1922 Peace Dollar, Low Relief Matte Proof : A Collector’s Guide

By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
 

While the United States Mint had suspended the production of Proof versions of its coins for commercial purposes after 1916, a smattering of Proof issues were struck at different times, typically for internal purposes. Such is the case for the 1922 Peace Dollar, of which a minuscule number of Proofs are known in high and low relief.

Initial research into these Proof issues was carried out by numismatist Walter Breen, who opined that at least eight 1922 Peace Dollar Proofs were struck. In his Encyclopedia of United States and Colonial Proof Coins (1977), Breen reports five in high relief and describes only one with a satin finish in low relief: the John Beck coin sold by New England Rare Coin Galleries.

More recent scholarship carried out by numismatist and CoinWeek contributor Roger Burdette paints a clearer picture of the 1922 Peace Dollar Proofs. Burdette suggests a mintage of three to six. Two of these were struck for Chief Engraver George T. Morgan and sold on March 1, 1922, to Ambrose Swasey, the founder of the Warner and Swasey Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Swasey’s firm built large refractor telescopes and industrial tools for the government and private industry. Ambassador Raymond Henry Norweb and his wife Emery May then acquired the coins from Swasey for inclusion in their historic collection. Both coins made their first public auction appearance at the Bowers and Merena sale on November 14 and 15, 1988. At the time of the sale, these were the only two 1922 Peace Dollar, Low Relief Proofs known to exist with the matte finish. Bowers and Merena graded both coins Proof 65 and sold them for $35,200 and $33,000.

The Norweb Lot 3933 coin has appeared at auction a handful of times in recent years, most recently in January 2023, where it sold for just shy of $200,000 with a buyer’s premium.

* * *

Market Data and Noteworthy Specimens

• NGC PF65 MATTE #1716846-004: George T. Morgan; Ambrose Swasey; “The Norweb Collection, Part III,” Bowers and Merena, November 14-15, 1988, Lot 3933 – $35,200; “The Robert Moreno Registry Collection of Peace Dollars,” Heritage Auctions, April 2006, Lot 1239 – $92,000; “The Greensboro Collection, Part V,” Heritage Auctions, January 9, 2014, Lot 5346 – $199,750; Heritage Auctions, January 12, 2023, Lot 3805 – $192,000. Ticks on Liberty’s jaw and neck. Small horizontal mark in the field below IN GOD. Dark speck in the coronet below E. Streak on the eagle’s right shoulder. 
• PF65: George T. Morgan; Ambrose Swasey; “The Norweb Collection, Part III,” Bowers and Merena, November 14-15, 1988, Lot 3932 – $33,000

* * *

Coin Specifications

* * *