By Jaime Hernandez - December 21, 2009
The 1928 Peace Dollar is the key coin to the short-lived Peace Dollar series. The 1928 Peace Dollar has a relatively low mintage, especially for a silver dollar. With a mintage of 360,469 coins, the 1928 Peace Dollar also has the lowest mintage in the entire Peace Dollar series by a large margin. The second lowest mintage after the 1928 Peace Dollar is the 1927 Peace Dollar with a mintage of 848,000 coins.
Peace Dollars were first struck from 1921 to 1928. After a five-year hiatus, Peace Dollars were produced again in 1934 and 1935. There are 24 different coins in the regular series not including the 1921 High Relief Dollars. The Philadelphia Mint struck Peace Dollars ten different years – every single year that Peace Dollars were struck. The Denver Mint struck Peace Dollars in 1922, 1923, 1926, 1927 and in 1934, the fewest years out of the three different Mints that struck Peace Dollars. The San Francisco Mint also produced Peace Dollars for every year that the Peace Dollars were struck, with the exception of 1921. Peace Dollars struck at San Francisco are usually the most difficult to find in high grade and with great details, while Philadelphia Peace Dollars tend to be the best-struck examples.
At the time of production of the 1928 Peace Dollars, there was already an abundance of silver dollars in circulation. And these large silver dollars were unpopular for use in day-to-day transactions. There were rumors that the Mint released very few 1928 Peace Dollars when they were originally struck, indicating that the coins were only produced for the Mint cornerstone. Whatever the case, for many years the 1928 Peace Dollar has been a very popular coin primarily because of its low mintage. Since the coin has remained popular for many years, most 1928 Peace Dollars have been preserved in very high condition.
Consequently, there are more 1928 Peace Dollars believed to exist in uncirculated grades than in circulated grades. In very low circulated grades, 1928 Peace Dollars command hundreds of dollars, yet for a small fraction or for about $100 more, it can be purchased in uncirculated condition. Besides having a low mintage, many 1928 Peace Dollars and Peace Dollars from different dates and mint marks have been melted throughout the years. Therefore, the 1928 Peace Dollar has a far lower survival rate than its reported mintage of 360,469 coins. Today, it is estimated that approximately 40,000 Peace Dollars from 1928 are in existence in all grades combined, making the 1928 Peace Dollar an even scarcer coin than what it is already presumed to be.
