U.S. Mint Suspends Morgan and Peace Dollars Until 2023

On March 14 the U.S. Mint announced that due to a shortage of silver planchets used to produce the new Morgan and Peace silver dollars, it will not be issuing any of these coins in 2022 and that it will resume the program in 2023.

“We’ll be required to make business decisions like this until the supply chain for silver blanks recovers from the disruptions caused by COVID-19,” noted U.S. Mint Deputy Director Ventris C. Gibson in a press release.

“I want to be sure that our customers know,” she said, “that the modern renditions of the historic Morgan and Peace Silver Dollars will continue next year. Our goal is straightforward: to give our loyal customers the products they want and the service they deserve.”

Until this news was announced, the Mint was planning to issue Proof versions of the Morgan and of the Peace dollar sometime this year and to hopefully allow collectors to purchase them with enrollments, which would have enabled collectors to get them without having to fight with other buyers on release date to order the coins as happened last year, especially when the CC and O privy mark coins were offered for sale last spring.

Proofs would have been exciting since no Peace dollars were ever struck in Proof, only special Matte Proofs in very limited numbers, and Proof examples of the original Morgan dollar are very costly and beyond the reach of most collectors.

There is no shortage of silver metal. Instead, the pandemic and the heightened demand for silver coins and medals since it started combined with the limited number of companies that manufacture the planchets for silver coins mean that the U.S. Mint and other mints are competing for a limited supply of planchets.

This unexpected decision has led some observers to wonder whether the move will result in higher market values for the 2021 coins, which is quite possible.

Reactions from collectors are split between those who are disappointed and those who continue to believe the coins should have only been issued in 2021 to mark the centennial of the issuance of the final Morgan dollar and the first Peace dollar.

Many people also wonder why these coins are the best ones to forgo if certain products must be suspended due to the planchet problem since only perhaps 100-200,000 coins would have been made compared to the millions of bullion American Silver Eagles the Mint sells each year. It is true, however, that those bullion coins are by law the ones that are supposed to receive the priority at the Mint.

In fact, in 2009 when there was also a planchet shortage, the Mint decided to suspend the Proof and burnished uncirculated versions of the American Silver Eagle, which upset many collectors, especially those who organize their sets in albums that are missing the 2019 collector coins.

But again, if something had to give this year, why not perhaps the silver presidential medals, which are not big sellers and which are not required to be issued by any law but are instead issued at the Mint’s discretion?

Plus, compared for example to 2021 when the Mint issued a larger number of collector coins in silver, this year there are not quite as many different silver coins and medals being issued. And these questions led some observers to wonder if there is not a problem at the Mint in terms of planning for its various coin programs and the materials needed for them.

And others wonder if other silver coin or medal programs will also be suspended this year in addition to the silver dollars.

Other news

In other U.S. Mint news, many 2022 U.S. Mint products are selling well. On March 11 the Mint began selling the U.S. Navy 2.5-ounce silver medal and sold out of the product on the same day.

Last week on March 17 the Mint began selling the 2022 American Gold Eagle Proof coins. Within five minutes, the 4-coin set was gone, and the half and quarter ounce coins followed soon after. The 1 ounce and tenth ounce coins can still be back ordered.

In addition, the new American Women quarters are also selling briskly. The first release of U.S. Mint-wrapped coins for Maya Angelou sold in rolls and 100-coin bags sold in cloth bags, which if the 3-roll set is purchased was the only way to obtain the 2022-S version of this coin, sold out quickly.

Then the Mint announced that the second release, the Sally Ride coins, actually sold out of all options with the orders received by enrollment.

It is also possible to receive these coins in change or in theory to get rolls of them at banks, but the Federal Reserve is not allowing banks to order specific coins by roll and many do not have them.

Finally, the 4-coin clad quarter Proof set with all five of this year’s quarters that went on sale March 8 sold out on March 15 of its product limit of 42,368 sets and the silver version of this set is also close to selling out. Keep in mind that those coins should also be available later this year in the annual Proof and silver Proof sets.