The Peace Dollar

 

Peace Silver DollarThough it may be in the shadow of its older brother coin – the most collected U.S. coin, the Morgan Silver Dollar – the Peace Dollar is well remembered as a symbol of the United States as it rose to be a dominant force in a world newly at peace. It was also the last circulating U.S. silver dollar coin.

 

On the coins’ reverses, both the Morgan and Peace Dollars featured the avatar of the nation’s new position– peace through power: on the Morgan this would be described with the image of an eagle, wings raised, clutching both the olive branch and arrows. Arrows being the symbol of America’s strength and readiness to defend its interests, and the olive branch representing a desire for peace. The Peace Dollar depicts a pensive eagle in profile, holding only the olive branch of peace.

 

For collectors, the high relief 1921 Peace Silver Dollar as well as the modified, lower relief issues of 1922 to 1935, are popular and prized additions to their collections. Though often overlooked for the Morgan, the Peace Dollar is value-filled series that offers collectors a more accessible challenge than Morgans. The Peace Silver Dollar doesn’t have any tough-to-find rarities in circulated grades, and because of its limited production of only 10 years (no coins were struck between 1929 and 1933), the total number of coins it takes to complete a set is a more reasonable 24.

 

The Peace Dollar was designed by American sculptor Anthony de Francisci who won the honor of designing the coin in a 1921 competition despite being the youngest and most novice contestant. According to legend, his beautiful wife posed as the model for the Liberty Gold coin obverse. By winning, Francisci would best eight other prominent coin designers, all of whom already had coins of their design in U.S. mintage.

 

Following the legacy of strong demand for Morgan Dollars, the Peace Dollar would be the second most collected pre-modern silver series in the United States today.

 

Other notable features of the Peace Dollar:

  • Because of its limited production, the Peace Silver Dollar have fewer dates and mints as compared to the Morgan Silver Dollar series; this makes them ideal for collectors and investors looking to build a quality set
  • Beginning production in the final year of the Morgan’s mintage, 1921, the Peace Dollar would continue production until 1935
  • 187 million Peace Dollars would be struck – a fraction of the Morgan’s half billion total
  • The coin was first minted in high relief but due to the difficulties of striking such relief in some cases, the mint decided to lower the relief in order to mint more coins; Morgan Dollars never got a high relief treatment
  • These coins are sometimes incorrectly referred to as Morgan Peace DollarsPeace Silver Dollar
  • To compare the lettering of the Peace Dollars to the Morgan Dollars you’ll note that the Peace Dollar is slightly fuzzy while the Morgan is very sharp and clear; this occurred as a result of the use of a reducing machine, called the Janvier, for Peace Dollars in 1921; coins were struck hastily – over a million completed in the last week of that year
  • Extremely rare 1922 Peace Dollars are known to exist: as proof high-reliefs, 6-8 extant, and proof low-reliefs, only 3 extant; a low-mintage 1928-P Peace Dollar commands prices much lower than might befit a mintage of over 360,000 – as an announcement was made that production quantities would be limited, many would be saved by collectors; conversely, the 1934-S dollar was not saved in great numbers and its prices for circulated specimens are generally low but mid-grade uncirculated specimens can cost into the thousands of dollars
  • The Wartime Act of 1942 forced the melting of Peace Dollars and later untold millions more were melted as the price of silver shot up to over $50 an ounce in the 1980’s; the numbers of Peace Dollars in existence today is uncertain

 

High demand and a more competitive price point on many key dates in the Peace Dollars series make this an ideal coin for anyone looking to collect silver coins.

 

To learn more about the Peace Dollar and see how it could fit into your investment portfolio, contact us and an experienced Mint State Gold representative will be happy to assist you anyway we can.

 

Peace Dollar Coin Specifications 

 

Metal(s) Produced Silver
Purity 90% Silver and 10% Copper
Year(s) Minted 1921 to 1928 and 1934 to 1935
Where Minted Philadelphia/ Denver/ San Francisco
Composition 0.7734oz ASW and 0.0866oz Copper
Total Weight 0.86 troy oz
Denomination $1
Thickness 3.1 mm
Diameter 38.1 mm
Strike Type(s) Business/ Proof

 

Store: Peace Silver Dollar

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