1921-D $1 MS PL

Key to Collecting: Dollars of the 1921-D variety are common in Mint State today (although not nearly as plentiful as Philadelphia pieces), but some searching is needed to find an example with good eye appeal. Prooflike coins exist, and DMPL pieces are rare; these coins have little eye appeal. All have a tiny or “micro” D mintmark.

Surface Quality: The 1921-D, from shallow dies to begin with, usually is lightly struck on the wreath leaves. Sharply struck pieces are in the distinct minority and will require extensive cherrypicking to find. The luster ranges from dull to somewhat frosty, with frosty pieces being plentiful.

Prooflike Coins: Prooflike coins exist but are very elusive. Such pieces are nearly always weakly struck and with poor eye appeal.

Mintage and Distribution: Morgan dollars were first struck at the Denver Mint on May 9, 1921, an important occasion as silver dollars had never been made there before. The first 100 pieces were set aside and were later hand-engraved in the obverse fields, creating souvenirs, such inscription indicating the number of the coin and its significance, as in this example: 7TH DOLLAR RELEASED FROM 1ST 100 EVER COINED AT DENVER MINT THOMAS ANNEAR, SUPT. The first of these is now in the Colorado Historical Society collection. Millions of 1921-D dollars were put into storage, and in time, many if not most were released, including to gambling parlors and casinos in Nevada. Some remained to be paid out during the Treasury releases of 1962 through 1964, but this was not one of the more plentiful varieties.

All reverses have 16 berries in the right-hand-side reverse wreath. Some dies have raised dots, thought by some to be from the point of a hardness-testing gauge, and by others to be from gas bubbles in the die blank. These dots occur on dollars from all three mints.