I got my 2021 Peace Dollar today. I am comparing it to the 1921 ...

johnmilton · Nov 1, 2021

I received the coin today, and it is a nice example.

I have been studying my 1921 Peace Dollar in recent days. I bought this piece about 10 years ago, and it was not one of my better buys. I had "registry fever" then and bought this NGC MS-65 graded coin for the registry points.

It's actually not a bad coin. It would be a slam dunk for the MS-65 grade if it didn't have the mark on the neck. The surfaces, check and originality are all there. The mark on the neck might be from the original planchet. The was one of the highest points on the die. If the mark was deep enough, the die would not have flattened it. Whatever.

I was looking at this piece and have a theory as to why these coins did not strike well. If you look at the rim on the obverse, it is strongly beveled. When the mint adjusted the design in 1922, it was flatten out, and the hair detail in the center was stronger. The best example of this that I have is on this 1935 dated piece.

Here is another coin from the 1920s that had a strongly beveled edge, the 1926
Sesquicentennial Commemorative Half Dollar. This piece is notorious for having a weak strike. The reason cited is low relief dies, but you will note that both the obverse and the reverse have beveled edges. It's just a theory.

At any rate, I am pleased with my new coin from the mint.