Twenty attendees to the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money Aug. 8 to 12 in Pittsburgh were given an opportunity to purchase one of the 200 Uncirculated 2023-P Peace dollar “Director’s Strikes” that U.S. Mint Director Ventris C. Gibson struck at the Philadelphia Mint July 10.

The bureau set aside 20 of the special strikes for drawing winners to purchase at the show for $76 per coin. The remaining Director’s Strikes, packaged with a serial-numbered certificate of authenticity hand-signed by Gibson, were randomly shipped to Mint customers who ordered the numismatic product, whether on the coin’s release date July 13 or in advance through the Mint’s subscription program.

Mint officials at the convention declined to release the serial numbers of the 20 coins that were set aside for the purchase opportunity at the show.

The Uncirculated 2023-P Peace dollar was limited to an overall production of 275,000 coins.

For the “Silver Ticket Drawing,” tickets were being offered at the Mint’s sales booth, one per attendee per day. Mint officials were randomly drawing four tickets daily from the pool of tickets collected each day.

Winners were required to be present during the drawing and show their winning ticket to claim their “Director’s Strike Silver Ticket,” and each winner had to remain at the drawing location until all winners were selected.

The winners were escorted to the Mint sales booth immediately following the drawing to purchase the Mint product at the bureau’s sales counter.

If a “Silver Ticket” winner failed to complete the purchase, their right to purchase the product was forfeited.

The forfeited product was to be added to the next day’s drawing. For the Aug. 12 drawing, any remaining forfeited products were to be returned to the Mint’s inventory.

The release of 200 coins struck by the Mint director, each accompanied by documentation in the form of a signed, numbered certificate of authenticity and a “Congratulations” card, was a surprise that caught the collecting community unawares. No prior announcement was made; the existence of the special strikes was only revealed when customers began receiving them in fulfillment of their orders.