I have been wondering about the 1921 and 1922 Proof Peace Dollars. Mainly why they were produced the MInt was not making proofs and hadn't since 1915 so why were these made any help would be appreciated
I don't really know the real reason, but I always assumed it might have been a way to try and spur interest in a new dollar coin. It had been a while since dollar coins had been minted and maybe they were to be used as presentation pieces/collectors items to try and gain support for the new dollar. But, thats just my "shot in the dark, probably completely wrong, guess."
IIRC, they were made as a special thank you gift to Zerbe for his efforts in getting the new designs approved for production. I think they all basically went to the big influential dealers and friends of the mint, although I was unable to locate where I read that info in the short research I did just now.
From Breen's Encycopedia: When the 1921 dollar coinage turned out to be the old morgan design, Farran Zerbe who had a large political influence and whose collection later became the Chase Manhattan Bank Money Museum raised a monstrous fuss ( Breen's words) at the mint.As a consulation prize, and to apease him, the mint privately authorized a limited number of P and S morgan proofs which were poorly done. When Henry Chapman, Phila. coin dealer heard of this he went to Morgan and had 10 High quality 1921 Morgan Proofs made for him. When the 1921 Peace dollar started over the anger of Morgan, 4 different proofs were made: 6-8 matte finish, 7-10 satin finish, 6-8 1922 type of '21, and 3 known 1922 regular design. No one seems to know if there were any 1964-D proofs made before the year was recalled and melted, but most likely not, even though some suspect that several regular 1964-D might have escaped the mint as no records were kept of whether all of the dollars purchased by the mint employees ( 2 each) as was tradition, were actually turned back into the mint for melting.
