Peace Dollar A Circulating Commemorative

A charming story attends the development of this coin: the designer, Anthony de Francisci, used his young wife Teresa as the model for Lady Liberty. As a recent immigrant, posing for the new coin was a wonderful way to express the inspiration felt upon her first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty in the New York harbor.

Originally intended as a commemorative coin celebrating the end of World War I, it was instead produced for general circulation in comparatively large numbers. But the large numbers didn’t start right away. Peace Dollar production began in 1921, but not until the last few days of December. Mintage for this first year was, not surprisingly, small. Little more than one million pieces were struck, all at the Philadelphia mint.

The new dollar coin’s introduction was not without challenges, however. The 1921 coin was indeed wondrous to behold in its original format. With deeply concave fields the major devices, the Liberty Head and the majestic bald eagle were presented in splendid high relief.

But… they wouldn’t stack. And, according to the mint, they wore out the dies at a fearful rate.

Engraver George T. Morgan is said to have remedied the situation by pounding the master hub flat with a sturdy board. To say that this approach was acceptable to the designer would be inaccurate in the extreme.

Nor were the comments of contemporary blue noses that Liberty’s (Teresa’s) youthful, open mouthed visage suggested more the “flapper” than a goddess. On this issue, cooler heads at the mint prevailed. Wisely the mint issued a statement that the coin would not be withdrawn.

Coinage requirements for silver dollars were met by 1928, which would have been the last year in the series, except that by 1933 Nevada casinos complained of a shortage of dollar coins in the bustling playground of the Hoover Dam construction crews. Accordingly, more Peace Dollars were struck in 1934 and 1935 – the last circulating silver dollar coins produced by the US Mint.


Coin photo component of graphic courtesy of Goldberg Coins and Collectibles