Susan B anthony dollars are great coins to get started in coin collecting because of it's short run, in my opinion. You can easily get the entire set with proofs, with little effort and for a reasonable price. So, I have a few complete (raw, unc) sets of SBA and thought I was happy. Then I read an article about "full talons" and how someday they might be recognized, just like Full Steps (Jefferson Nickel), Full Bell lines (Franklin Half), and Full Bands (Roosevelt Dime). So I start going through all of my SBA's, and I do find some with full talons, but not neaarly enough. Now I feel like my set is not complete until they are all full talons. Do you think that someday the grading companies will recognize this? According to the article, only 5% of SBA's struck have full talons. Should I care at all? Do you care at all? -greg here is a link to the article: http://www.smalldollars.com/dollar/add017.html
To be honest, no, I hope they don't adopt the "Full Talons". I really don't care for the designations like FB, FBL, FH & FS. So what if you have a coin that grades MS63 or 64 with one of those designations. I'd rather have a nice MS66 or 67 without the designation any day. By the way, I also have the Susie B's with and without "FT". I also like to collect Morgan VAM's, but I'll be darned if I'm going after all 3,000+ of them. Chris
This is very interesting. Can this post be nominated for an award, or not since the info was a link? I'm going to start looking at the SBA's I come across.
I'm glad I am not the only one who thought this was very interesting! I wasn't sure if this has been discussed a lot, or if most people even knew about this. I found it fascinating and immidiately pulled out all my SBA's. Then I was mad at myself for selling about 40 of them on ebay without even knowing about this.
Head Ache I heard that the only fellow that even kissed her good night got an ice cream headache for it.
Not enough players pushing the designation, it has languished for years on end and will continue to elude ever being recognized. Sorry, that's the way it is. My English teacher Ms. Foy told me never to end a sentence with a preposition. If she would have looked like Susan B. instead of Jane Mansfield it prolly would have stuck, but alas, Ms. Foy's words fell on deaf ears. Happy Collecting
MD Full talons Over 30 yrs ago, when cashing a check at the bank, noticed a full roll of the "NEW" SBA's in the tellers till. This was so long ago that she seemed disturbed that I requested the entire roll. Guess she wanted to set aside a few for others, but complied. Having read this thread decided to take a gander of that old stash yesterday. Well, not being too vigilant found myself watching as the mint wrapped roll from way back when rolled off the table and broke open on the floor. Damage done and decisions having been made for me by fate, inside I found this. Full Talons AND machine doubling on tail & wings? It will be many years before anybody cares to hold these SBA's. They just reek of "Let Me Be~Don't Touch Me"....even if they have sharp claws & scales.
I have never heard of the variety before but tomorrow I will check the few I've got to see what I can come up with. I would say that for the variety to be recognized, the coin series itself would have to be recognized itself, first
Just a quick correction - this is not a variety. This is a strike issue - something that should be on every coin. A variety would be, for example, the near and far dates on the 79P, or the filled or clear S on 79S and 81S.
With my well known love of full strike, I appreciate a Full Talon - but I wouldn't want to see it designated. No one cares about the SBA, so a FT designation would be pretty pointless. I'm much more interested in a Full Thumb designation on Walkers. That being said, in college I assembled a collection of SBA's, and it got pretty high on the registry. I had to sell it because I needed money, but I spent a great deal of time searching for Full Talon coins. The article linked in the OP is a really good one on the subject, but there was a pdf with more detail and more pictures that I had at one time. Certain dates, as the article mentioned, are extremely scarce with FT - such as the 1980S. I was lucky enough to find a powerfully struck example. I also have this one, which is about the best strike you'll ever see on a 80D, along with being PL:
i always liked this coin because it was different. i think its mostly the shape. i don't have one because i don't feel like paying the $4 average on ebay. i am going to bid on a 1979-P that says its UNC. but if i win it, we shall find out the truth. shipping is $1.15 and if i get the coin for $.99, i will do it. if not i will wait. they shouldn't be to hard to find, but no banks around me get dollar or half dollar coins!
I have a few SBAs. I like the reverse of the coin a lot. The obverse from what I can tell is true to real life. Not an attractive woman but she accomplished a lot more in her life than I have in mine.