MS 68 Peace dollar? Why not?

[Dcoin]

I played hooky today and was looking through a couple of Peace Dollars. It hit me that while the composition and striking method were essentially the same as the Morgan Silver Dollar they are infinitely more rare in higher grades. A quick search of the Heritage showed pages and pages of 68’s and even one 69 Morgan's. There was only one Peace dollar in 68. Also from my dozen or so example at home, not one has a die crack. A fair percentage of my Morgan collection has some sort of cracks.

 

Why is that? Even the design seems to be less intricate than the Morgan, which should give a better strike?

 

Any thoughts about why this is so?

 

[MarkFeld]

Also from my dozen or so example at home, not one has a die crack

Many Peace Dollars have die cracks. And I don't think a weaker strike necessarily follows from a more intricate design. But, I don't know why it is so much tougher to find a superbly preserved Peace Dollar than it is a Morgan Dollar.

[kryptonitecomics]

I always thought that it had to do with the great hoard of Silver Dollars that sat in bank vaults for many decades undisturbed. I don't believe Peace dollar bags were hoarded in the same quantities and I also don't think that sat as long....mainly becuase they were much newer compared to say a bag of 1881-S morgans. Finally I think the Morgan design has always been much more popular then the Peace dollars which would lead one to believe that more folks would have saved them out of circulation or taken better care of them.

 

Now I don't know if my statements are factual, but that was always my belief

 

That's my story and I am sticking too it

[TomB]

The Peace dollar has large, open fields and a shallow design that highlights any hits, scrapes, marks or luster grazes more readily than similar marks on a Morgan dollar. No doubt this is not the only reason for the difference in grades, but it is one reason.

[BillJones]

In order for a coin to get a very high grade like MS-68, many factors have to come together. First, the preservation must be superb. Given the size and weight of the Peace Dollar, that presents a problem right there. Peace dollars, like their Morgan Dollar cousins were prone to marks. And given that they are made of silver, unsightly spots and environmentally caused imperfections are common.

 

MS-68 coins should have superior luster, but many Peace Dollars were struck with a dull satin like finish. In contrast there were a number years, most notably the S-mint dollar of the early 1880s that were superbly made. No such well made periods are known in the Peace Dollar series.

 

Second the design features of the coin must be superbly executed. This is the factor that blocks most Peace Dollars from making MS-66, let alone MS-68. The 1921 Peace Dollars were stuck in high relief. If those features had been well executed at the Philadelphia mint, many 1921 Peace Dollars could have been in high grade. But alas they were not, and weak strikes disqualified many coins from very high grades. The low relief Peace Dollars also had their strike problems. Some Peace Dollars, while strictly Mint State, show weakness in their legends and details, especially on the reverse.

 

In General the nature of the Peace Dollar design did not lend itself to superior quality coins. Peace dollars were struck from shallow dies and it showed on the coins.

 

[Dcoin]

Also from my dozen or so example at home, not one has a die crack

Many Peace Dollars have die cracks. And I don't think a weaker strike necessarily follows from a more intricate design. But, I don't know why it is so much tougher to find a superbly preserved Peace Dollar than it is a Morgan Dollar.

 

Mark- I think maybe the shallow strike mentioned by Tom and Bill would have been a better term than intricate design. Even though reason would suggest that the more detailed the design the less of a chance for a perfect strike, right?

 

[James_OldeTowne]

There were FAR more Morgan dollars struck, and so right off the bat, the odds are in favor of the earlier coins. Also, Peace dollars are struck in low relief with satin-finishes, and thus are much more prone to bagmarks and roll friction. Take a look at the height of the rim on a Peace dollar versus a Morgan sometime, and you'll see what I mean. Immediately, that is a big factor that helps protect the Morgans, and so the odds are in favor of Morgans once again. Finally, many Morgans were struck virtually with the purpose of immediately storing them, literally by the tens of millions. Such was not the case for Peace dollars - at least not nearly to that extent. So again, odds favor the Morgans.

 

All in all, odds and probability based on sheer numbers favors Morgan dollars being preserved in high grades. And it's too bad, too, as I prefer the Peace dollar design by a country mile over that of Morgan dollars.

[MarkFeld]

Also from my dozen or so example at home, not one has a die crack

Many Peace Dollars have die cracks. And I don't think a weaker strike necessarily follows from a more intricate design. But, I don't know why it is so much tougher to find a superbly preserved Peace Dollar than it is a Morgan Dollar.

 

Mark- I think maybe the shallow strike mentioned by Tom and Bill would have been a better term than intricate design. Even though reason would suggest that the more detailed the design the less of a chance for a perfect strike, right?

Yes, I think "reason" would suggest that, but it doesn't necessarily seem to end up that way.