Following a 15-year suspension of dollar coinage from 1905 through 1920, silver dollars were again struck in 1921.  Much to the disappointment of numismatists, they were of the old Morgan design, which at this point was over forty years old and very “19^th century” in appearance.  The numismatic community, led by ANA Historian Farran Zerbe, exerted pressure on both the Bureau of the Mint and Congress for a fresh style, and late in 1921, the Commission of Fine Arts opened a competition for a new design.

The winner of the competition was Anthony de Francisci, who portrayed his wife Teresa Cafarelli as Miss Liberty wearing a radiate crown, reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty.  De Francisci’s original reverse design pictured an eagle breaking a sword, but after objections, was modified to show an eagle perched on a mountain, olive branch in its claws with the word PEACE inscribed on the mountain.

In the closing days of 1921, just over one million pieces of the new Peace Dollar were struck in Philadelphia in a high relief style.  As is usually the case with coins struck in high relief, problems with striking and die wear ensued, and the following year, the design was flattened, and production resumed.  (While some 35,400 coins dated 1922 were struck in high relief, all regular circulation strikes were melted at the mint, and only a few Proof examples remain today.)