To mark the centennial at 2021 of the transition of production from the Morgan dollar into the Peace dollar collection, the U.S. Mint will hit no less than six different coins, together, of the two designs, at three distinct production facilities.
Throughout the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee’s Jan.19 teleconference, April Stafford, director of the Office of Design Management in the U.S. Mint, said 2021 Morgan dollars will be struck in the Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco Mints.
1921, 1921-D and 1921-S Morgan dollars were struck, respectively, in the same three Mints.
The Philadelphia Mint may also strike two extra Morgan dollars demonstrating privy marks which pay homage to the output signal of this series at the branch Mints in Carson City, Nevada, and New Orleans, Louisiana.
The coins are being issued under the authorization of the 1921 Silver Dollar Coin Anniversary Act, Public Law 116-286.
Morgan dollars were initially struck at the Carson City Mint between 1878 and 1893 and in the New Orleans facility between 1879 and 1904.
The Philadelphia Mint may even strike, without Mint mark, a 2021 Peace dollar.
United States Mint officials have not yet disclosed in what finish or finishes the coins will be hit at every individual Mint, or their planned mintages, or any extended numismatic goods, or what the privy marks about the coins will look like.
CCAC Chairman Thomas J. Uram told Coin World he hopes that the privy marks will resemble the Carson City and New Orleans Mint marks and also be positioned on the opposite the way that they were on the originals.
Design amalgamation
Throughout the Jan. 19 CCAC assembly, Ron Harrigal, the Mint’s director of design and engraving, said the digital renderings that the CCAC subsequently suggested for the 2021 Morgan and Peace dollars were executed using an amalgamation of scans of hubs, plaster versions, galvanos and initial coins from the Mint’s heritage assets.
Harrigal said extensive scanning was conducted to achieve the desired relief for the 2021 coins, to most closely match that of the first 1921 issues.
The scanning aids in the mapping of target points to achieve the desired relief and depth of the basin to accommodate proper metal flow, Harrigal said.
The plan development is intended to render a final product that pays homage to the original sculptors’ designs, Harrigal said during the CCAC meeting.
U.S. Mint officials haven’t disclosed which member or members of the agency’s modern engraving and design development staffs rendered the resultant digital sculpts.
The 2021 Morgan and Peace dollars will be struck on precisely the same .999 good silver planchets that are used for commemorative silver dollars.
The first 1921 Morgan and Peace dollars were created of .900 fine silver, with the residual content being aluminum.
Additional proposals
The CCAC urged several proposals for future commemorative coins or medals.
The panel urged that a silver dollar to mark the 250th anniversary in 2026 of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It had been proposed the coin be issued in 2023, 2024, or 2025 so that designated recipients of internet surcharges would receive the appropriate funds to finance 2026 party activities.
CCAC member Dennis Tucker questioned the need for a further commemorative to indicate the 2026 milestone, because the recently enacted Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 already authorizes the redesign of all circulating U.S. coin denominations to indicate exactly the same anniversary.
The CCAC also advocated the issuance of a national medal or congressional gold medal to recognize the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
The CCAC also suggested that commemorative coins be issued in combination with the 2028 Summer Olympic Games at Los Angeles, California.
Cleveland, Ohio, lawyer Arthur P. Bernstein was also ensured in through telephone by U.S. Mint Director David J. Ryder as the new member of the CCAC.
