The 1934-S Peace Dollar Story?

Yes, it is an odd bird. There are other Peace dollars with much lower mintage for much less in higher grades. I think it is what Meadowview said. This is what is neat about coins is that they all have these weird histories, Like Saint-Gaudens $20 Double Eagles of the later 1920 and early 30's. There are earlier St. Gaudens with very low mintages such as 1908S (22,000), but they were not melted down by FDR. According to sources most of the double eagles of the 1920's were returned to the mint and melted down. So original mintage means nothing.

I have 1934-S Peace dollar but only in EF condition. From EF to MS-60 is a bridge too far for me. Every time I visit my LCS the owner says he believes Peace dollare are under valued. You can buy them all in MS-63 for less than $1000 each except for the 1934S which will cost you about $4000. I would rather get the others than blow the whole wad on 1934-S. Of course, the 1934S maybe the coin that is really appreciating. Higher grades of rare LSQ's seem to really be appreciating. People just like certain coins and are willing to pay up for mint condition.

Things that are supposed to be collectable usually aren't, and odd ducks like 1934-S Peace dollar in MS condition are highly collectable and expensive.

MV - Thank you for the link to the Peace dollar story. I have that set and learned many new things in the read.

When the originally commemorative Washington quarter was launched in 1932, they were hoarded by the roll, before the Depression. Families put away BU mint fresh rolls of 1932's. They also saved lots of 1932-S mint Washingtons, but since the mintage was low, there were not that many available to save. Perhaps they had been "trained" by rarities such as the 1912-S Liberty nickel, 1909-S VDB Wheat, and 1908/1909-S Indian Head cents. For whatever reason, they didn't save 1932-D's, even though the Denver mint produced way more quarters than San Fran that year. The end result is that while you can easily find handfuls of gem 1932's and many higher grade 1932-S, gem 1932-D's are rarer than rare and command a huge premium.

In 1934, during the Depression, Congress decided to prop up the price of silver (which was by then at an absolute bottom) by ordering the Mint to coin silver dollars; they were also ordered to create a market by paying for their silver bullion in...silver dollars. As a nice bonus, the Mint made a "mint" in profits. The old Peace design was reused. Not many people could afford to save one, much less entire rolls of them; they were circulated, especially out west. Demand soon went from sporadic to nonexistent, and the Mint shut down production.

The 1930s as a whole had this situation repeat across the larger silver coin denominations, most notably in the Walkers, Washingtons and especially those 1934-1935 Peace dollars. In the immediate pre-WWII era as incomes picked up, roll hoarding was becoming more and more popular, and more and more fresh BU rolls started being saved, such that by the time we get into the 40s there are very few condition rarities in the various silver coin series.

It is worth noting that to collectors in the era that mintages were easily available and often the only "indicator" of scarcity, so many low-mintage issues were hoarded if they could be found, the theory being that low mintage = greater value.