A high relief coin that turned heads in Dallas during Heritage's U.S. Coins Signature auction was a 1921 Peace dollar graded Mint State 66+ by Professional Coin Grading Service and bearing a green Certified Acceptance Corp. sticker that sold for $31,200.

Heritage wrote on the appealing dollar, “The surfaces of this Plus-graded Premium Gem are well-preserved and lustrous, with subtle highlights of sea-green and lavender-gray toning.”

The first 1921 Peace dollars weren’t struck until Dec. 28 that year, and production of the year’s 1,006,473 Peace dollars ceased on Dec. 31. These first-year Peace dollars were struck in high relief, but this proved difficult for the Philadelphia Mint, which was faced with short die life. Nearly all exhibit some weakness in strike at the hair by Liberty’s ear.

A touch of softness is seen on the subject coin, but it avoids what Roger Burdette describes in his Guide Book of Peace Dollars as characteristics of a weakly struck example, where not only have the two curls blended together, “but they will merge into the cheek and parts of the hair leaving a flat, almost featureless area at the design’s center.”

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