What Happened To Peace Dollars After 1935?

You know there are a number (small) of Peace dollars like the 1927 with mintage of less than one million. The owner of my LCS and myself have a monthly discussion as to why there are four Peace dollar dates with mintage less than one million and another ten dates of less than 2 million and you can buy all these coins in MS64 for less than $1000 except for 34-S. Are Peace dollars undervalued or just undesirable to collectors. I think they are great collectable coins because except for 34-S in mint condition beginning collectors can easily complete a set. A set of Buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, LWH dollars or LSQ's will cost you much more and with the Peace dollar you are getting a nice junk of silver to boot.

Great topic, terry. Thanks for posting the question.

Gof8406


I might take that deal if the coins were in at least VF condition. I may have overpaid for my set of Buffalo nickels.

I heard the coins-to-wire story in grad school oriole, but I never heard how much wire was actually made. Lawrence believed that cyclotrons (aka Calutrons) were the best way to separate U235 from U238, and over 1000 were built at Oak Ridge. They made enough U235 for at least one bomb. After that gas diffusion was used to make the uranium isotope separation, at Savannah River.

https://www.y12.doe.gov/sites/defau...5-0154R1.pdf

The wire project didn't exhaust the virtually endless supply of Peace dollars produced for the Pittman Act though. The release of Peace dollars by the Mint continued through at least the 1950's. The following PCGS entry for the 1925 includes a long summary of the Peace dollar releases, and the Mint's failed efforts to increase their use. From what I remember in the 1960's, the banks always had them, but no one wanted them. They were shabby, worn, grey and heavy.

http://www.PCGScoinfacts.com/Coin/Detail/7365

In the book, "The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II", the author stated that the girls - trained to read the gauges and adjust the Y12s, but otherwise unsophisticated in Nuclear physics - did far, far better at running the Calutrons than the atomic physicists who were handicapped by knowing what was happening behind the panel.

A lot of the silver was used for the bus bars.

Also, I've read that the silver that was returned was slightly radioactive and sat unused for many years. (Most silver isotopes have half-lives measured in days, but there is one meta-stable version that has a half life of over 400 years - the decay products are primarily Palladium and Cadmium - so it's possible the returned silver needed to be re-refined)

burton and oriole visit EBR-1 outside Arco ID if you ever get a chance. The lead/concrete shell of the old breeder is imposing, considering the football size of the core. EBR1 was the first use of nuclear energy to produce electricity, as well being the site of the first core meltdown.

They also have the remains of the nuclear bomber project there. A flying nuclear reactor. A boondoggle that beats all boondoggles.

Thank goodness that project never got off the ground.

http://www4vip.inl.gov/ebr/

I am not sure I quite agree with the conclusion that prices of Morgan dollars should drop because there are lot of them in MS. They could still drop for other reasons and maybe some of the semi-keys and keys could fall if hoard came on the market. For the type example of the series, I think the current price has the supply mostly factored in. When you compare the type example to a contemporaneous type example of the other non gold series, the Morgan dollar is an anomaly. If you look prices in MS of each denomination beginning with the Indian cent in RB and ending with the Barber half dollar, you will notice that generally each higher denomination is more expensive than the one below it even when you try to compare those with as similar mintages as possible. By that pattern, the Morgan dollar should be a $1000-2000 coin in 64 but it is not to the delight of those who enjoy collecting the series. I don't think there are too many coins that have all the characteristics that the morgan has: affordability, 19th century, precious metal content, size, and the historical connection to the American west.

...or, perhaps, a couple of bags of 1895-P.


I can't image there will ever be a time when Morgans are no loner in demand. Sure, prices can/do change, but they will always be wanted. They are glorious!

Great thread!