1933 HK-823, T-II-Pedley-Ryan Dollar

Coin Details

Description

Cataloged as HK-823, this 1933 silver dollar from Pedley-Ryan & Co. of Denver represents one of the most historically evocative private monetary initiatives of the Great Depression. Pedley-Ryan & Co., a Denver investment house, launched its 'Buy-an-Ounce-of-Silver' campaign on January 5, 1933, selling round, rimless, plain-edge silver discs the size of a standard U.S. dollar. Each disc contained one ounce of silver (430 grains, 99% fine) and was sold three for a dollar, with the firm agreeing to redeem them at prevailing silver market prices. Bar silver was then quoted at just 27 cents an ounce, and the firm bet that investors would profit when silver reached the bimetallists' hoped-for 16-to-1 ratio with gold. The campaign predated Roosevelt's March 6, 1933 bank holiday by two months, making these silver speculation pieces rather than emergency scrip. The series encompasses seven types (HK-822 through HK-828) produced over the first half of 1933. Type I (60 pieces, January 5) and Type II (15 pieces, January 6) were the earliest, with Type II withdrawn after a fineness error and 'Fine' chiseled out of the die for Type III (fewer than 85). Type IV (up to 500 pieces, January 7 onward) became the most common variety. Type V omitted 'Denver' from the obverse, Type VI featured a 'Robbins on the Corner' counterstamp (300 sold in one day), and Type VII (50 pieces, June 1933) was the sole embossed variety with all previous types stamped incuse. The HK numbering system groups so-called dollars broadly by type: exposition and commemorative pieces in the lower numbers, with monetary, miscellaneous, and later additions in higher ranges. Lettered suffixes (a, b, c, d) typically indicate variant compositions or die states of the same basic design, while entries above HK-900 include pieces added in later catalog supplements.

Rarity Notes

Pedley-Ryan Dollars survive in moderate numbers for the more common types, though silver examples and higher type numbers are scarcer. Depression-era scrip so-called dollars are actively sought by collectors of both so-called dollars and Depression-era Americana. Silver examples command the strongest premiums.

Cross References

HK-823; PCGS #643558