In 1925 the date was changed. On all the SQL's prior to 1925 the date worn off so a change was made to the date. The Red Book describes the original dates as Pedestal and the new, redesigned date as Recessed. It also only list 2 varieties but other sources list the date as a third one.
i read that since we were getting into the war, our government wanted to show lady liberty with a chain mail suit of armor
My wife loves SLQs and she gets somewhat engaged in coin collecting because of the series. We are collecting this series which is a challenge for sure. I also presented a PowerPoint at a coin club meeting on SLQs. The history and revisions on this coin and the controversies are very interesting. The series is short but there is a lot of interest.
It a pity that we never got proofs (I saw a few references to there perhaps being one or two but not collectable at any rate and it doesn’t appear any have be certified) it would have been cool to have a full set of the “classic series” in proof .
Here is the difference between type 2 and type 3. Look at the dishing around the date. One is flat and the other is carved away so the date is below the surface of the coin. The date is in a different font: with prominent serifs up to 1924, and a smaller font that fit better into the smaller space that was available. Edit: The PCGS CoinFacts website and application refer to these as Type 2a and Type 2b. I have seen some references to Type 3 on the web, but I defer to PCGS and go with 2a and 2b since the change is minor. They could have done this from the beginning; the Walking Liberty half dollar, also introduced in 1916, has the date in a recess as well.