Production Trial Packaging from the U.S. Mint
for the 1922 Modified High Relief Peace Dollar
Judd-2020
"For The Last of 3200 Pieces
Struck before the Dies Sunk"
PCGS Genuine
UNIQUE
SOLD
This is the Production Trial Packaging from the United States Mint for the 1922 Modified High Relief Peace Dollar Judd-2020. It was certified by PCGS and originally accompanied the unique 1922 Modified High Relief Peace Dollar certified by PCGS as the final coin #3,200.
In Part Two of United States Proof Coins: Volume III, Silver, John W. Dannreuther explains that the Mint conducted "experiments adjusting the relief of the Peace dollar into January 1922 in an attempt to correct the problems with striking that occurred with the 1921 High Relief. Not only did the coins not strike up properly, but the dies also prematurely failed (sinking, as happened to the 1921 High Relief dies), often after only a few thousand strikes."
There were 3,200 1922 Peace Dollars struck on production presses and the dies sunk after coin #3,200 was struck. This is specifically mentioned in a January 24th, 1922 letter from Philadelphia Mint Superintendent Freas Styer to Mint Director Raymond T. Baker:
"I beg to submit herewith three Peace dollars struck from the die reduced in relief. You will notice the head is lower in relief and slightly larger. It is placed a little lower in the circle. On the reverse side all the lettering has been strengthened and the rock reduced in relief. All these changes are absolutely necessary and were arrived at after considerable experimenting. I am now convinced, after we struck 3200 pieces that the eagle on the reverse side must be lowered...The bright and sand-blasted pieces were of the first strike and the coin marked '3200' was the thirty-second hundredth piece struck -- the last before the die sunk..."This final 1922 Peace Dollar (Judd-2020) #3,200 sold for $82,250 in the August 2014 Chicago ANA Stack's Bowers auction (lot 13168). As described in the listing, "the dies used for this coin were the result of an attempt by George Morgan to reduce the relief of the 1922 Peace dollars to allow them to be more successfully struck. Initial coinage of the 1921 high relief coins proved very faulty. Coins were poorly made and dies frequently failed, sometimes before 25,000 coins could be struck. This was unacceptable considering that the dies for the Morgan silver dollars could be expected to produce as many as 200,000 coins. In January 1922, a test run of 3,200 coins was struck from the modified dies seen here, and on January 24th, three samples were sent to the Mint Director for examination."
| From the Stack's Bowers listing: "The coin offered here is that final coin, #3,200, and it is marked in India ink on the obverse, just left of Liberty's portrait. It is interesting that the dies failed after just 3,200 strikes, far from any improvement to the difficulties the mint was experiencing with the production of the 1921 Peace dollars." Stack's Bowers auction (lot 13168):   The packaging has a handwritten description of the trial piece: "For The Last of 3200 Pieces Struck before the Dies Sunk" |
The 1922 Peace Dollar Judd-2020 and this Production Trial Packaging are featured in Numismatic researcher and author John W. Dannreuther’s extensive and in-depth 1,254-page United States Proof Coins: Volume III, Silver. Part Two is dedicated to half dollars through dollars.     |
