The Renaissance of United States Coinage, 1907-1921

Indians Come, Indians Go: Part 6

THE PEACE DOLLAR 1921-1935

by Tolling Jennings . 

There is perhaps no other coin in the "renaissance" period that received more criticism than the "PEACE" Dollar designed by Anthony De Francisci. It would seem that people either love (those in the minority) or hate the design. The only other dollar coin to be more maligned would be the Susan B. Anthony dollar that had a short run from 1979 to 1981, with a one-year "rebirth" in 1999.

The intent of the coin had noble roots. The First World War had ended with over 20 million dead and much of France in ruins. The end of the "War to end all Wars" would be celebrated with a new silver dollar proclaiming "PEACE". The coin was meant to be a commemorative piece and was never actually never sanctioned by Congress. The coin found its origins in the Pittman Act, another attempt to support the silver interests of the western states - and make a bundle with a little bullion deal on the side. The act called for the melting of over 270,000,000 Morgan silver dollars, and the reminting of over 80,000,000 Morgan dollars dated 1921, with a large amount of the remaining silver being shipped to India . Some of the silver found its way into the new "PEACE" dollar that saw the light of day early in 1922, after 1,006,473 were struck in late December 1921 (these being the "High Relief" 1921 dollars). Even though it was the last coin to be introduced in the "renaissance" period, this did not exempt it from the jinx of the first year of issue that plagued the rest of the series. You guessed it: the coin was in too high relief to be coined well on modern presses and had to be re-engraved to conform to mint standards. The coin suffered greatly in the process.

 

Top: 1921 "High Relief" Peace Dollar.

Bottom: 1934 "Low Relief" Peace Dollar.

Note: Although all 1921s are "High Relief" and "all" those dated 1922 and later are "Low", there exist a very few 1922-High Relief dollars, probably broken out from proof sets. "High Relief" have four rays below ONE on the reverse, "Low" only three. 

 

This was old man George Morgan's final attempt to instill low relief coinage on the work of the finest medallist of his time. The result was a bas-relief reverse that could hardly be distinguished on even freshly minted coins. Add to this the weak strikes due to the low pressures used on these coins at the mints and even BU coins look like "Goods" that have been dipped! By the time Morgan was through sabotaging De Francisci's work, the coins were little more than bullion slugs.

A pristine example of the 1921 High Relief coin is a beautiful example of the art of minting. Regardless of what one may think of the design, the execution of the design and the layout of the devices on both the obverse and reverse are perhaps the best work ever to come out of the U.S. Mint. No other coin captures the youthful exuberance of Miss Liberty as well as this one, with the exception perhaps of A. Eckfeldt's 1793 one cent design. The youthful appearance and expectation of a new beginning caught the feeling of the time. The eagle on the reverse is not what most Americans expected to see as a representation of their national symbol. The bird sems to be almost cowering as if it has just emerged from a cold shower and is waiting for the rising sun to dry and warm it. In contrast to the efforts of St. Gaudens and Weinman, De Francisci's eagle is not up to standard. Rather than capturing the essence of peace, this bird seems to have worked way too hard in the war effort and needs a good long vacation before it will be able to fly again.

The series ran from 1921 until 1935 with several years missing. No coins were struck from 1929 through 1933. Only four years have the Denver mintmark and in the majority of years, there were less than 2-million coins from any one mint. The entire series has a total mintage of less than 200-million coins, or about half of one mint's run of the new states quarters for a single year! The entire series was weakly struck with the exception of 1921. Most of the coins can be had for very reasonable costs, even in mint state. The exceptions are those few coins that survive in actual high mint state with strong strikes. 1928 is the low mintage key to the series at 360,649 and can be added to your collection for under $1000 in mint state.

 

"Eagle waiting for the sunrise" was not De Francisci's first choice for the dollar reverse as the pattern reverse at left shows. This showed a more belligerent eagle with a broken sword in its beak, emblematic of defeat (but whose?) At right is a photo of his wife, Teresa Cafarelli.

There was an attempt to revive the "PEACE" dollar in 1964 with the striking of 316,076 coins at the Denver Mint. It is said that all were melted but there is a rumour that a few made it out the back door of the mint and are held in private hands today. Another rumour has it that some employees of the Mint were allowed to exchange silver coinage for the new dollars and walked with some of the coins. None of these phantoms have surfaced in the last 40 years, and if they did they would be subject to confiscation by the U.S. Treasury because they were never oficially issued.

De Francisci was a romantic. His stated purpose was to capture the "intellect, speed, vigor and vitality of the country". He used his admittedly beautiful wife, Teresa Cafarelli, as his model for Miss Liberty. Somehow he managed to bring her soft and youthful beauty out in his design and execution of the models used for the dies. Even the meddling of Mr. Morgan did not interfere with the love that radiates from every "PEACE" dollar. Teresa Cafarelli is quoted as saying that her appearance on the dollar coin was " ... the realization of my fondest childhood dream".

It was definitely a time for dreamers as the United States entered a period of prosperity and growth that seemed as though it would never end. It was a time to kick up your heels and get flappin' for "... Happy days are here again".

Wayne Jacobs is a numismatic expert. Currently secretary and editor of the "Mid-Island Coin Club Numismatic Journal"of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island , British Columbia, he is the award winning author of numerous articles. The MICC journal are hosted here: MICC webpages Copyright 2006 Wayne Jacobs. This article may be reprinted freely for non commercial purpose only if the resource box is left intact, linking back to us.