Rare Peace Dollars from 1921 and 1922 Certified by PCGS

Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) has certified historic Peace dollars from the estate of Raymond T. Baker.

Baker, the U.S. Mint Director from March 1917 to March 1922, oversaw the introduction of the Peace dollar in 1921 and its transitional design changes through early 1922. The newly certified coins feature varying finishes and reliefs from this period, notes PCGS.

"Each of the five transitional Peace dollars now has the ‘Baker Estate’ pedigree indicated on the insert label in their PCGS holders," described Don Willis, President of PCGS.

Among the rarities is a previously unreported silver dollar, dated 1921 and shown above, that has a normal high relief design but with a sandblasted and antique finish.

"There are three ‘discovery’ pieces among these five important coins, and PCGS has created three new classification numbers to formally recognize and catalog them," Willis said.

As described by PCGS, the five newly certified coins, their grades and varieties include:

• 1921 $1 PCGS SP64. A discovery coin that has a normal High Relief design, but with a sandblasted and antiqued finish (see top image).

• 1922 $1 PCGS PR67. Modified High Relief (Judd-2020). Satin (or "Bright") finish. A total of 3,200 production trial examples were struck, but only a few were not subsequently destroyed. This surviving example is believed to be one of the first made and produced on a Mint press used to strike medals to bring up the Peace dollar design details.

  

• 1922 $1 PCGS MS65. Modified High Relief (J-2020, same die pair as the preceding coin). It has the number "3200" inked in the left obverse field indicating it was the last coin struck from the production run of 3,200 before the obverse die failed. It was struck on a normal production press.

  

• 1922 $1 PCGS MS67. Low Relief (Early hub dies, as adopted, but with the B1 reverse). It was pulled from production when the press indicator reached 140,000 coins struck.

  

• 1922 $1 PCGS MS67. A second Low Relief, early hub dies example, pulled from production at the same time as the preceding coin.

  

The five Peace dollars were submitted for certification by PCGS Authorized Dealer Ronald J. Gillio. Stack’s Bowers Galleries (www.stacksbower.com) will offer all five rarities in an August auction that will be held in conjunction with the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont, Ill.