Peace Dollars

Well, I have to be the one to go the other way here. Peace dollars bore me to death! The strike is mushy, the finish is kinda satiny, the writing and style are just not crisp. I do love the face on Lady Liberty, but in general the coin just looks too softly designed to impress me much at all. Even the allegory seems weak to me with the idea of Peace not being illustrated in a hopeful or promising way. With all that said, coins are like music and I cannot tell what someone else will like. My most treasured coins are the 22 Peace dollars my grandmother gave me for a wedding present. Mike

 

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look at my avatar and you'll see what i think of Peace Dollars!!! I LOVE 'EM!!!

 

Mike: I have to agree with you that they (Peace dollars) are kinda boring.
And the strike is really soft and leaves the coin without any interest.
however, look at the 1921 peace.
That is one beautiful coin.

 

I think there is a high probability that price increases in the next 5 years will match the rate of increase of the last 5 based on macroeconomic considerations. But we'll have to wait to see how that develops because there's no way to prove it either way. I agree that bullion coins are probably the best way to participate, but I also agree that peace dollars are underappreciated. If a peace dollar sells for $5 over melt value today, it will probably sell for at least $5 over melt if the price of silver triples again. I'm not sure whether they will ever acquire significant numismatic premiums for the common dates, but that really doesn't matter to me. If it happens, that's a bonus. I own more morgans than peace dollars because I prefer the design, but the peace dollars run a close second. I think the idea of buying a roll of uncirculated peace dollars for $300 makes a lot of sense at many levels.

 

Love them. Don't have a full collection or the 1928 but they're definitely a sleeper series. The 1927 P,D, and S are vastly undervalued IMHO.

Take Care
Ben

 

Yup Frank-
I will admit that the 21 is in a different league. I almost bought one in MS65 a few years ago, but the rest of the coins in the series held me back. It is the only time that I have not bought a coin that I liked because my overall impression of the series was so low. It is too bad, really, because I am a fan of the idea behind it! I wonder what the idea behind the mushy design was, or if it was intentional at all. Maybe they were just breaking new ground design-wise. Mike

 

Mike:
My understanding is that the original design (form 1921) was too hard to struck up properly and required too much pressure on the dies, causing short die life, and increasing costs, decreasing production.

As an aside: are you aware that some 1922 dollars were struck with a high relief design. They are considered to be very rare (and I don't usually use that word, rare).

 

Love 'em.

But I'm like Doug... they've languished for 86 years, and there's no reason to think there will be some seismic shift and they'll suddenly take off.

There's a big difference between "underappreciated" and "undervalued" !

 

i know this sounds weird, but i like the worn ones better than the high grades. just something about a coin being that old in high grade is strange. the worn ones have a more original look to them, and thats what i like.

 

I like Peace Dollars and have my AU set almost complete. It really doesnt matter to me if the prices skyrocket or fall like a brick. To me, thats not what collecting is all about. Sure, its nice that they remain affordable, which is my preference. Of course, even in fairytale land, if these coins would soon double in price I would still buy them because I like them. Thats my opinion.

 

I like the peace dollar. They're a surprising challenge in many ways. I can find almost any Morgan in high grade, and by the dozens quite easily. Maybe thats because they spent the majority of their lives locked away in bank and mint vaults. Peace dollars, however, are a bit tougher to find in high grades with nice eye appeal. They circulated, at least more than the Morgans, and at least for me haven't been the easiest of sets to assemble. And, I always appreciate a challenge.
Guy~

 

Some interesting opinions here guys. Thanks for the thoughts. I appreciate your time.

 

Teasurehunt; the high relief struck coins were minted in 1921,and they are rare,paticularly in gem.Most 1921's were struck with less pressure to facilitate longer die life,and so that the coins could be stacked!(Yes, the high relief made peace dollars hard to stack.)Beginning in 1922 the design was changed to a low relief, and from there on the peace dollars were all struck in that design.

The low releif of course is the reason for most problems that make the series mostly unpopular with silver dollar collectors. Hard to grade, true gems hard to find, bag marks show up more easily than on the morgans due to lack of covering detail...etc.​

Having said that; Coleguy your'e right..its the challenge! Particularly in the high grades.​

Oh yeah, I love 'em! Two complete sets..one bu except the ef 34-s the other au-bu except the vf 34-s! The search goes on!​

The history of the peace dollar is fascinating--find it and read up on it if you find time!​

 

metlog:
Thanks for the correction, I will forward the news to Walter Breen (but, since he is dead, I really won't.)

Per Breen: 1922 High Relief, Type of 1921, Proofs only. Ex-Rare.
Breen-5713.
(6-8 known).

And technically, with a total 1921 mintage of #1,006,473 they are not rare, not even in Gem. Perhaps scarce in high grades, but rare? I don't believe so.

 

Howdy,

Had to chime in. I think you can make money investing in coins, but there are many considerations. From what I've read, the greatest investment potential is with high end, certified keys and semi-keys.

Travers talks a bit about Peace dollars in his books and like the very high end certified ones MS-65, 66, 67, but dogs the generics and in lesser grades.

Bowers new book The Expert's Guide is good and a new book The Investor's Guide to US Coins is great.

It seems the general consensus is that you need to go with highend, certified coins in either key dates or semikey to really stand a chance of making any money. And as the others have pointed out, you're handicapped with the vigorish (buy/sell premium) that can be 20-30%. That's a hell of a sales load to overcome.

If you want to play the precious metals market, you need to minimize your transaction costs by seeking the bullion coins with the least premium.

just some thoughts,

rono

 

I had heard of the 1922 High Relief but have never heard of one selling. Does anyone recall any changing hands? I'll bet that auction would be exciting to watch and the price tag would be pretty spectacular. Mike

 

I whole-heartedly agree with Guy's opinion here.

 

Here is a link for some high reliefs:
http://www.coinfacts.com/silver_dollars/peace_dollars/1922_peace_dollar.htm

Heritage had one that sold here:
http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=288&Lot_No=4353&src=pr

is anyone is a member they may be able to post the value (sale price).

 

Treasurehunt--I stand corrected-wasn't thinking of the proofs. But the sources I've read(now I'll have to do some digging) say that most of the 21's were not struck with full pressure thus resulting in less tha high relief.

Thanks for the links. Sold for $36,800 in april of 2002..​

 

I have given up on investing in coins. If you want to invest, stocks are probably where you want to look. It is obvious you can make some money if you are smart/lucky (those 20th anniversary sets come to mind), but for every one of those there are plenty of busts. I have some peace dollars and will continue to collect them because I like them. They are big, they are silver and they have a great history as a circulated coin. If they bring money down the road, then thats a plus. My investments will have to be in GE/JNJ/PG/XOM/CSCO.