Q. David Bowers
Varieties
Business strikes:
1. Circulation issue: High Relief type. Hub combination IB-AA. Not in VAM. The dies are similar but not precisely identical to 1921. On the 1922, two short rays are added to the coronet, L and WE TRVST . and the mountain range are changed in shape; and hair details and feathers arc strengthened. Apparently, these were struck from dies similar to the Proofs. 35,401 were struck for circulation early in January 1922; all or nearly all later melted. One VF-30 known (sec registry below) may be from this mintage.
Proofs:
1. Proof issue: Breen-5713. High Relief as preceding. Two types of finish were employed: 1) Special silvered Matte Proof finish. Walter H. Breen sought to determine the process by which this finish was applied, "but could never get an explanation. "I The surfaces of high-grade Proofs are bright silver, with any breaks in the surface showing as dark areas of toning (not surface spots or oxidation, as might be first thought). This same proofing process was used by the Mint for certain early twentieth-century silver medals, and by the private firm of Whitehead & Hoag, among others. 2) Dull, porous gray surface similar to Sandblast Proofs of the era. Apparently, most 1922 High Relief Proofs were made with this type of finish.
Registry of 1922 High Relief Peace Dollars
No.1. Mehl-Norweb Specimen, Proof
• B. Max Mehl. Sold to following on April 28, 1937. Possibly not described as a High Relief coin; details of transaction unknown.
• Ambassador and Mrs. R. Henry Norweb Collection. It seems that the Norwebs considered the issue a regular issue, or pattern or an anomaly, for in the 1960s, when Lester Merkin showed Mrs. Norweb another specimen of the 1922 High Relief, and described it as such, she expressed an interest in buying his coin, believing she did not own one.(Commentary by Lester Merkin to the author, March 16, 1992.)Alternatively, the previously acquired 1922 High Relief dollar may have been forgotten among the vast Norweb holdings.
• Norweb family; Mr. and Mrs. R. Henry Norweb, Jr.
• Norweb Collection Sale, Bowers and Merena, November 1988, Lot 3921.
• Private Connecticut collection.
No.2. Zerbe Specimen, Proof
• From George T. Morgan at the u.s. Mint to Farran Zerbe, who acquired it for his Money of the World Collection in January 1922. (Per information printed under Lot 789 of the Rarcoa 1973 Florida United Numismatists Convention Sale.)Sold to the following in 1929.
• Chase National Bank, New York City. (Years later, after a merger the name was changed to the Chase-Manhattan Bank).
• Chase-Manhattan Bank Money Museum Collection. Exhibited among silver dollars in the Museum in New York City in the 1960s; marked "possibly a pattern" in the exhibit. Traded to the following in 1965.
• Lester Merkin, New York City dealer.(Information concerning this coin from author's conversation with Lester Merkin, February 20, 1992. Letter to the author, March 19, 1992.)
•1970 American Numismatic Association Convention Sale, Lot 1604, $14,000.
• R.W. Barker, Battle Creek, Michigan.
• R.W. Barker Collection, Stack's, October 22, 1986, Lot 113).
No.3. The Rhodes Specimen, Proof
• Donald L. Rhodes (of Vallejo, California) auction, April 9, 1959, California State Numismatic Association, Lot 945. Sold to the following for $3,100.
• Lewis Moorman. Berkeley, California.
• Moorman estate; Grace A. Moorman.
•Walter H. Breen (but see below). Walter H. Breen related the following: (Information concerning this coin from author's conversation with Lester Merkin, February 20, 1992.)
Lester Merkin and I both displayed specimens around 1961. I had bought mine from Grace Moorman (widow of the late Berkeley antiquarian/dealer Lew Moorman) and sold it to Lester Merkin, before my article about the coin appeared in the Numismatic Scrapbook.
• Lester Merkin, who asked Walter H. Breen, an employee of New Netherlands Coin Company at the time, to pick the coin up, for he felt that Walter would be able to correctly identify the coin as being of the High Relief variety. Breen acquired the coin in person on Lester Merkin's behalf from Mrs. Grace A. Moorman in November 1960, shortly after her husband's death. This became known in some quarters as the "Breen Collection coin," due to an ambiguous notation to this effect in Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of United States and Colonial Proof Coins, 1722-1989, p. 220, in which reference it was also the plate coin. According to Lester Merkin, Breen never owned it.(Information concerning this coin from author's conversation with Lester Merkin, February 20, 1992.)
Walter H. Breen wrote the following in the aforementioned book:
"The specimen bought by this writer from Grace A. Moorman shortly after her husband's death, November 1960. Lewis Moorman had been one of my closest friends in the coin business for several years, and I could think of no finer way of expressing my appreciation for his memory than by vindicating him in his widow's eyes. Mrs. Moorman had not approved of Lew's purchase of the coin for $3,100 in a 1958 [sic 1 auction of the late Donald Rhodes. This piece has been illustrated several times, including in the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, July 1961, p. 1722, and Don Taxay's U.S. Mint and Coinage, p. 357. It was exhibited about a dozen times by Moorman and twice by me. Note that Hydeman: 696 [catalogued by A. Kosoff], represented as a Proof, turned out to be a regular 1922 dollar ruined by acid or the like. One Eastern specialist flew out to Los Angeles specifically to see that coin; he did not bother to bid on it. The slur in the Hydeman catalogue against the Moorman coin was based on misunderstandings; Mrs. Moorman had offered the coin to several dealers before I bought it."
• Private collection
No.4. Rarcoa Specimen, Proof
• Rarcoa's section of Auction '84, July 1984, Lot 1793.
•1986 Florida United Numismatists Convention Sale, Mid-American Rare Coin Auctions, Lot 354.
No.5. Philadelphia Estate Specimen, Proof
• Philadelphia estate since 1922 (believed to be from such).
• Paramount International Coin Corporation's section of Auction '85, July 1985, Lot 1277.
No.6. Bowers and Ruddy Specimen; Proof
• Bowers and Ruddy Galleries, Offered in Rare Coin Review No. 35, 1980. Sold for close to $100,000 (cf. Wayne Miller, The Morgan and Peace Dollar Textbook, 1982, p. 243).
• Private collection in Michigan. Consigned to the following.
• Four Memorable Collections Sale, Auctions by Bowers and Merena, Inc., 1985, Lot 652. $38,500. Sold to the following.
• New:Jersey collection.