1926 Peace dollars – weak motto vs strong motto

[RWB]

Many 1926-P Peace dollars have the motto In God We Trust with the word “God” in sharper letters than the balance of the motto.

 

Does anyone have a 1926-P with all of the motto in weak letters, or all in strong letters?

 

How about 1926-D, S ?

 

(Compare also to 1922-1925 where the entire motto seems to become progressively weaker. I have a couple of 1925-P where the word “God” is very weak.)

 

[MAULEMALL]

Many 1926-P Peace dollars have the motto In God We Trust with the word “God” in sharper letters than the balance of the motto.

 

Does anyone have a 1926-P with all of the motto in weak letters, or all in strong letters?

 

How about 1926-D, S ?

 

(Compare also to 1922-1925 where the entire motto seems to become progressively weaker. I have a couple of 1925-P where the word “God” is very weak.)

I think I remember reading that the director of the mint intentionally had God made more pronounced in the Motto of all Peace dollars....

[rbrown4]

Very interesting, I had never heard or read of this but you are correct. I apologize for the small size of the images, but they are from my picassa album and I can not resize. But the P and S clearly have a more defined GOD while the D does to I believe, just not as evident in the images.

 

My 1922 through 1925 are all evenly struck with no emphasis on God.

 

Rey

 

 

 

[DWLange]

I was the person who made this discovery in 1999, and I wrote an article about it for Numismatic News.

 

Since the higher relief of the word GOD could not have happened accidentally, but only through deliberate retouching of that year's obverse master die, I theorized that the engraver was attempting to send his own message. This master die would have been prepared in the fall of 1925, right after the conclusion of the famous "Monkey Trial," in which high school teacher John T. Scopes was convicted of violating Tennessee's law against the teaching of evolution in public schools. The prosecutor was William Jennings Bryan, the famed orator who ran for president several times on a platform advocating the free coinage of silver dollars. Scopes' defendor was Clarence Darrow. This episode became the basis of the popular play and movie titled "Inherit the Wind."

 

All 1926 silver dollars, regardless of mint, have this distinctive feature, as it was integral to the master die for that year alone. Since publishing my article, I've been surprised by how slow the hobby has been to pick up on this unique feature. It seems that most numismatic writers, particularly auction catalogers, are always looking for some hook to dress up what are essentially common coins, but this fact seems to have flown under the radar since 1999.

[physics-fan3.14]

Since the higher relief of the word GOD could not have happened accidentally, but only through deliberate retouching of that year's obverse master die, I theorized that the engraver was attempting to send his own message. This master die would have been prepared in the fall of 1925, right after the conclusion of the famous "Monkey Trial," in which high school teacher John T. Scopes was convicted of violating Tennessee's law against the teaching of evolution in public schools.

 

Now that is really interesting.

[RWB]

David,

Thanks for the info. I'll be certain to credit the discovery to you in the forthcoming Peace dollar book. From only a small sample of coins (less than 1,000 to date) that I’ve examined, the motto seems more consistently prominent on the P and then S coins than on the D, even when other strike characteristics are similar.

 

The word "God" appears to have been hand retouched, although I haven't found a specimen from early enough in the minting process to clearly see surface tool marks.

 

1927 and 28 seem to revert to the motto of 1924. In 1934-35 the obverse is from a new hub and the lettering much improved.

.

[MAULEMALL]

Thanks for the reply...I couldn't for the life of me remember where I had read it..

Last Xmas I gave my daughters teacher a Peace dollar with the story of how God was made prominent and that given the season we hoped she would reflect on it...

 

 

[rbrown4]

David

 

Thanks for the history. Very interesting indeed.

 

Rey

[Just Bob]

Since publishing my article, I've been surprised by how slow the hobby has been to pick up on this unique feature. It seems that most numismatic writers, particularly auction catalogers, are always looking for some hook to dress up what are essentially common coins, but this fact seems to have flown under the radar since 1999.

 

Why not try to resubmit the article to another publication? I'm sure that, like me, there are a lot of collectors who are unaware of this.

[DWLange]

I'm waiting for Roger's book. That should draw sufficient attention to this interesting feature.

 

In the meantime, the back file of NGC newsletters available from this website includes my column on this topic in the August 2003 issue.

[Doogy]

I'm waiting for Roger's book. That should draw sufficient attention to this interesting feature.

 

In the meantime, the back file of NGC newsletters available from this website includes my column on this topic in the August 2003 issue.

 

very cool thread, and great info David!

 

thanks for sharing this!

 

 

 

[Keigwin]

Same here! I love trivia like this.

 

And, for what it's worth, in my '26D GOD appears with the same extra relief as the '26 and '26-S.

Lance.

[RWB]

Yes, it appears that the work was done on the master die for the year. If I can find a coin struck from new dies, early in the year, I should be able to see the marks made by the graver.

 

Regrettably, so far nothing has turned up in the archives to explain this or other hub changes (except for the 1922 LR hubs). [Would be nice to find a letter from Sinnock: “Hey Boss, I was bored stiff last week and decided to fix that weakness in the silver dollar motto we talked about. Didn’t do much, just re-engraved the word ‘God’ a little so everything balanced better. Sure wish you’d let me rework the design for good! But I see your point about these things being a waste of time and silver. Anyways, Your Buddy, Johnny S.”]

 

[Oldtrader3]

Here is my '26-P dollar. I will check it under magnification tomorrow and see if I can see toolmarks.

[Oldtrader3]

Roger: The only tool marks that I could see at 15X were a recut inside the verticle detail of the "G" in God. It showed up as a shelf indicating (IMHO) a reengraving from an earlier, shallower "G". You can barely see it in the image that I posted yesterday.

[cmerlo1-migration]

Here's a 1926-S VAM-4(dot)...'GOD' is particularly strong on this one!

 

[RWB]

Thanks for posting the info and great photos! The lettering was not punched into the master die on Peace dollars, so any manually cut lettering or feathers should jump out. Just a matter of finding an early-die coin.