By CoinWeek ….
On Sunday, November 11, 2018, a 1927-D Peace Dollar graded MS66+ by PCGS with a CAC-Approved green sticker sold for $93,500 ($105,187.50 with Buyer’s Fee).
The coin is the third example to earn the grade MS66+ at PCGS. PCGS accounts for 13 coins at the MS66 level and none finer than MS66+. Sunday’s hammer price is more than 2.5 times more than the coin brought in August 2018, when it sold for $38,400 at Stack’s Bowers Rarities Night Sale. Then, the coin was housed in an earlier generation PCGS holder and graded MS66.
Previously, the coin was part of the Anne Kate Collection.
A Perennial Favorite
Demand for the Peace dollar has been high for many years. Along with the Morgan dollar, it is one of the most popular series to collect for American numismatists. Running from 1921-28 and 1934-35, the entire series includes only 25 dates and major varieties – though the 1921 and 1922 High-Relief Peace dollars will present some difficulty to many. And once a collector is ready to upgrade their coins or move deeper into the series, a few recognized Prooflike issues and a number of VAM varieties can provide that extra challenge.
Beyond being one of America’s classic silver dollar types, the Peace dollar served as a circulating commemorative marking the end of hostilities in the First World War. Both politicians and numismatists advocated for a business strike coin to honor both the Allied victory in the war and the restoration of peace on the world stage–not to mention the return of a silver dollar to American pockets. Many stories have been told about the notorious numismatist and ANA president Farran Zerbe, and his lobbying efforts on behalf of the Peace dollar, but according to some numismatists, it is not clear that he had any practical involvement in the matter at all.
Of course, one important aspect of the Peace dollar’s popularity is Anthony de Francisci’s classic design. Sometimes referred to as the “flapper” dollar, the obverse features a modern-looking Lady Liberty–using de Francisci’s wife Teresa as a model–that contrasts greatly with the previous Morgan dollar Liberty. The reverse features an eagle perched on a rock observing a brightly shining sunrise. It holds an olive branch in its talons and has its wings down, symbolizing the end of the war effort and the welcome beginning of peace. The reverse is yet another entry in the line of great early 20th-century eagles on American coinage.
