1934-S Peace Silver Dollar. MS-64 (PCGS).

1934-S Peace Silver Dollar. MS-64 (PCGS).，This is a premium Choice example of this desirable, highly regarded Peace dollar issue. The strike is bold to sharp throughout and the surfaces are virtually brilliant with full satin luster. Although it did not have the lowest mintage issue in its series, the 1934-S has long been recognized as the rarest Peace dollar in terms of total number of Mint State coins believed extant. Writing in his 1993 reference <em>Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia</em>, Q. David Bowers speculates that many of the 1,011,000 pieces minted went into circulation as early as the mid to late 1930s, most being paid out for face value from the San Francisco Mint or West Coast banks. Dealers and other numismatists active in the market of the 1940s paid little attention to the 1934-S, falsely believing that thousands of Mint State coins were still safely tucked away in vaults at the San Francisco Mint. As Bowers relates:<p><em>"</em><em>For example, in the February 1943 issue of </em>The Numismatist<em>, Indianapolis dealer Lu Riggs offered Uncirculated 1934-S Peace dollars for $1.75 each, the same price charged for 1921, 1922-S, 1923-D, 1923-S, 1927, 1927-D, 1928, 1928-S, 1934, and 1934-D dollars. In other words, it was considered to be one of the cheapest, commonest varieties. By comparison, Riggs charged $2.50 each for these Peace dollars, each considered to be more elusive than the 1934-S at the time: 1922-D, 1925, 1925-S, 1926-D, 1926-S, and 1927-S. Only the 1922 Philadelphia Mint dollar was cheaper than the 1934-S!"</em><p>In the 1950s, the issue was recognized as being scarce. By the 1960s and 1970s, its rarity in Mint State had become well established. In fact, a group of several hundred Mint State pieces discovered in San Francisco in the early 1960s represented a rare find for the time, as was a selection of just 35 pieces that surfaced at the January 1978 Florida United Numismatists Convention. Today, the appearance of individual Mint State examples, as here, represents an important opportunity for advanced Peace dollar enthusiasts.，From the A.J. Vanderbilt Collection. Acquired from the Little Mint of San Francisco, September 1967.，