The Peace Dollar, which ran from 1921 through 1935, is a relatively compact series that entailed some 24 regular issues (not counting major varieties and the like). The series doesn’t boast any financially prohibitive key dates. However, there is a block of dates in the series that many collectors regard as very common, while the rest are relatively scarce and – what’s more – substantially more difficult to obtain in high-end Mint State grades.
There’s no doubt that the scarce first-year issue of 1921, carrying its high-relief strike, is a key date. The latter years of 1927, 1928, 1934, and 1935 offer their low-mintage challenges, too. Then there are the unequivocal common dates of 1922, 1923, 1924, and 1925. But what about 1926?
The year 1926 certainly saw some of the lowest mintages since 1921, and it was the first year since the start of the series when there was not at least one mint that emitted more than 10 million Peace Dollars in a given year. In fact, the three mints producing Peace Dollars in 1926 cumulatively mustered a total of only 11,267,700 Peace Dollars that year. In 1926, the Philadelphia Mint struck 1,939,000 Peace Dollars, Denver produced 2,348,700, and San Francisco churned out 6,980,000.
So what do these mintage figures mean? Are 1926 Peace Dollars rare? Scarce? Common?
According to PCGS CoinFacts, the 1926 Peace Dollars – at least in the circulated and lower uncirculated grades – is a “common” coin. “Some collectors think the 1926 is scarce or worth a premium,” posits the PCGS CoinFacts commentary of the 1926 Philadelphia strike. “Certainly, the population of certified Mint State examples is lower than in 1925, but not to the point where collectors are unable to find nice examples. In fact, thousands of MS63 and MS64 examples have been certified by PCGS and even in MS65, this date is readily available.”
Ditto for the 1926-D, or so you might infer from the PCGS CoinFacts commentary for that coin. “The 1926-D Peace Dollar is one of the more common dates in the series,” with the narration concluding that, “All in all, the 1926-D Peace Dollar is an excellent, affordable choice for type purposes.”
What about the 1926-S? Surely a 1920s branch-mint issue would be challenging. But au contraire… “The 1926-S Peace Dollar is a relatively common coin and it is the only one of the S-Mint Peace Dollars that can be found with a good strike. The mintage was nearly 7 million coins, making this the last of the Peace Dollars with a mintage of over 2 million pieces.”
So, could you define a 1926 Peace Dollars as “common”? Existing populations and widespread availability of the coin would suggest it’s common enough – and there are certainly enough 1926 Peace Dollars to satisfy the crux of demand. However, as with almost all coins, there is a point where conditional rarity becomes an issue. And almost any date of the Peace Dollar series, including the 1926, 1926-D, and 1926-S, are undeniably rare in grades of MS66 or better.