The Peace dollar turns a national wish for peace into a bold Art Deco-era coin: radiant Liberty on one side, a resting eagle and the word PEACE on the other.
Original federal issues were struck in 1921–1928 and 1934–1935. The .999 fine silver collector coins introduced in 2021 belong to a separate modern program.
Core specifications
- Original coinage
- 1921–1928, 1934–1935
- Producing mints
- 3
- Recorded catalog mintage
- 190,612,680
- Pure silver per coin
- 0.77344 oz
- Diameter
- 38.1 mm
- Weight
- 26.73 g
A peace design born from postwar coinage
The Pittman Act of 1918 authorized the melting of millions of older silver dollars and required replacement coinage from newly purchased domestic silver. The Mint first resumed the Morgan dollar in 1921, then shifted to a new design after more than twenty-five years had passed since the Morgan type was introduced.
The Commission of Fine Arts organized a competition and selected Anthony de Francisci's models. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon approved the Peace dollar in December 1921, and the Philadelphia Mint produced just over one million before the year ended.
The first coins were struck in high relief, but that sculptural format was difficult to bring up fully in ordinary production. Relief was lowered in 1922. Coinage continued through 1928, returned under the Silver Purchase Act in 1934, and ended after 1935.
Radiant Liberty and an eagle at dawn
The design is spare enough to read at a glance, but relief, lettering, rays, and the small reverse mint mark reward closer inspection.
Liberty with a radiant crown
Liberty faces left wearing a crown of rays. LIBERTY arcs above, the date sits below, and IN GOD WE TRVST crosses the lower field—the classical V is intentional lettering, not an error.
An eagle above the word PEACE
A bald eagle rests on a mountain crag holding an olive branch as rays rise behind it. PEACE is cut into the rock below. D or S, when present, is a small mark below ONE near the eagle's tail.
Where Peace dollars were made
Philadelphia produced most coins and used no mint mark. Denver and San Francisco placed a small D or S on the reverse. Totals below are calculated from this catalog's issue records.
- P — Philadelphia: 1921–1928, 1934–1935; 111,265,580. No mint mark. Home of the high-relief debut, the 1922 relief transition, and the low-mintage 1928 key.
- S — San Francisco: 1922–1928, 1934–1935; 52,286,000. The S is on the reverse below ONE. Several dates are much tougher with strong strike and high Mint State preservation.
- D — Denver: 1922–1927, 1934; 27,061,100. The D appears in the same reverse area. Denver also made the never-issued 1964-D trial strikes described in Mint records.
Keys, relief changes, and condition challenges
A mintage is a useful starting point, not a complete rarity ranking. Relief, strike, surviving grade, and surface quality can change the collecting difficulty dramatically.
- 1921 High Relief — 1,006,473. The sculptural one-year circulation design and the natural starting point for understanding the series.
- 1922 High Relief — 35,401 recorded. A separately cataloged high-relief issue. Treat attribution and value as specialist territory, not as a normal date-set slot.
- 1928 Philadelphia — 360,649. The lowest reported mintage among the regular circulation date-and-mint issues and the central key to a complete set.
- 1934-S — 1,011,000. Available worn, but much harder uncirculated; strike and surface quality matter more than the seven-digit mintage suggests.
- 1927-S — 866,000. A lower-mintage San Francisco issue that becomes notably challenging in high Mint State grades.
Peace dollars have VAMs too
A VAM number identifies a particular obverse-and-reverse die pairing cataloged in the Van Allen–Mallis system. It does not automatically mean error, rarity, or added value.
World Coin Book currently catalogs the 1934-D Doubled Die Obverse. NGC recognizes selected Peace Dollar VAMs, including its TOP-50 list, rather than treating every catalog number as a standard label.
Issue catalog
Five sensible starting paths
- One attractive type coin: A problem-free 1922 or 1923 can teach the design without the premium attached to a key date.
- High and low relief: Pair a 1921 with a later coin to make the design's production change immediately visible.
- A coin from every mint: Collect P, D, and S while learning why Philadelphia coins carry no mint mark.
- Complete date-and-mint set: The historical circulation series is compact, but the 1928 Philadelphia and high-grade branch-mint dates require planning.
- VAM specialization: Choose one date or the TOP-50 list and document several die markers for every attribution.
Why surviving grade matters
Many Peace dollars spent their early lives in Treasury storage while paper silver certificates did more of the work in commerce. Large mintages can therefore coexist with plentiful Mint State survivors—but bag contact and indifferent strikes make premium-quality coins a different question.
The 1934-S is the clearest warning against reading mintage alone: established references describe it as available in worn grades but relatively scarce uncirculated. Compare strike, luster, marks, and eye appeal before paying for a grade label.
Modern Peace dollars, 2021 to date
The U.S. Mint reintroduced the Peace design in 2021 and now offers it in a separate collector program. Modern pieces use 99.9% fine silver and modern specifications and finishes, so they do not extend the 1921–1935 circulation checklist.
A note on catalog records
The table contains 25 records: 24 regular historical date-and-mint combinations plus a separately cataloged 1922 Philadelphia high-relief issue. The chart totals every record exactly once; the modern program is not included.
Sources
- Dollar Coins — United States Mint
- One Hundred Years of Silver Dollar Coinage (1878–1978) — United States Mint
- Coinage of Peace Dollars — House Report No. 238 — U.S. Government Publishing Office
- Commission Minutes, July 1921 — Peace Dollar Competition — U.S. Commission of Fine Arts
- United States Silver Dollar Coin (obverse) — Smithsonian American Art Museum
- United States Silver Dollar Coin (reverse) — Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Peace Dollar — PCGS CoinFacts
- Peace Dollars (1921–1935) — VarietyPlus — NGC
- In Answer to Inquiries Concerning 1964 90% Silver Dollar Coins — United States Mint
- Celebrating the Iconic Morgan and Peace Silver Dollars — United States Mint
- Morgan and Peace Silver Dollars — United States Mint