Peace dollar
The Peace dollar is a United States dollar coin minted from 1921 to 1928, and again in 1934 and 1935. Designed by Anthony de Francisci, the coin was the result of a competition to find designs emblematic of peace. Its obverse represents the head and neck of the Goddess of Liberty in profile, and the reverse depicts a bald eagle at rest clutching an olive branch, with the legend “Peace”
About Peace dollar in brief
The Peace dollar is a United States dollar coin minted from 1921 to 1928, and again in 1934 and 1935. Designed by Anthony de Francisci, the coin was the result of a competition to find designs emblematic of peace. Its obverse represents the head and neck of the Goddess of Liberty in profile, and the reverse depicts a bald eagle at rest clutching an olive branch, with the legend \”Peace\”. It was the last U.S. dollar coin to be struck for circulation in silver. During World War I, the German government hoped to destabilize British rule over India by spreading rumors that the British were unable to redeem for silver all of the paper currency they had printed. In response, Congress passed the Pittman Act of April 23, 1918. This statute gave the United States authority to sell metal to the British government from up to 350,000,000 silver dollars at USD 1 per ounce of silver plus the value of the copper in the coins, and handling and transportation fees. In 1965, amid much controversy, the Denver mint struck over 316,000 Peace dollars dated 1964, but these were never issued, and all are believed to have been melted. The Mint used a new design by engraver George T. Morgan, and struck what became known as the Morgan dollar. Many of the pieces quickly vanished into bank vaults for use as backing for paper currency redeemable in silver coin, known as silver certificates. In 1890, the purchases required under the Bland–Allison Act were greatly increased under the terms of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.
Although the Sherman Act was repealed in 1893, it was not until 1904 that the government struck the last of the purchased silver into dollars. Once it did, production of the coin ceased. In August 1920, a paper by numismatist Farran Zerbe was read to that year’s American Numismatic Association convention in Chicago. In the paper, entitled Commemorate the Peace with a Coin for Circulation, Zerbe called for the issuance of a coin to celebrate peace. According to numismatic historian Walter Breen, this was the first time that a collector wielded enough political clout to restore the coin. And then—we gave our silver dollars to help win the war, we gave them to help restore them in commemoration of victory and peace, and we gave the silver to help the war win the peace, said Zerbe. The coin was first struck on December 28, 1921; just over a million were coined bearing a 1921 date. In 1928, the mint ceased production of the coins; more were struck during 1934 and 1934 as a result of further legislation. In 1934, the Mint resumed the coinage of silver for the coin for the use of the Peace Coin to be used for the sale of silver coins to the UK. It is uncertain who originated the idea for a US coin to commemorate the peace following World War 1; the genesis is usually traced to an article by Frank Duffield published in the November 1918 issue of The Numismatists.
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This page is based on the article Peace dollar published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
