1934-s Peace dollar. Why so rare?

veryfine

I have always wanted an uncirculated 1934-s Peace dollar but the high price stopped me from acquiring one. My question is: Why is that specific date so rare in mint state grades? The 34-d or 35-s are not as elusuve. Why? Does it have something to do with economic conditions in that part of the country during that year only? Were silver dollars more widely circulated on the west coast? Maybe that date was disproportionately melted for some strange reason. Maybe somebody is sitting on a huge hoard.
To all you silver dollar collectors out there; please enlighten me.

BigGreek

This particular date was released into circulation rather than stored in bank
vaults. Also, in those days nobody saved rolls of dollar coins as they were
too expensive. The coins circulated and very few are still in MS condition as
a result.

Numismanic

From Heritage's archives.



<< <i>The '34-S is the undisputed "King" of the Peace Dollar series in Uncirculated grades up to and including the MS64 level of preservation. Surprisingly, this issue's original mintage of 1.01 million coins is not the lowest in the series, nor is it even among the five lowest mintage deliveries. The 1921, 1927, 1927-S, 1928, and 1934 all have lower mintages. However, the 1934-S does not appear to have been preserved in significant numbers, and most examples probably entered circulation in the 1930s. >>

K6AZ

Another reason for the scarcity of 34-S dollars is that there was one last big melt during WWII, and apparently a good number of them met their fate in the melting pot.

Peaceman

Don't believe the hype..... at any one time you can find 10, 34-s for sale for every one 28 you see.......

K6AZ

<< <i>Don't believe the hype..... at any one time you can find 10, 34-s for sale for every one 28 you see....... >>



The question was in regards to uncirculated examples. According to the PCGS population reports, 4,049 1928 dollars have been graded MS60 or higher, compared to 1,498 1934-S dollars.

Peaceman

Yea... but you can find 10 MS-64 34-S before you find a MS-64 28..... (Dont believe to pops......)

K6AZ

Again from the PCGS population report:

1928 MS64 1146
1934-S MS64 412

veryfine

Interesting responses.
Are the above comments about the 34-s mostly entering circulation based on speculation or factual information? The effect of silver coin melts seems plausible but wouldn' that also reduce the population of the 34-d and 35-s as well?

veryfine

<< <i>Yea... but you can find 10 MS-64 34-S before you find a MS-64 28..... (Dont believe to pops......) >>



The 1921 and 1928 are my favorite Peace dollar dates, regardless of rarity and population reports.

What are you favorites, Peaceman?

K6AZ

It all depended on where the coins were stored. Almost entire mintages of some dates were lost, while over half the mintages of others survived. There were 52 million silver dollars melted in 1943-44, and one can assume a good number of these were Peace dollars, since they were the last minted and most likely the most accesable at the time. Of course, we'll never know how many of each date was lost.

The fact is today, there are fewer mint state 34-S dollars available when compared to the 1928, the popluation reports bear this out as well as the various auction catalogs.

dimples

Since Peaceman only collected 28's I guess that's his favorite.

PS I bought his best 28 for my registry set. WOW what a duzzy.

veryfine

<< <i>The fact is today, there are fewer mint state 34-S dollars available when compared to the 1928, the popluation reports bear this out as well as the various auction catalogs. >>


Thanks K6AZ.
Very informative. Do you think there is a possibility that hoards of
34-s Peace dollars are waiting to be discovered. I assume that if there were such a hoard, it would have seen the light of day by now.

K6AZ

I don't think so, and in fact, bags of the common dates are drying up. The 34-S is truly scarce in uncirculated grades.

veryfine

This all leads me to another question:
If you were me, would you take the plunge and purchase an attractive ms-63 Peace dollar before it reaches astronomical prices or settle for an au-58 and leave it at that? I like ms-63s because they fit within my budget and still look relatively nice, but the 34-s is pushing the price envelope a bit too far. It has a low population compared to many others in the series but it is by no means a major rarity.

K6AZ

I'm facing this situation as well since I've been working on rebuilding my Peace set. The only problem is I've seen AU58 34-S dollars go for well over MS60 money. Most likely I will settle for a 58 if I can get one at a reasonable price.

veryfine

I should have purchased a mint state 34-s a few years ago when I was contemplating the idea.

jdimmick

The pop numbers may show a lower survivability for the 34-s, but I can can assure you I see more for sale than I do of the 28-P. In fact thier were so many 34-s Peace dollars for sale in St Louis, in all grades from Xf-Ms-65, and not very many were selling at the prices asked. In fact, word on the street I overherd from a reliable source is that if you have any extra's, let them go now, or you may have to discount them to move them. Many are coming out of the woodwork. I have no financial gain or loss from stating this info I recieved, so take it with a grain of salt if you like, but thats the info I recieved and saw first hand.


jim

Mercury

I know what you mean. I only have a few coins left to complete my MS set of Peace dollars and the 34-s is one of them. Now I wish I would have bought one of them a few years ago when I started insted of putting it off. But at the time I was newer to the hobby and anxious to fill holes. I could buy two or three of the more common dates for the price of that 34-s. Now it's going to cost alot more than it did a few years ago.
Oh well, live and learn.

stephunter

Ok. I have told this story before, but after seeing this thread I have to do it again. When I was a kid (8 years old) my grandmother gave me 5 morgan dollars for my birthday (very cool). They were common dates (not sure about vams) but I treasured them. At the age of 15 (1980) my bike got stolen, my parents did not have the money to get me a new one so I sold them for about $40- each (silver was high then) to get a new bike. That was pretty much my coin collection at the time, but my grandmother had passed away by then and I had heard that my grandfather was holding some coins that were intended for me.

Now for the interesting part. In 1992 my grandfather came to town to visit our family and he brought this coffee can with some silver dollars in it and told me to help myself to what ever I wanted out of it. I did not want to seem greedy so I picked about 10 of the 30 coins that appeared to be in pretty nice condition. One that I picked was a 34-S peace dollar that appeared to be XF. About a month later I showed it to a friend that owned a coin store locally and he thought I should send it in to Pcgs because of the price difference between XF and Au. We sent it in and it came back MS62!! An MS 62 from a coffee can of silver dollars. Amazing!

K6AZ

That's a cool story, but the fact remains that the 34-S is the scarcest Peace dollar in Mint State grades. Naturally if you are going to include circulated examples there will be more 34-S dollars around since the mintage was much higher than the 28.

sellsatan

A local dealer who has been in the business for about twice my lifetime told me a while back that 1928 Phillies were easier to get here (NWPA) than other localles because Pittsburgh was a main distribution point for them. Any salt to that story folks?

RobHB

A '34-S, graded MS65 PQ by PCGS, sold at auction earlier this week for $6,050 (plus 20% buyers commission).

At least on Ebay, it's a lot easier to find an MS60+ '28 than a '34-S, but I just picked up a 62 for about $700 the other day. I've purchased several '28's at MS64 or higher but this is the first '34-S.

Rob

veryfine

Despite the many intelligent comments in this thread regarding the 34-s Peace dollar, I still have my reservations about it. If I really wanted it badly enough, I could have purchased it years ago. But there's something about this date that bothers me. My reasons may not be logical, but paying thousands of dollars for a mint state 34-s just doesn't sit well with me. The Peace dollar series is one of my favorites and for the most part, can be completed without breaking the bank in the ms-63 or ms-64 grades. Unfortunately, as I write this, the 34-s price keeps going up, but maybe Jim is right; so many are turning up at shows, that the price might stagnate a bit.

Baley

Try AU58, then.

PutTogether

I tend to agree with Peaceman. You see MS 34-S's for sale more often than 28-P's. I believe that more 28P's probably exist, but for some reason the 34S is always for sale somewhere. (and I am talking about mint state examples) Circulated 34-s dollars are not particularly special.

My problem (if it can really be called a problem) is that condition rarities in general bug me. Not a lot........but sometimes I find it frustrating. Wanna see a true condition rarity, find a 25S in true 65.

Ok, now all that being said.....you can OCCAISIONALLY find a nice MS62 or even MS61 slabbed PCGS 34S that can be quite aesthetically pleasing. I'm not sure exactly why, but an MS62 34-S will almost always be at least technically (from a wear standpoint) nicer than a 62 of any other date. Some of this may have to do with TPG's being more reluctant to give higher grades to a coin that jumps in value fast for each point - I'm not sure.

Hedger

Peace dollars are tough to find that are not tampered with in raw state. I gave up the series. The 34 S is tough and you can find many poor examples easily. What gets me is why the series is so tampered with. If you can find nice slabbed examples the series will be worth it as many later dates in MS are scarce.

veryfine

<< <i>My problem (if it can really be called a problem) is that condition rarities in general bug me. Not a lot........but sometimes I find it frustrating. Wanna see a true condition rarity, find a 25S in true 65.
>>


I started a thread on the condition rarities subject recently, as it bugs me a bit as well. That is probably why I like coins such as the 28 Peace dollar, 1916 Standing Liberty quarter, 16-d dime, 1885 nickel and the 1901-s Barber quarter. They are desirable in any grade, from the lowest circulated grade on up.

However, if I do want to put together a nice matching set of ms-63 Peace dollars, I would be forced to shell out the cash for the 34-s. An au-58 would be acceptable but not preferable. Your point about the ms-61 or 62 34-s is well-taken. That would be a good compromise.
Another tough condition rarity is the 28-s Peace dollar. Imagine owning an ms-65 of that date. So many people would be jealous.

jdimmick

The 34-s peace$ PCGS-65 that sold for 6050.00 plus juice, may have been exceptionally nice. I am not sure as I have no idea what it looked like, but IMO, you can purchase a very nice specimen on on the floor of a national show between bid/ask levels, and have a few to choose from.

Remember also, that the seller under most circumstances gets the 6050.00 if 100% hammer, possibly slightly less at 5% commission for 5750.00 Which is right at CDN bid, or just slightly more, but below ask. So in actuality, the seller sold for near cdn bid.

jim