Rarities

Certain examples of Peace Dollars are considered rarities, for a variety of reasons–lower mintage numbers, a relative shortage of remaining examples, or a relative shortage of examples in a certain grade. The higher the grade, the fewer examples are likely to exist. Rarities usually command a much higher price from collectors than more commonly available or well circulated examples.

Because of lower mintage figures, 1921 and 1928 coins and, possibly because of government melting, 1934-S Peace Dollars graded as Extra Fine (EF or XF, roughly the midpoint of the grading scale) are considered rare. The 1925-S and 1928-S issues have higher mintage figures but are worth approximately $20,000 in the grade of MS-65 (near the top of the scale, which is MS-70), considerably higher than all other Peace Dollars of the same grade. This is because very few examples of these two coins exist in this condition. Because of this one should be careful to purchase these coins from reliable sources only, and in many cases certified and sealed as well. Dollars that are worn, cleaned, or over graded are worth far less than the high prices listed above. Also, buyers should be aware that common issues have been altered to make them appear to be rare varieties. The “S” mintmark has been removed to simulate a 1928, and added to create a 1934-S.

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