Any Information on the 1926 “Strong God” Peace Dollar?
MidLifeCrisis
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RWB posted a thread about these way back in 2009, but many of the pictures in that thread are gone, I think RWB was banned or left these boards, and I can't find any more information about these "Strong God" Peace Dollars. Can anybody help?
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The 1926 Peace Dollar is the only year in the series where the word GOD has a higher relief than any other word on the coin.
This was no accident since releases before 1926 and after 1926 didn't have this modification. No one knows how or why this change was made, but someone modified the master die for 1926 on purpose.
Perhaps a sign from God? Historians think it was most likely a rouge Mint® employee who modified the 1926 master die.
In 1925 the famous Scopes Trial was going on. In Tennessee, it was illegal to teach evolution in publicly funded schools, called the Butler Act. A teacher named John Scopes challenged this law by teaching evolution in his classroom.
This did not go unnoticed, and Scopes was arrested and charged with violating the Butler Act. The trial attracted national attention as the nation saw this trial as religion vs. evolution.
Remember, this national coverage was going on right before the U.S. Mint® was getting ready to start minting the 1926 coinage. The perfect catalyst for a Mint® employee to modify the word GOD on the master die to make it stand out.
Was it a stance on what was happening and related to the famous Scoped Trial of the time? Or just a coincidence? No one really knows, but it makes for a truly unique and scarce variant of the famed Peace Dollar series.
Peace Silver Dollars are some of the rarest coins minted in the last century and are valuable because of their rich history and high silver content.
After the end of World War I, silver prices began to fall. On May 9, 1921, Congress passed legislation requiring the release of a new Silver Dollar that would have "an appropriate design commemorative of the termination of the war between the Imperial German Government and the Government of the People of the United States." Congress adjourned without approving the new coin's design, so production of Morgan Silver Dollars was restarted until the new design was created. After a competition between a small group of the nation's best medalists, Anthony de Francisci, a young Italian immigrant, emerged victorious with his design of Lady Liberty modeled after his wife.
With the price of silver being at a recent 5-year high, these coins now hold great value in their heavy silver content. In recent times, the precious metal market has even held its value over the stock market.
peacockcoins
Short answer: They are known, it was probably caused by a Mint engraver strengthening the lettering in the master die, and nobody knows if it was a deliberate theological statement or just a routine touchup of an existing design, as happens to various denominations from time to time.
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@braddick and @CaptHenway - Thank you both! Was the "Strong God" present on dollars from all three mints or just the Philadelphia mint?
Sorry ... l don't.
It appears on all 1926 Peace Dollars.
When Roger was still around, I mentioned this and he called it "Baloney". Roger always needs proof of stuff, and not hearsay or undocumented assumptions.
Pete
Thanks!
I plan to add a 1926-S Peace Dollar to my collection soon. It will represent one of two coins I received from my grandparents when I was about 10 years old that started me in this hobby (the other was an 1878-CC Morgan). The "Strong God" attribute is a nice bonus.
Here's a 1926-D:
Pete
I was aware of this variant, years ago.... but had forgotten about it. I need to check my Peace dollars. Cheers, RickO
Roger used my photo of it in his Peace Dollar book. I've never seen a 1926 without 'GOD' being stronger than the rest of the words.
David Lange's original columns about the phenomenon appeared in The Numismatist in the late 1990's. You can do a search for them in the online version of The Numismatist.
Well I have seen 25s that the motto was incredibly weak so I assume it was just refurbishment but the worker could have put a little extra juice on it. This is a 64+ and I have seen worse
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
good discussion.
It will happen suddenly