is five per person. Checks and money orders accepted.

Send orders to: Ken Potter, P.O. Box 33, Pinckney, MI 48169. To pay by credit card, telephone him at 313-268-3280. Payment by PayPal should be sent to kpotter25@aol.com.

More Collecting Resources

• Is that coin in your hand the real deal or a clever fake? Discover the difference with U.S. Coins Close Up, a one-of-a-kind visual guide to every U.S. coin type.

• Check out the newly-updated Standard Catalog of World Coins, 2001-Date that provides accurate identification, listing and pricing information for the latest coin releases.