So I wanted to get some more experienced opinions about this peace dollar. It's a 1922 s and I know they are known for their poor strike quality. I compared it to another 22s I have, plus other years/mints and it's significantly different. The best way I can describe it is the reeding on the outside of the coin stops much lower than normal on the obverse side. It also extends farther out horizontally than any others I have. You can see this on the full obverse picture. On the reverse side the reeding comes down farther and there is some collar clash on the reverse. The pictures with 2 coins in them are for comparison to another peace dollar. The coin in question is on the left side.
I hope that's not the case but I'm certainly no expert. I don't see any other tell tale signs that indicate it's a belt buckle piece. Also, the collar clashing on the rear makes me think it occurred during the mint process.
I think you've got your finger on the cause - some minor issues with collar placement during the strike - it seems as if it didn't reach what should be its' final vertical position at the moment of strike. The collar clash event might have had a bearing on collar placement of later strikes; this could be the very next coin struck after the clash "jammed" the collar slightly sideways, and the next strike after this (or a few strikes later) the collar returned to normal position.
Thanks SuperDave as always I appreciate your response and wealth of knowledge! Cool, I'm glad I was on the right track I guess it means I'm learning something lol. So error wise what would you consider this to be identified as aside from the collar clashing?
With the understanding that my opinion is subject to modification by someone with more "product-specific" knowledge (I'm more of a generalist), I don't know if the coin would rise to the level of being called an "error." More like a "collar misplacement within acceptable production standards" kind of thing.
Looks like a typical not fully struck up rim/edge. Think about a proof coin. On it the rim is fully struck and wide and on the edge the reeds go all the way across the thickness of the coin and they meet at a sharp square corner. Now reduce the strike quality some. You lose that square corner, and as the strike quality goes down some more the corner doesn't fill at all, and you have a rim that isn't as wide as it should be, and reeds that don't go all the way across the full thickness. At the area between the rim and the reeds becomes a "bevel" between them. Go through your pocket change and examine the edges. You will see that bevels between the rims and center part of the edges sn't that uncommon. It's just what happens when you rush things and reduce the pressure and/or increase the speed of the press. Either there isn't enough pressure or enough time for the metal to flow to where it should go,
When everything's working right, and all the (intended) machines on hand are operating at normal speed, how many silver dollars were they striking per minute? When the quota was filled (for the year), does a team come over and change all the dies and settings, and start striking (for instance) dimes? To take the question one step further, I notice that (from glancing through the Redbook) that no cents, nickels, dimes, quarters, or half dollars were struck at the Denver mint in 1923, only Peace Dollars and double eagles, and no commemorative half dollars or foreign-contract strikings. What was going on? That was among the years of peak prosperity in the 1920s, there should have been a strong demand for new coinage.
Actually it was a post war recession period after WWI and there was little demand for coins. The Roaring Twenties didn't start roaring until a few years later.
