Peace Dollars of 1921-1922
Congress has a long history of ignoring collectors except when it is convenient to create commemorative coins to raise money for some pet project. It came as a surprise, then, when the legislators passed a bill creating silver dollars for 2021 reproducing the designs of the Morgan and Peace dollars from 1921. It is likely that these will be very popular with numismatists who specialize in these two kinds of dollars.
Whenever collections of silver dollars are brought by the general public to dealers for sale as bullion pieces, there is always a liberal sprinkling of 1922 Peace dollars. In fact this date shows up as often as the ever-present 1921 Morgan dollar. Many collectors dismiss the Peace dollar as a poor relation of the Morgan dollar, but in truth the new coin has an equally interesting history behind it.
Prior to 1904, when supplies of bullion became exhausted, U.S. mints had struck large quantities of the famous Morgan dollar. Several hundred million were made but only a relatively small number actually circulated and the rest simply stayed in bank and Treasury vaults, unused and unwanted by the general public. All of this was to change dramatically during World War I.
Because normal supplies of silver to the mints of India had
