The Rare 1928 Peace Dollar

PCGS - The Peace dollar isn't necessarily known for boasting expensive key dates or major rarities, but that doesn't mean the series lacks either. In fact, there are a handful of issues in the Peace dollar series that are genuinely challenging, and the 1928 Peace dollar is certainly among these. This late 1920s date saw only 360,649 strikes, making it by far the lowest-mintage date in the series behind the 1927 Peace dollar, which saw the second-lowest mintage of the series at 848,000 emissions.

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The 1928 Peace dollar is a key date in any grade.

Numismatic lore suggested that the 1928 Peace dollar was struck in very small sums for inclusion in cornerstone layings, dedication purposes, and other ceremonial functions. The so-called "cornerstone dollar" of 1928 was indeed minted in smaller quantities than other dates, but amply enough to help fulfill the obligations of the Pittman Act. The law required the melting of more than a quarter billion silver dollars for shipment of bullion to India and other parts of Asia to help stabilize those regions, while also striking an equivalent number of new silver dollars to replace the silver dollars that were melted.

The 1928 Peace dollar, along with its 1928-S counterpart struck in San Francisco, brought what was originally thought to be an end to the dollar coin series. And what a note the Peace dollar would have closed out on, too. The 1928 Peace dollar is broadly considered a key date, though most are known in upper circulated grades and Mint State grades, as the coin was known to be scarce early on and, therefore, saved in quantity by collectors.

PCGS estimates that about 40,000 survive across all grades, with more than half of these in grades of MS60 or better. However, a relatively anemic 800 are believed to be in grades of MS65 or better, and prices reflect the rarity of this coin in the highest grades. While examples in XF40 fetch $300 and those in MS63 take $900, the coin trades for over $4,000 in MS65 and a whopping $28,000 in MS66! The record price for the 1928 Peace dollar was hammered in 2023, when a PCGS MS66+ example notched a stunning $129,250.

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