1923

The 1923 Philadelphia ran the second-largest output of the Peace Dollar series at 30,800,000 pieces, behind only the 1922 Philadelphia and well above every other date in the run. The Pittman Act of 1918's recoinage timeline ran through 1923 before the program wound down, and Philadelphia carried the majority of the third-year production order. Anthony de Francisci's Low Relief design held steady from 1922, and the year's dies produced the cleanest Peace Dollar strikes from the early portion of the series. The 1923 marks the transition point where Treasury Peace Dollar stockpiles began to exceed any plausible demand for commercial dollar coinage.

Strike quality on the 1923 Philadelphia is the best of the early-run Peace Dollars. Liberty's hair detail, the eagle's breast feathers, and the rays of the rising sun on the reverse all come up cleanly on coins from early die states, and the 1923-P is widely considered the easiest pickup in MS65 across the entire series. Most surviving examples grade MS63 to MS65 from broken Treasury bag releases, with PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC populations clustering at MS64 and MS65. MS66 is genuinely available and inexpensive. Van Allen-Mallis varieties exist, including the popular VAM-1F doubled tail feathers, but most do not command material premiums outside specialist demand.

The 1923 Philadelphia is a regular common date and the standard collector recommendation for a first Peace Dollar pickup. Pricing has held flat for two decades at the lowest level in the series outside the 1922-P, with sealed Treasury bags from the 1962-1964 Federal Reserve releases still surfacing at coin shows. The 1923-P pairs naturally with the 1922-P at the entry-grade level for new collectors building a Peace Dollar date set. For the Pittman Act recoinage backdrop and the broader 1921-1928 production arc, see the Peace Dollar series history.