1923-S Peace Silver Dollar
Circulation strike struck at the San Francisco Mint · 19,020,000 made
- Mintage
- 19,020,000
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 26.73 g
- Diameter
- 38.1 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1923-S Peace Silver Dollar worth?
In worn condition it trades for about its silver content, 0.7735 troy ounces. Uncirculated coins with full luster or attractive toning sell for more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1923-S Peace Silver Dollar rare?
- No. With 19 million made, it's one of the most common Peace Silver Dollars.
- Is the 1923-S Peace Silver Dollar silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.7735 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1923 Peace Silver Dollar?
- On the reverse, below the word ONE, near the tip of the eagle's wing. Philadelphia coins have no mint mark. On this coin the mark is S, for San Francisco.
- Which San Francisco dates near 1923 are scarcer?
- The 1927-S at 866,000, the 1925-S at 1,610,000, the 1928-S at 1,632,000, plus 3 more. So the 1923-S is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1923-S Peace Silver Dollar coins were made?
- 19,020,000.
What to check on your 1923-S
- Make sure the mint mark really is an S. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 1923-D (6.8 million made).
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Judge the grade under good light. Wear appears first on the hair above Liberty's ear and on the eagle's wing feathers.
Circulated examples are usually traded for their silver content. Pick out the best ones: original luster and attractive toning lift a coin above melt, while cleaned coins lose most of their collector value.
The story of the 1923-S
San Francisco made 19,020,000 in 1923, up from 17 million in 1922. In 1924 the figure was 1.7 million.
1923-D came to 6.8 million and 1923 came to 31 million, so neither mint's 1923 coin is much scarcer than the other.
Of the 9 Peace Silver Dollars San Francisco struck between 1922 and 1935, none was made in bigger numbers. The scarcest San Francisco issue is the 1927-S at 866,000. Within the 1920s it's 17th smallest of 19, between the 1922-S (17 million) and the 1923 (31 million).
More on the 1923-S
San Francisco's 19,020,000 Peace dollars of 1923 sit between the very common Philadelphia coin and the lower-mintage Denver coin. Among 1920s Peace dollars, it's the textbook example of a date that's easy to buy in ordinary grades and genuinely hard to find as a gem. San Francisco's output dropped to 1,728,000 the following year, making 1923 its largest Peace dollar run of the years 1923 to 1928.
Circulated and lower uncirculated 1923-S dollars turn up all the time, often in mixed lots of common silver. Gem coins are another matter. True top-grade examples are rare, so collectors who build high-grade sets know this as one of the dates that holds them up. If yours looks uncirculated, check the cheek and the field in front of Liberty's face for marks, then look at the luster. A coin with clean surfaces deserves a closer look by a grading service. Worn pieces trade close to metal value; a sharp, clean 1923-S is a strong collector premium coin.
Pittman Act coinage winds down (1923 to 1928)
Peace dollars continued in large numbers to replace the coins melted under the Pittman Act, with Philadelphia striking 30.8 million in 1923. Output fell after that year. San Francisco's 1924-S and 1925-S, each under two million, are scarce in high grades. Denver made no dollars in 1924 or 1925.
The 1927 issues from all three mints are relatively scarce. The 1928 from Philadelphia, with only 360,649 struck, is the lowest mintage of the series and is often confused with the more common 1928-S. Pittman purchases were complete in 1928 and coinage stopped. San Francisco dollars of these years are often softly struck. Many survivors show heavy bag marks from storage in Treasury vaults. Bags of Peace dollars also emerged in the Treasury releases of the early 1960s.
How to recognize it
Anthony de Francisci's Liberty faces left wearing a crown of light rays, with LIBERTY above and the date below. The reverse shows an eagle at rest on a mountaintop, holding an olive branch, as the sun rises behind it, with the word PEACE on the rock. The mint mark is below the word ONE, near the tip of the eagle's wing.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Peace Silver Dollar (1921–present) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Mint | San Francisco Mint |
| Mint mark | "S" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 19,020,000 |
| Face value | $1 |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 26.73 grams |
| Diameter | 38.1 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.7735 troy oz (24.057 g) |
| Designer | Anthony de Francisci |
Other 1923 Peace Silver Dollar issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1923 Peace Silver Dollar | 30,800,000 | Circulation strike | 0.7735 oz |
| 1923-D Peace Silver Dollar | 6,811,000 | Circulation strike | 0.7735 oz |
| 1923-S Peace Silver Dollar | 19,020,000 | Circulation strike | 0.7735 oz |
Mintage: Peace dollar (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.