Peace Dollar

History

The Pittman Act of 1918 set the type in motion, authorizing the melting of previously struck silver dollars, mostly Morgans, and requiring the purchase of silver to replace them; roughly 270 million pieces were melted against an authorized ceiling that ran as high as 350 million. Morgan dollar coinage resumed in 1921 to meet that obligation, but by then there was pressure for something new: Frank Duffield had proposed a circulating victory coin in the November 1918 issue of The Numismatist, Representative William Ashbrook carried the idea to the House Committee on Coinage, and in 1921 veterans' organizations and the American Numismatic Association petitioned Congress for a type marking the end of the war. The U.S. Mint has stated that no special congressional authority was needed, since the law permits changing a coin's design after 25 years, and Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon approved the replacement of the Morgan in December 1921, the same year peace with Germany was declared by the Knox-Porter Resolution. Anthony de Francisci won the design competition on a compressed schedule, with James Earle Fraser notifying participants by letter on November 19, 1921, and rules going out four days later; the Commission of Fine Arts approved his work unanimously. Production ran from 1921 through 1928 and again in 1934 and 1935, with a brief 1964 revival in which the Denver Mint struck 316,076 dollars dated 1964 in May 1965 before the authorization was rescinded and the coins ordered melted, and a collector issue resumed in 2021.

Details

Anthony de Francisci designed both sides. The classic issues weigh 26.73 grams, measure 38.10 mm across, carry a reeded edge and were struck in 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, with no alloy change anywhere inside the 1921 to 1935 run; this was the last circulating United States dollar struck in that alloy. Philadelphia coins carry no mint mark, with D for Denver and S for San Francisco. The 1922 Philadelphia mintage of 51,737,000 is the largest of any United States silver dollar and makes that date the most common in the series, while the first-year 1921 high relief issue accounted for 1,006,473 pieces. Among the later Philadelphia dates, 1925 reached 10,198,000 and 1927 fell to 848,000.

Features

The obverse carries a youthful bust of Liberty in profile wearing a radiate crown, the element that most distinguishes the design. On the reverse an eagle stands at rest with an olive branch and the rays of a rising sun behind it, and the word PEACE appears at the bottom, the only inscription that marks the coin as commemorative in nature. Relief is the one design modification within the run: the 1921 is treated as a distinct high relief issue, a scarce medium relief 1922 follows as a transitional type, and the balance of the series from 1922 onward uses a lower, flatter relief with generally good strike quality. Varieties are catalogued by VAM number, following Van Allen and Mallis, with the Oxman and Close guide to the top 50 Peace dollar varieties serving as the other standard reference. Attributed examples include the 1921 VAM-1A field break, VAM-1F and VAM-1H polishing lines and VAM-3 Line Thru L, along with the 1922 VAM-1A Line in Tiara, VAM-1E Gouge in Rays, VAM-1F field break, VAM-2A Earring and VAM-2C Extra Hair.

Notable facts

• Liberty was modeled on the designer's wife, Teresa Cafarelli de Francisci, because there was no time to hire a professional model.
• PCGS ranks the 1928 Philadelphia, 1934-S and 1927 as the three rarest dates in mint state, in that order, and considers the 1927 the rarest Philadelphia date in true Gem condition.
• Only two Peace dollars have been graded MS-68 by PCGS, a 1925 and a 1924.
• A 1921 high relief graded MS67 brought $132,000 at a Stack's Bowers sale on August 22, 2018.
• A June 1934 notice in The Numismatist reported that collectors could still buy Uncirculated 1925 and 1927 dollars directly from the Treasury for face value plus first-class postage.
• No branch mint struck the 1921, and Denver produced no Peace dollars in 1924, 1925, 1928 or 1935.