Is This True?

[Guest]

All,

 

I found the following quote in a nice article on a website giving a brief history of the Peace Dollar. Is it true, i.e., that uncirculated Peace Dollars have been going down in value over the years?

 

"These coins have virtually no investment potential. It is true that certain select coins, slabbed, and in the highest possible grades, with the lowest known populations will command a price in any market. However, if you compare Red Book prices over the last 25 years, you will see that Peace Dollars in Uncirculated _decline_ in price relative to other coins in general."

 

-Bloozeman

 

P.S. I'm not planning on building a set of them for a true investment, but it would be nice that they would appreciate at least somewhat in the next 20 years.

[Coinosaurus]

A lot of "investment" type coins are way off their 1989 highs. I'd stay away from the ultra high grade coins (too much emphasis on condition rarity these days) and go for MS63 or MS65 coins which are choice for the grade. An attractive set of Peace dollars in collector grades (which these are) should hold its value over the long haul. They are beautiful coins and there is a very solid base of silver dollar collectors.

[EVillageProwler]

I agree with Coin-beast. Collecting solid, eye-appealing Peace Dollars in MS63 to MS65 would get you a lovely set that should be affordable and relatively insulated from market swings.

 

EVP

 

[Guest]

Thanks for at least confirming what I'm hoping on building, i.e., a set MS63/64 set for mainly my enjoyment, but I'd also like it to hold it's value if not appreciate over the long haul. I've thrown about $14K away in the stock market over the past three years of liquid money and about $60K in my 401K so it would be nice to not start throwing a bunch of money away on coins as well.

 

-Blooze

[nucks]

I'm still building my set in a Dansco, I have 11 for far.I'm going after mostly AU stuff as I'm not looking to make money on them in the short term, I'm just doing it for fun and if I do make any money on it later, great if not no biggie.

[Oldtrader3]

The high end, key Peace dollars have held up pretty well. The set in MS60/64 has declined along with everything else since 1989. I would not go so far as to say that the set has no investment potential.

 

I have built several Peace Dollar sets over the period from 1968 until the present. I certainly am not the great authority on Peace Dollars, but the 8 key Peace dollars have some potential in MS63/64, with the exception of the 1934-S and 1926-S. These "key" dollars are: all "S" Peace Dollars except those mentioned, along with the 1927-D which I believe is currently undervalued (try and find a nice one). I have examined thousands of Peace Dollars over the past 35 years.

 

Of course the important factors in collecting all "S" Peace Dollars, are strike, strike, STRIKE, facial cuts and luster. The 1927-D is also plaqued by deeper cuts on the obverse, plus many Redfield "S" dollars have radial marks from being put in a coin counter!! If you can find clean, well struck Peace dollars there is always a market for them. I always can sell nice keys over sheet!

 

The 1925-S, 1927-S and 1928-S in MS64 can not be bought any where near sheet if they are nice. I looked for over six-months to buy a MS64, 1928-S in auction. I finally bought a nice dollar for a couple hundred over GreySheet. I was lucky. In 2 years of looking for my present set, I still have not found a really well struck MS64, 1925-S Peace Dollar. There may not be such a thing! I do not think that there are any more large (multiple bags) hoards of key dates out there. However, we were all surprized by the 2 bags of high grade 1927-D's that appeared in the late 70's.

 

The Peace Dollar market almost always appears somewhat dormant because of the factors mentioned above. Plus, there are only exists a few hundred MS64's (and fewer MS65's) in each of the key dates. You can not make much of a market on these demographics. The keys go up steadily against the contrast of nice 1922-P through 1925-P Dollars being available in the 10's of thousands. These "P" dollars do not have any potential, unless the price of silver goes up dramatically.

 

Peace Dollars are a speciality, like so many others in coin collecting, that you have to understand in some depth.