1964 D
Peace dollar (Die pair 9) the one that started me down the Moonlight Mint rabbit hole!
"1964-D" over-strikes using Die Pairs 1 through 6 were produced prior to 2011. In 2014 "1965-D" (Die Pair 7) over-strikes were produced. No photographs of 1964
Peace dollars were known to exist at that time, so the style of the "64" date digits on those over-strikes were modeled after the 1964
Kennedy half dollars. Later in 2011 it came to light that a supposed photo of a genuine original 1964-D
Peace dollar had previously been published in "The Comprehensive U.S. Silver Dollar Encyclopedia" (1992 edition, page 709) by John W. Highfill. The photo caption credited the source as Bob Wilhite of
Numismatic News.
However, in late 2019 an image of an original U.S. Mint coin die for the 1964
Peace dollar obverse surfaced. That photo shows exactly what the original 1964
Peace dollars would have looked like. Speculation over the years generally contended that
Frank Gasparro (or some other US Mint employee in 1964-1965) would have re-sculpted the entire coin and that would result in differences between the 1964 mintage and the prior issues of 1921-1935. After reviewing the newly-obtained US Mint photo of the 1964
Peace dollar die it is apparent that (except for the "64" of the date) the obverse was NOT re-sculpted. In fact, it is an exact match to the previous (most recent) sculpt of 1934-1935.
The 1922-1928
Peace dollar obverse has a relatively large triangular dot between "GOD" and "WE", and the diagonal leg of the "R" in TRUST is somewhat curved. For 1934-1935 the dot is smaller and round, and the diagonal leg on the "R" is straighter. It is also apparent that the Bob Wilhite photo is actually of a 1934 coin with the "3" retouched to look like a "6". The "4" in the date of the Wilhite photo is an exact match for a 1934 coin with the horizontal crossbar of the "4" being about half way up. The US Mint photo of the original die shows the crossbar of the "4" being a little less than half way up. The US Mint photo also shows that the "6" in the date has an upper arc that extends farther to the right than any other published images.
It appears that there is no corresponding imagery of a 1964 Peace reverse. But based on the fact that the obverse was directly based on the 1934-1935 version, it is reasonable to assume that the 1964 reverse would have also been directly based on the reverse of 1934-1935. Some 1935-S
Peace dollars have an extra 4th ray below "ONE". Other coins of this period (1934, 1934-D, 1934-S, 1935, and most 1935-S) do not have the 4th ray. It is unknown if the original 1964
Peace dollars had the 4th ray or not. Over-strike Die Pairs 1 through 7 all have the 4th ray. Die Pairs 8 and 9 do not, so that provides an easy way to differentiate them. Die Pairs 8 and 9 over-strikes also have "64" date digits which are a match to the US Mint die photo, unlike previous over-strikes.
The quality of the engraving of Die Pair 8 was not fully satisfactory, and this die pair also had excessive bead-blasting which diminished the clarity of the over-strikes. Die Pair 8 was used to produce a total of 50 over-strikes. Die pair 8 is low relief (about 0.015") on both sides.
Die Pair 9 was created to correct the deficiencies of Die Pair 8. Original
Peace dollars of 1921 have a high relief obverse (about 0.030") and a low relief reverse (about 0.015"). Except for a few prototype
Peace dollars of 1922, all others from 1922-1935 have low relief (about 0.015") on both sides. Die pair 9 over-strikes have medium relief (about 0.020") on both sides. This provides better sculptural clarity without being obviously higher than normal.
Enjoy
(Text from the Moonlight Mint)
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Posted 07/12/2022 10:59 pm
