Peace Dollars

That sounds like me! I carry a 1925 Peace Dollar with me as a "lucky" piece. It's in a round airtite holder. I picked it up for $20 at a model kit collector's show, of all places! It was in a display case with a bunch of cheap knives, reproduction WWII German medals, and other junk.

It has a really beautiful lustre to it. I showed it to a friend who's a numismatist and he thinks it might be an MS 63.

 

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I goofed. Not sure why I wrote MS63. It is clearly a much better coin. I was probably looking at the small dings and scratches, and exagerating them.

It is quite lovely and at least MS65-66.

Delawarejones

 

I saw a couple today at a coin show. Raw (maybe F) for $74 and another (maybe XF) for $86.
Also a raw 1928 for under $100.

 

wow - I picked up that one from USAAVIVa for about $20.00

Ruben

 

Nice Peace Dollar. I have a PCGS set of 63/64's put away and a few raw sets. I have always like them.

 

I also like the Peace Dollars for their design and for being relatively inexpensive to collect the entire set. I picked up my 1921 for $135 in XF40 and my 1928 for $409 in AU55 from a dealer in Harrisburg. I only have about 10 more to go to complete my Peace Dollar set, then, I will start on a set of Morgans.

 

Could that be because Miss Liberty, for the first time on a dollar, is portrayed as a pretty young woman? To be honest, I think that's one reason I like it so much.

 

Yes, Nostalgia and Beauty

Very well put, Delaware. When I was a little boy in Greenville, S.C., climbing onto the bus and dropping a Mercury dime into the coin collector, to get to the movie downtown, where I paid with a Walking Liberty Half and then got a box of popcorn with a Standing Liberty quarter, I didn't know what treasures were passing through my little hands. But I know now and I have obtained and preserved some superb specimens from those wonderful old times. I particularly revere Adolph Weinman, designer of the Merc and the Walker, as a genius.--gunsmoke

 

The Morgan model was about 16 years old, if I recall. And the Standing Liberty coin also had a young model, someone well known. Was it the wife of Pultzer?

Randy

 

Peace Dollar Model: A Modest Miss Liberty

For more than 70 years, Teresa Cafarelli de Francisci enjoyed an unusual distinction: She could reach in her purse and pull out a coin that bore her likeness. In 1921, as a young bride, she had posed for her sculptor husband, Anthony de Francisci, when he fashioned the portrait of a graceful female figure for that coin – one that came to be known as the Peace dollar.

“What he wanted,” she recalled many years later, “was a portrait of liberty – an idealized portrait of what it represented to him. I posed for it; whatever he got from life, he got from me. But he didn’t set out to make a portrait of me, and I wouldn’t really say that’s what it was.” Still, it is apparent that Miss Liberty and Mrs. de Francisci were one and the same, for the coinage portraitstrongly resembles photographs of the model taken at about the same time.

The Peace dollar was born in a limited competition: Anthony de Francisci was one of nine artists invited by the U.S. Treasury to participate. “Anthony never expected he would win,” his model confided. “He was so young at the time, and some of the finest men in the country were invited.” Among them were Adolph A. Weinman, designer of the “Mercury” dime and Walking Liberty half dollar; Hermon A. MacNeil, designer of the Standing Liberty quarter; and Victor D. Brenner, designer of the Lincoln cent. A year before, de Francisci had designed the 1920 Maine commemorative half dollar – and that, in all likelihood, lay behind the Treasury’s decision to invite him. Still, he was only 34 – and while he was regarded as a gifted young sculptor, he seemed to have little chance against such glittering superstars.

“Anthony was so certain he would lose,” his widow said, “that he told his artist friends, ‘I’ll give you a silver dollar if I win.’ Then, when he did win, we ordered 50 pieces from the Mint – and he gave them all away to keep his promise. He never even kept one for himself.” Today, those 50 pieces have far more than sentimental value. All were dated 1921 – and well-struck specimens of the 1921 Peace dollar now command a strong four-figure premium. The sculptor never did have a 1921 Peace dollar, Mrs. de Francisci said. “We were never collectors,” she explained. “Anthony was content to do the creating and let others do the collecting.”

The de Franciscis were newlyweds at the time of the competition. They had been introduced by Teresa’s brother, Michael Cafarelli, who had met de Francisci at art school in New York. Both had been born in Italy, and both had emigrated to the United States at early ages. Through the years, Anthony de Francisci did many important works, both large and small, but while his output included numerous medals, he designed no further coins. One of his final medallic works was the official medal for the 1964 New York World’s Fair. He also served for many years as an instructor of sculpture at Columbia University. He died in 1964 at the age of 76. Teresa de Francisci survived him by three decades, dying in the early 1990s at the age of 92.

Mrs. de Francisci served as her husband’s model on other occasions, too. Soon after they were married, for example, he sculpted a large relief of his dark-haired bride. To coin collectors, though, she will always be the fresh-faced Miss Liberty on one of Uncle Sam’s loveliest coins.

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Anna Williams... model for the Morgan dollar

 

http://www.uspatterns.com/anwilsildolg.html

 

"There is much controversy regarding the model for MacNeil's design. Some believe that Miss Dora Doscher, who later became Mrs. H. William Baum, was the model. Miss Doscher is said to have appeared in films under the name of Doris Doree. Decades later, allegations were made that Irene MacDowell, a Broadway actress, was actually the one who posed as the model. Since MacNeil and Doscher were no longer living, and could neither verify nor deny Irene MacDowell's comments, it is unclear who the actual model was."

So, I guess that we'll never know, but I faintly recall an article in Coin World some years ago about some woman being interviewed who claimed to be the model.

 

Are we talking about the standing liberty design?

Ruben

 

I wonder what price silver will have to rise to in order for us to see Peace/Morgan dollars being melted down again in large numbers. While I know that would increase the value of the remaining coins, I sure would hate to see that happen again. However, I suppose it is inevitable.

 

Thank you ppl

I would Like to take this moment and proudly say:
This was My very first thread. I saw my father and didn't believe anyone replies to these kind of things. Now, I have learned many things from this. First of all thank you for helping me sooooo much!!! And would ask a tinsy winsey q. please rate this thread. thank you.




aviva

 

aviva
Welcome, and I would rate it A+

 

Greetings and Welcome

Take Care
Ben

 

Yes it is.