At FUN last year with @lordmarcovan and he snatched up the most spectacular Peace dollar I ever laid eyes on. It was a 1922 and was absolutely dripping with luster. Since then I have been lured in with photos and purchased two subsequent ‘22 dollars that were pretty gemmy but not as spectacular as @lordmarcovan specimen. So now I am wondering why the 1922 gem Peace dollars are so prevalent. Is it because the mint threw out the 1921 high relief design or were just a lot of them set aside back in their day like ‘64 JFK halves were. I don’t see other years of Peace dollars showing as nice as 1922. Why is that? Am I just zeroed in on that year or are they sharper than subsequent years?
There are several things at play here: 1. 1922 was the first year of the new lower relief type. The master was fresh and hadn't been worn down yet. If you pay close attention, the first couple of years of the master are always the sharpest, for any series. 2. 1922 has *by far* the highest mintage of any date of Peace. Philadelphia alone was over 50million, the next highest being 1923 P with around 30 million. Even with the same percentage in high grades, that's going to leave numerically a much larger population. 3. If you look at the census data for MS-65, 1923 actually has about 3x more graded. However, you're probably noticing the 1922s a lot because that's what you are focused on. If you're on the highway and looking for blue Honda's, you're going to notice a lot more than you ever did before. You just weren't looking before.
