The changes of appearance and composition of the dollar was put into law by the enactment of the United States Dollar Coin Act of 1997. The mandate assigned a weight of 8.1 grams and it's diameter was set at 26.5 millimeters. It was to be composed of a pure copper inner core with a layer of manganese brass (an alloy comprised of .040 nickel, .070 manganese, .120 zinc and .770 copper). Note: in 1997 numismatic specimens were struck at West Point in 22-karat gold with the date 2000W on them. Another not-so well-known -fact is the eagle on the reverse sported only 12 tail feathers instead of the usual 13. Guess what? Some 2000P business strikes have the 12 tail design. Another unexplained error produced some rare Sacagawea dollars which have a regular reverse, but a state quarter obverse. The obverse of these dollars carries a rendition of Sacagawea with her papoose on it conceived by artist and sculptur, Glenna Goodacre. 5,000 special finish dollars were struck and presented to Ms Goodacre for payment of her design. (those coins are selling, at this time, for $400 each putting the total value at $1,000,000). Who is Sacagawea? Sacagawea is a Shoshone Indian who volunteered to guide, and be an interpreter for, the famous Northwest Passage explorers, Merriweather Lewis and William Clark. What's her son's name? Jean Baptiste. The dollar's design was chosen by a panel of judges who were selected by then Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Rubin. 120 different different designs were submitted in a nationwide contest. You probably know that in 1905 a bronze memorial of Sacagawea was erected in Portland, Oregon for her participation in helping Lewis and Clark. The memorial was unveiled at the Lewis and Clark Exposition. However, do you know that the funds to erect the monument came from the sale of the gold Lewis and Clark Exposition dollars minted and sold in 1904 and 1905? These gold dollars are one of the few coins in the world that feature two people, one (Lewis) on one side and the other (Clark) on the other side. Hope you enjoyed reading this bit of trivia, Clinker
Here is all you would ever want to know about the SAC dollar. http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=14437 Speedy
I would also add that many thought the sacagawea design was selected because of political pressure for correctness rather than a strong desire to create an work of lasting American Art
Using an american indian on coins is a great american tradition...sac dollars is just an continuation of that I would assume.
I think this might be a myth. There is an article on www.smalldollars.com that deals with this. The Cheerios dollars and maybe the gold ones had a sharper detail on the feathers, and the normal business strikes have less detail thereby giving the impression that the middle feather is in fact two feathers. As for the date on thge gold coins beinbg struck, coul dwell be as you stated, but that seems a bit early.
1997 seemed a bit early - 1999 seems more like it. I am not sure about the gold feathers, but on the site I referenced it discussed an initial miscalculation about the number on business strikes. Anyway, I don;t plan to buy a gold one, and will probably not buy a Cheerios/pattern one either.
