The last silver dollar coin in US legal tender circulation was the Peace Dollar. It was so named because of the world “peace” inscribed near the bottom in the coin’s reverse side on all its mint versions from 1921 to 1936.
1921 Peace Dollar MS63 PCGS
A History
The American Numismatic Association, through its editor Frank G, Duffield in its November 1918 edition of The Numismatist magazine, lobbied for a commemorative coin to celebrate the near inevitable end of the World War I. There was no argument to it and the US Congress warmly passed the Pitman Act of 1918 that empowered the US Mint to melt 350 million silver dollars – more specifically the Morgan Dollar which had been in circulation as the US dollar since its last minting in 1904, in order to be used for the mandated new silver dollar.
Designing the new US dollar could have been done by George T. Miller, the US Mint’s Chief Designer of the Morgan Dollar. But by executive fiat of then President Warren G. Harding, a design competition for the new dollar was conducted by the Commission of Fine Arts with nine artists competing.
Among the contests were the designers of the Standing Liberty Quarter, the Lincoln cent and the Mercury dime. These were Hermon A. MacNeil, Victor D. Brenner and Adolph A. Weinman, respectively. The winner was an immigrant – an Italian sculptor by the name of Anthony de Francisci who had designed the 50-cent Maine Centennial commemorative coin in 1920.
The first minting iteration produced more than a million coins at the US Mint factory in Philadelphia from December 1921 to December 1922. It was put in circulation January 1922. The high sculpted relief created problems in the production as the dies kept breaking at a high rate. In addition, the coins couldn’t be stacked due to the high relief sculpting. This was corrected by lowering the relief, almost like flattening the coin and for 1922, more than 84 million Peace Dollars were minted, the highest minting of any coin series.
With a low demand for the silver dollar, production ended temporarily in 1928 with just two million coins struck in that year. It resumed in 1934-35 backing the government’s additional requirement for Silver Certificates. It almost resumed production in 1965 to support the booming Nevada casino business.
But a critical shortage in silver halted the resumption as Congress vetoed President Lyndon B. Johnson’s order to resume production. Some 300,000 Peace Dollars have already been struck at the Denver factor of the US Mint but Congress had them all melted and made illegal any ownership of some that had been rumoured to have escaped the melting.
Coin Description
Weighing 26.73g with a 38.1mm diameter and 2mm thickness, the reeded-edge Peace Dollar contained 90% silver and 10% copper. The Anthony de Francisci design puts the Lady Liberty profile prominently on the obverse with his wife Teressa as the model. It has Art Deco font styling for the inscription “Liberty” and “In God We Trvst” with a Latinized “U” using the angular “V.”
The reverse featured a perched American Bald Eagle originally depicted holding a broken sword to symbolize Peace but this was interpreted to mean defeat. US Mint’s Chief Engraver Morgan replaced it with an olive branch against the sun’s rays on the background.
Immediately after its release, the design drew some flack especially the Latinized spelling of “trust” and the pouting lips of Lady Liberty. It’s interesting to note that the widespread criticism drew the government’s reaction that it was not withdrawing the coins and today, the coin is considered one of the most beautiful and is among the favorites by coin collectors worldwide with the first 1921 as the most sought-after.
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Auctions in eBay
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| 1923 PEACE DOLLAR 90 SILVER | |
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$30.99 (20 Bids) Time Remaining: 43m |
| VERY NICELY DETAILED AU+ 1922 P PEACE SILVER DOLLAR COINMY501 | |
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$36.99 Time Remaining: 29d 18h 41m Buy It Now for only: $36.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
| 1922 Peace Silver Dollar | |
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$18.60 (4 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 14m |
| 1922 Peace Silver Dollar | |
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$28.00 (7 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 14m |
| 1926 S Peace Silver Dollar SLIDER UNC | |
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$46.95 Time Remaining: 29d 19h 35m Buy It Now for only: $46.95 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
| 1922 Peace Dollar 90 Silver | |
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$28.01 (9 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 14m |
| 1921 P US Silver Peace Dollar | |
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$51.00 (8 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 19m |
| 1923 Peace Silver Dollar | |
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$24.59 (4 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 16m |
| 1927 S 1 PCGS MS64 CAC Peace Liberty Head Silver Dollar | |
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$1,295.00 Time Remaining: 4d 19h 17m Buy It Now for only: $1,295.00 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
| 1925 PEACE DOLLAR 90 SILVER NICE COIN NO RESERVE BID NOW 3 DAYS ONLY | |
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$29.67 (8 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 51m |
| 1924 Peace Dollar 90 Silver | |
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$21.50 (7 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 22m |
| C USA 1923 S Peace Dollar MS | |
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$52.00 Time Remaining: 9d 15h 38m Buy It Now for only: $52.00 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
| 1925 PEACE DOLLAR 90 SILVER VERY NICE NO RESERVE BID NOW 3 DAYS ONLY | |
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$31.00 (10 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 49m |
| 1925 PEACE DOLLAR 90 SILVER COLLECT IT NOW NO RESERVE BID NOW 3 DAYS ONLY | |
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$29.00 (8 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 54m |
| 1925 PEACE DOLLAR 90 SILVER COLLECT IT NOW NO RESERVE 3 DAYS ONLY | |
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$26.52 (6 Bids) Time Remaining: 2h 10m |
| US COIN 1928 S 1928S PEACE SILVER DOLLAR CHOICE FINE BETTER DATE OLD 1 | |
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$45.25 Time Remaining: 29d 15h 49m Buy It Now for only: $45.25 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
| 1934 D PEACE DOLLAR HIGHGRADE GEM BU COIN 5 | |
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$39.00 (8 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 48m |
| LOT OF 8 SILVER DOLLARS 3 MORGAN 5 PEACE 90 SILVER NR | |
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$204.60 (11 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 35m |
| C USA 1926 S Peace Dollar AU | |
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$44.00 Time Remaining: 9d 15h 39m Buy It Now for only: $44.00 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
| 1925 PEACE DOLLAR 90 SILVER BID NOW NO RESERVE 3 DAYS ONLY | |
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$28.85 (5 Bids) Time Remaining: 2h 12m |
