Peace Dollar Melt Value

As of July 18, 2026, with silver trading at $56.01 per troy ounce, a Peace dollar has a melt value of $43.32. Every Peace dollar contains 0.7734 troy ounces of pure silver, identical to the Morgan dollar it replaced, so the two always share the same melt value.

The math never changes: 26.73 grams of 90 percent silver yields 24.057 grams, or 0.7734 troy ounces, of pure metal in every Peace dollar from the first 1921 high-relief strikes to the last coins of 1935. Because Morgans and Peace dollars share identical specifications, dealers usually buy and sell circulated examples of both interchangeably as "silver dollars" at the same price. Compare every US coin's silver content on the silver coin melt values master table, or value a mixed stack with the junk silver calculator.

The Peace dollar is a World War I artifact. The Pittman Act of 1918 had melted more than 270 million silver dollars for bullion sales to Britain, and the same law obliged the Mint to strike replacements. Coinage resumed in 1921 with the old Morgan design while a competition sought something new: a design emblematic of peace to mark the end of the war. Sculptor Anthony de Francisci won with a radiant Liberty head modeled on his wife Teresa, backed by a bald eagle at rest clutching an olive branch above the word PEACE. Production ran from 1921 through 1928, when the Pittman replacement requirement was satisfied, then briefly resumed in 1934 and 1935 under later silver legislation. It was the last circulating US dollar coin struck in 90 percent silver, and like the Morgan it was revived in 2021 as a modern collector issue priced well above melt. The full series history is catalogued at NGC's Coin Explorer.

Use this table to see how a Peace dollar's melt value scales with the silver market. Each row is simply 0.7734 ounces multiplied by the listed spot price.

Peace dollars match Morgan dollars on every bullion-relevant specification. A genuine example should weigh very close to 26.73 grams; significant deviation is a counterfeit warning sign.

Common circulated Peace dollars from high-mintage years like 1922 and 1923 trade near melt plus a modest dealer premium, which makes them a popular low-cost way to own large 90 percent silver coins. Premiums rise for the first-year 1921, struck in high relief that the Mint quickly abandoned because the dies wore badly, and for the low-mintage 1928 Philadelphia issue, the series key. The 1934 and 1935 dates also run above common-date pricing. As with any classic series, condition compounds scarcity: an uncirculated example of even a common date is worth more than melt suggests, while a slick, heavily worn coin is essentially bullion. Check dates before selling in bulk, and use the live melt figure above as your negotiating floor. Typical dealer premium ranges for silver dollars are tracked on our coin premium page.