Peace Dollars

Peace Dollars

Peace dollars are one of the few dollar coins that you can find that were minted more than once and at different dates. The peace dollar was minted in 1921-1928 and 1934-1935 in addition to minting in 1964. It was going to be a commemorative coin that would come out around the time of the end of the first world war, but ended up being used for circulation purposes and became greatly liked. The design was made by Anthony de Francisci and the name peace for the coin came from the engraving of the word peace at the bottom of the reverse side of each coin.

The edge is reeded and the mass is just under 27g. This coin contains minor silver and succeeded the Morgan Dollar which had been regularly made for over ten years. This coins inspiration was a paper that had been published in The Numismatist which was the American Numismatic Association’s magazine. It was going to be a commemorative coin for a 1918 convention until it was canceled because of a Spanish flu pandemic.
The original design has a bald eagle on its reverse side that was holding a broken sword rather then the well known image that graces the coin of a bald eagle holding an olive branch. The reason that this design was not used was because of some individuals viewing it as a sign of defeat rather than peace. This is part of the reason that an olive branch was then chosen, because it was also considered to be a sign of peace. It is said that the man who made this design, Anthony de Francisci, used his wife as a model for Lady Liberty. While this coin is thought to be extremely attractive now, when it was first released there where many individuals who did not like the coin or specific aspects o the coin.