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<h2>Jaime Hernandez</h2>The 1928 Peace Dollar has the lowest mintage in the entire Peace Dollar series by a large margin. The second lowest mintage is the 1927 Peace Dollar, which has more than double the mintage of the 1928 Peace Dollar. Because of its low mintage, the 1928 Peace Dollar has always been considered a key date. Hence, many examples were saved and well preserved and most surviving examples remain in uncirculated condition. <h2>Q. David Bowers</h2>The following narrative, with minor editing, is from my "Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia" (Wolfeboro, NH: Bowers and Merena Galleries, Inc., 1993). Coinage Context Lowest mintage: The low mintage of only 360,649 coins is the smallest production figure in the 1921-35 Peace dollar series, except for the 1922 High Relief. 1928 $1 Minted For "Cornerstone Laying": The Numismatist, February 1929, printed this item: 1928 Silver Dollar For Tammany Hall: An incident in connection with the arrangements for laying the cornerstone in the new Tammany Hall Building came to light with the last minute receipt by registered mail from the director of the Mint in Washington, D.C., of a silver dollar dated 1928 to be included with the contents of the cornerstone. Martin Egan, secretary of Tammany Hall, had asked the Guaranty Trust Company to supply the silver dollar. The Guaranty had none of the 1928 coinage and applied to the Federal Reserve Bank, which was also just out of silver dollars of that date. The Trust Company then wired an application to the secretary of the Treasury in Washington, and the dollar was sent direct from the Mint, accompanied by the information that silver dollars of 1928 coinage are to be used exclusively for cornerstone laying and other dedicatory purposes. The notion that the 1928 Peace dollar was minted exclusively for special ceremonies found its way into numismatic tradition. Years later, Richard S. Yeoman's Handbook of U.S. Coins (first published in 1941; familiarly called the Blue Book), told readers of various early editions that the 1928 silver dollar was "minted for cornerstone purposes." For a number of years collectors were led to believe that just a few 1928 dollars were released, and that coins of this date were quite rare. When I was a teenager in 1952 and 1953, I was thrilled to find one of these "cornerstone dollars" at a local bank. My enthusiasm dimmed as I found another, then another. At the time I did not own a set of back issues of The Numismatist, for if I had, I might have noticed the following item: More on the "cornerstone dollars": The Numismatist, March 1929, told more: The Silver Dollar of 1928: The news item in our issue last month that some little difficulty was encountered by Tammany Hall in securing a silver dollar of 1928 to place in the cornerstone of its new building in New York City has caused some collectors to wonder why dollars of last year should be scarce or difficult to get, when the report of the Bureau of the Mint shows that nearly two million pieces were coined. The news item referred to stated that the Treasury Department was releasing dollars of 1928 for use only for cornerstone laying or other dedicatory purposes. In connection with this action of the Treasury Department it might be stated that the coinage of these two million silver dollars [combined total of Philadelphia and San Francisco production] in 1928 completes the necessary coinage under the Pittman Act passed as a wartime measure. In 1918 the melting of many silver dollars stored in the Treasury was authorized by Congress in order that the bullion might be sent to India and the Orient to stabilize conditions. There was a provision in the act that the dollars so melted be replaced. All the dollars coined since that time have been for this purpose