Late yesterday, the United States Mint announced that it is suspending plans for producing the 2022 Morgan and Peace Dollar coins. The two coins, which were slated to be released later this year in a proof finish, have become one of the first casualties of the year due to silver shortages stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here is the email that was sent to the numismatic press as well as customers of the Mint.
The United States Mint (Mint) today announced it will forgo the production and sales of Morgan and Peace Silver Dollars in 2022. This calculated pause is directly related to the global pandemic’s impact upon the availability of silver blanks from the Mint’s suppliers. The suspension will give the Mint time to evaluate the best way to allocate our limited supply of silver to ensure the best customer experience we can.
“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,” said Mint Deputy Director Ventris C. Gibson.
“I want to ensure 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.”
United States Mint
At the time of this article, the Mint still lists the two coins on its Production Schedule with both slated to be released in the Fall. It is likely that the Mint will remove them from the schedule at some point this week.
The news will certainly be a disappointment for collectors. The 2021 Morgan Dollars and Peace Dollar were some of the most popular released the Mint had in 2021 and arguably over the course of the past several years. Demand was extremely high and the current after market for these coins is multiple times the purchase price from the Mint.
That’s huge! A gap year! Hopefully will make my 2021’s more valuable.
Can’t they just strike a few 2022’s for me? I promise I won’t put them on eBay LOL
Ha!