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Message:: [QUOTE="Caleb, post: 1823236, member: 32795"]I’m not trying to argue either, just to understand the facts.  You mention that LANTZ retired from the US Mint in 1995 as the reason he wrote the article in 1996.  So in what position did LANTZ have at the Denver Mint in 1964, an entry level position in all probability? I understand that this thread is about the production of the 1964-D Peace Dollar and not the Kennedy Half Dollar but I like Ronald Regan philosophy of “trust but verify”.  In looking at Mr. LANTZ article, can anything be independently established as facts or disproved? First, let us look at the statement that you sited from Gilroy Roberts and see what he has to say on when production started (no spin on the intermediate size trial strikes):“Extreme pressure was exerted to push this program through and by January 2, 1964, Kennedy Half Dollar Proof dies were delivered and our tremendous Proof coin production could get started.  Some minor problems still had to be ironed out for regular production but by January 30, 1964, Denver had started production of regular Half Dollar coinage using the new design.  Sometime during the following week, the Philadelphia Mint started striking regular Half Dollar coinage.” (QUOTED from the REMINISCENCES ON THE CREATION OF THE KENNEDY HALF DOLLAR by Gilroy Robert dated 04/29/1964). Second, what is the US Mints position on when production of the Kennedy half dollar started?  I would draw your attention to the fiftieth paragraph on this web page, <a href="http://www.usmint.gov/historianscorner/index.cfm?action=nugget08-12-07#footnote11" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.usmint.gov/historianscorner/index.cfm?action=nugget08-12-07#footnote11" rel="nofollow">http://www.usmint.gov/historianscorner/index.cfm?action=nugget08-12-07#footnote11</a>Please note that the Mint says that there was two months between the signing of the law (December 30, 1963) and the striking of the first coins even though Gilroy Roberts’ time line has it one month earlier on January 30, 1964 but still not in 1963. And third, Mr. LANTZ contradicts Breen Encyclopedia reference Fern Miller telling Dan Brown that mint employees had an opportunity to buy a couple of Peace Dollars in 1964.  Tom DeLorey addressed this issue over on the PCGS Message Boards back in April 2013 by posting a letter he received from Dan Brown about the issue and confirms that Superintendent Fern Miller of the Denver Mint at that time (1964) told him that there was a window of time that employees had a chance to buy the new dollars.  That letter can be viewed in this link:  <a href="http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=886005&highlight_key=y&keyword1=Dan%20Brown" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=886005&highlight_key=y&keyword1=Dan%20Brown" rel="nofollow">http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=886005&highlight_key=y&keyword1=Dan%20Brown</a> Whether “it is extremely unlikely that any '64 Peace dollars ever made into any mint employees hands” is not the question.  Who had a better perspective on mint operation in the spring of 1965, the Superintendent of the Denver Mint Fern Miller or a laborer who was probably in his first few years starting out his career with the Mint? The questions should be, were all the 1964-D Peace Dollars returned?  If not, did any of them survive?[/QUOTE]

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