So, I was wondering why they made the Morgan Dollar in 1921? They ended them in 1904, then they made it for one year in 1921, then they started with Peace Dollars in 1922. So why that 1 odd year with the Morgans? thanks
Morgans were made in all the mints in 21. but yes, you're right about the Peace in 21, I forgot. Im still wondering why they didnt make them from 1905-1920
The didn't make any during those years because they had all they needed still left over from previous years. But then during WWI they melted millions, and millions of them and sent the silver to India. Then in 1919 the Pittman Act was passed and they had to replace all those silver dollars they melted. So in 1921, they knew they were coming out with the Peace dollar, but the designs weren't finished yet. So they started minting as many 1921 Morgans as they could as fast as they could. Finally in late Dec. the Peace dies were ready and they switched to making Peace dollars.
You say the Pittman Act required them the be replaced. I thought they were melted because of the Pittman Act?
I wonder why they sent the silver to India? Maybe something to do with the British and their war effort?
Let's start with why they didn't make any Morgans from 1905 - 1920, and for that you need a brief history of why the Morgan existed at all. The Morgan dollar was an unneeded unwanted coin. The only reason it existed was as political plum to a special interest group, the silver mine owners. They had these fantasticly rich mines that were producing way more silver than anyone needed so the price of silver was steadily falling. The mine owners put political pressure on their Congressmen and Senators to give them price supports for silver. The first of these was the Bland-Allison Act of 1878 that created the morgan dollar. The government was legally mandated to purchase a minimum of two million oz of silver a month and strike it into silver dollars. Thus was born the Morgan dollar. But the mines kept right on producing and silver kept going down. So in 1890 the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was passed which required the government to buy two million DOLLARS worth of silver a month and coin it into dollars. Silver had fallen so far that that meant they were now buying four and a half million oz of silver a month. But there was a problem with the Sherman Act. It paid for the silver with treasury notes that were redeemable in gold, and the mine owners promptly did so. So as the Treasury filled with silver, it was emptied of gold to the point where it fell below the legal minimums and the government was in serious danger of having to default on many of its obligations that had to be paid in gold. The uncertainty cause a financial crisis, runs on banks etc It became known as the Panic of 1893. The Sherman Act was repealed, but it was too late and the depression it caused lasted for another four years. But all that silver purchased under the act still had to be coined into dollars. It took eleven years but the Sherman Act silver finally ran out in 1904 and the dollar presses stopped. The Pitman Act of 1918 required the melting down of 250 million silver dollars for the silver which was sold to Britain and used by them for the purchase of war materials from India. But part of the Act required that the government had to buy up newly mined American silver and replace all of the silver dollars melted under the act. Why the coining started specificly in 1921 and not 1920 or 1022 I do not know. Possibly because of some specific time feature written into the bill. I have not seen a copy of the actual text. All of the dollars coined would have been Morgans if it wasn't for the actions of Farren Zerbe and the ANA pushing for a silver dollar to mark the Peace after the end of WWI. So they probably started coinage of the Morgan intending to make them all Morgans, then the Peace dollar was authorized and they had to change the design. If the Peace dollar design had taken a little longer to develop, we probably would have had two years of Morgans. It took until 1928 to finally finish coining all the silver to replace the dollars melted under the Pitman Act. And that was what stopped the coining of dollars from 1929 to 1933.
Wonderful history lesson. I also read, I believe on the PCGS site, that Silver Dollars were counterfeited in the 20's or 30's for their FACE value. Silver prices had become so low, 25 cents or so per ounce, that it was profitable to make silver dollars and pass them. I believe also the silver content of these fakes was higher than the government issue dollars.
