Q. David Bowers
Peace Dollar to be Minted (December 1921)
The Numismatist, January 1922, told readers of news received a few weeks earlier in December1921. An article, "The 'Peace' Dollar is Now As-sured," related the following:
News from Washington on December 19 contained the information that a new design for the silver dollar has been adopted and that coins of the new type would be placed in circulation within a few days. Our information was contained in the following from the Baltimore Sun of December 20:
"The director of the Mint, with the approval of the secretary of the Treasury and of the Commission on Fine Arts, today awarded the honor of being the designer of the new issue of silver dollars to Anthony de Francisci, of New York City. Mr. Francisci studied under James Earle Fraser, the designer of the Buffalo nickel. He was at the Treasury Department today, proud of the design which the future standard dollar of silver will bear. Eight medallists, all of them from New York, were in the competition for the award. The designs in bas-relief were exhibited privately in the office of Mr. Baker, after he had shown the winning one to President Harding, The president expressed his pleasure and approval.
"On the face of the new dollar will be a woman's head, portraying Liberty, and she will wear a tiara of rays of light. On the obverse, over the head of the blonde lady, will be the word 'Liberty,' which, under existing law, must appear on the silver dollar. Near the circling edge of the coin, opposite her neck, will run the words 'In God We Trust' and at the base of the coin will be the year of issue, '1921.'
"On the reverse will be the familiar bald eagle and, while the sun itself does not show, for want of space, the eagle is witnessing the coming of the new day, the rays shining as a token of the dawn of a new era symbolical of the abolishment of war and the perpetuation of peace. The eagle holds in its talons an olive branch and a broken sword. The reverse also bears the inscription, 'United States of America,' 'E Pluribus Unum,' 'One Dollar' and 'Peace' in very clear letters."
This announcement comes as a surprise to those who have been watching the progress of the joint resolution introduced in the House of Representatives last May providing for the coinage of a "peace" dollar, which was being urged by a committee of the American Numismatic Association. This resolution had not yet reached a vote in the House, being held up for some reason that has not yet been made public, though there has not been, apparently, any real objection to the issue of such a coin.
This will probably be a disappointment to the committee having the matter in charge, as well as to the members of the Association, who had come to look upon the proposed issue as "their coin." The fact that a new design for the silver dollar has been adopted without the passage of a joint resolution or without authority to alter the design of any coin after being in use for 25 years is vested with the Treasury Department.
But perhaps the greatest disappointment will be that the design has so little about it that is characteristic of a "peace" or commemorative issue. Criticism of the design on a coin merely from a printed description of it would be unfair to the designer, so collectors must wait until the new dollar is before them before passing judgment on it. But whatever its merits as a coin type may be, its distinction as a "peace" coin appears to be limited to three features: First, the rays of the sun on the reverse, typical of the dawn of a new day (a feature that appeared on some of our coins 68 years ago, when we were at peace, and which, so far as our information goes, was not intended to be symbolical of peace); second, the broken sword in the eagle's claw, one of the minor features; third, the word "Peace," which is the only real feature of the coin entitling it to be classed as a "peace" coin. Otherwise it can only be regarded as a change of type brought about by the flight of years, such as we have had on all our coins since 1907.
The designer of the new coin, Anthony de Francisci, was also the designer of the Maine Centennial half dollar. (Actually, de Francisci created the models using a design prepared from a Maine artist whose identity is not known today.)
Director Baker is reported to have said that he hoped todeliver the new Standard silver dollar to the Treasury Department by December 28 or 29, and that between $700,000 and $800,000 of them would be coined before the end of 1921. The remainder of the silver dollars to be coined under the terms ofthe Pittman Act, about $180 million, will be of the new design.
Peace Dollars in Circulation (January 1922)
The Numismatist, February 1922, printed this item, complete with the repeated fiction that Farran Zerbe was the first to propose the Peace dollar. The extended article is valuable in that it relates how the design was created and what various contemporary observers thought of it. In the main, the coin was disliked by numismatists:
The New Peace Coin Now in Circulation. Proposed by Mr. Zerbe and Fathered by the ANA, the Standard Silver Dollar Now Appears With New Designs:
[COINS IN CIRCULATION]
The new Peace dollar was placed in circulation on January 3. The first piece struck is reported as having been sent to President Harding by special messenger from the Philadelphia Mint, while a few others struck immediately following it were sent to the secretary of the Treasury and the director of the Mint at Washington by the same messenger. Not since the appearance of the Saint-Gaudens $20 and $10 gold coins of 1907 has a new type of coin received more comment and criticism, favorable and unfavorable, facetious and otherwise, than the new silver dollar which is intended to commemorate the end of the World War and the signing of the daily papers of the country have failed to grasp the purpose of the issue and have told their readers that it was struck in commemoration of the effort being made for universal peace through the deliberations of the Conference on the Limitation of Armaments holding its sessions in Washington.
Among the many newspaper clippings referring to the new coin that have been sent to us from many parts of the country by our readers, not a single one has given credit to the American Numismatic Association for being the originator of the idea or proposition for the new coin. This is not surprising, because the name of the ANA has not been linked with the coin in an official or public way.
For the benefit of the many new readers of The Numismatist within the last year or so a brief review of the circumstances leading up to the issue of the new coin will be in order.
[BACKGROUND OF THE PEACE DOLLAR]
At the convention of the American Numismatic Association held in Chicago in August 1920, a paper prepared by Mr. Farran Zerbe, until recently living in San Francisco, was read, in which he proposed the issue of a coin by the United States commemorating the signing of a treaty of peace between this country and Germany after the treaty became an actual fact. At that time it did not appear that such a treaty could be consummated until a new administration was in power in Washington.
Following the convention a committee of five members of the ANA was appointed, consisting of Judson Brenner, Youngstown, Ohio; Hon. William A. Ashbrook, Johnstown, Ohio (at that time a member of the House of Representatives); Dr. J.M. Henderson, Columbus, Ohio; Howland Wood, New York City, and Farran Zerbe, San Francisco, Cal. When Congress. met in December of 1920 the matter was taken up by the committee with Mr. Vestal, chairman of the House Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures, and a joint Resolution authorizing such a coin was introduced on May 9, 1921. A detailed report of Mr. Brenner's committee's efforts to have the bill passed was made at the Boston Convention of the ANA last August and was published in the October issue of this magazine. In the meantime the matter had been presented to the secretary of the Treasury and the director of the Mint, and it is reported as having met with their approval.
The joint Resolution was favorably reported to the House, and there seemed to be little or no objection to its passage. The only opposition voiced to it was when Mr. Vestal asked for permission to have it placed on the unanimous consent calendar, which would have insured its passage in the House. A single member objected to this procedure (not to the joint Resolution itself), which made it necessary to place it on the regularcalendar, that took place last summer. The resolution never reached a vote. The resolution provided for the issuance of such a coin and for its designation by the name of "peace dollar," but did not, of course, make any reference to the ANA as having proposed it.
The first information given to the public that such a peace coin was to be issued was contained in the press dispatches from Washington about December 19. This information was to the effect that following consideration of competitive designs the Fine Arts Commission had selected the design of Mr. Anthony de Francisci and that within the next few days probably 500,000 pieces would be struck. The report of the coinage at the Mint for December shows that 1,006,473 pieces were struck.