How Did I Do On This Peace Dollar (Plus A Story!)

I can't figure out how to optimize the pictures for this forum so here is just the ebay link to the dollar I bought.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/221954864608...RK:MEBIDX:IT

I forgot I was dealing in USD so the 18 bucks was a bit more than I wanted to spend but all and all I am happy. 10 bucks over CAD melt value.



Here is a little story about my dad and his Peace Dollar



I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and my father and I were driving up to Fredericton (My province's capital, about a 40 minute drive) to head to Neuro East for a brain session.

As we drive past Nackawic the classic country western station from Maine starts to cut out so he turns off the car radio and turns to me.

I hear you bought one of your silver dollars from that kijiji thing from a guy in Fredericton. Ja know where he lives?

No pa, I do not. I mean it is like what, 9ish? We may be laid off but these are working men's hours anyways. You know what? The guy I bought it off of comes from the Mira originally.

Oh really? A herring snapper, eh? I like fishing the Mira river, Lousburg too. Maybe we will get back up to your Grandparent's this summer.

Slan abhaile, that is Cape Breton Gaelic for, umm, Bon Voyage would be the closet translation.

I do not know why you wouldn't go to school to study something useful!

I know pa, you said that before. Actually you know what. That silver dollar I bought is called a Peace dollar. It is like that old one you have.

Oh ya, really? I have that thing laying around somewhere.

Yes, I know where she is. I put it in a 2x2 for you. It is a 1921. Not the good 1921 sadly. I do not know a whole lot about stateside coin stuff put I picked up some odds and ends. I guess one has the S mint mark for San Francisco or something and one doesn't. I don't know but anyways out of the 2 types you have the one that is valued as a piece of silver more so than a collectible.

I was watching a thing on TV that said back in the day a guy made a bunch of fake ones from like a die he made.

Yes, that is still going on today. May I ask how you got that silver dollar anyways? You said a trucker gave it to you?

Well you see I went to a school with 5 or 6 classes, it was in one room, eh?

Yes, Cedar Hill school, the one room building down by the trailer park.

Yes, that is the one. Anyways I was failing all my classes 'cause I didn't want to go to school but your Grandfather, my father there, made me go to school until I graduated grade 12. He said even if I was 30 I would still be in school if I didn't pass. So I smartened up and just barely passed. Now what they did is they would give a dollar to the person who's grades improved the most. My grades where so low by the time I got my marks up to a past that was me.

Oh really? Did they also give a dollar to best grades over all?

Hmmmm, you know what? I couldn't tell ya.

So that is how you got the Peace dollar? Seems weird but since we are 3 minutes from Maine I guess it makes sense.

No no, they gave me a Canadian dollar. I was telling the story to one of my father's friends and he reached into his pocket, pulled out that coin, slammed it on the table and said "Now you have two".

We are going to be driving up past where he lived here soon. I am not sure where it is now, it may be part of Fredericton now, but he lived right outside of Fredericton in a place called "Silverwood".

A man from Silverwood gave you a silver dollar?

Yup.

So this would have all taken place when now exactly?

Oh, um, like the 60s.

Wow, so you had that silver dollar for 50 plus years? What was the buying power of a dollar back than?

I could have bought myself a dinky car.

Dad, you can buy dinky cars for a buck now.

No no, these where NICE dinky cars, Probably be worth some money now.

Haha, Ok Pa.

Since Canada used silver dollars up until '67 I guess the dollar was just a dollar. It wasn't a treat that is was a silver dollar.

Oh no, God jumping, the fact that it was silver was something else. No one had silver dollars in New Brunswick. We didn't want to carry around a bunch of silver dollars and fifty cent pieces, all though we never seen those. We all wanted dollar bills so our pants wouldn't be hanging around our knees. It is bad enough with all the twoonies and loonies I have in my frigin' pockets. I can't keep my pants up and when I go to Tim Horton's I have to dig around down there for an hour!

Dollar bills eh? Being born in the mid 90s I vaguely remember the Bird series of notes from my childhood. What where the bills of your day like?

Oh I don't know. You see that cute thing jogging there? You should be focusing on her instead of asking me all these questions. Ain't no one interested in my life.
..................................

We eventually pull into the parking lot of the building where I have my appointment. I look at the odometer and see that it reads 111111. I tell my dad to look at the 6 ones and asks him if e ever seen something so perfect and beautiful. He said "Yes, your mother. I am heading out to the Giant Tiger, see you soon".

When my father picks me up I noticed the odometer reads 111136. He tells me something ironic or funny happened to him in the Giant Tiger, he isn't sure what word to use to describe it. When he was at the Giant Tiger he tells me he ran into Jean Bridges, formerly Jean Goodine. She was the daughter of the man that gave him his Peace dollar and he hasn't seen her in year!