1921 $1 Peace Silver Dollar, High Relief PCGS MS63 (CAC)

Only the 1921 issue was struck in high relief, making this first year issue a popular one-year type coin.  The high relief presents a striking image on a small round silver canvas. PCGS has graded 5,048 in MS63, with 6,923 finer. In CAC, there are 242 in MS63 with 934 finer.

Teresa, the wife of artist-engraver Anthony de Francisci who served as his model for the Peace dollar Liberty design.

The year 1921 saw the debut of Anthony de Francisci's Art Deco Peace dollar design, which was minted from 1921 to 1928 and again from 1934 to 1935. The Peace dollar carries an obverse image of a young, attractive Lady Liberty, crowned with rays that resemble the iconic Statue of Liberty. It also resembles the Liberty upon the $10 Indian head Eagle crafted by Augustus Saint-Gaudens that was struck from 1907 to 1933. The Peace Liberty design was personally significant to the designer-engraver.  His wife, Teresa Cafarelli de Francisci, was the model for this issue, one that Farran Zerbe and others conceived of to commemorate the end of World War I, which was then called "The Great War." In choosing his young wife to model for the Peace dollar, it was a fulfillment of a childhood dream. Teresa remembered seeing the Statue of Liberty dramatically loom over the ship she and her family were on as they approached New York City from their native Italy. As a young girl she was brokenhearted when she did not get the role of Lady Liberty in a patriotic school play. One can only imagine the satisfaction she derived from having her image appear upon millions of Peace dollars.