1933 HK-827, Type VI Pedley-Ryan Dollar

Coin Details

Description

This 1933 Pedley-Ryan Dollar (HK-827) documents the 'Buy-an-Ounce-of-Silver' campaign launched by Pedley-Ryan & Co., a Denver investment house, on January 5, 1933. This is Type VI in the seven-type series. 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 Type I (60 pieces, January 5) and Type II (15 pieces, January 6) were the earliest, with Type II withdrawn after a fineness error and 'Fine' chiseled out of the die for Type III (fewer than 85).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. Type VI (300 pieces) features a punch-impressed "Robbins on the Corner" counterstamp, with all 300 pieces sold in a single day. 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. So-called dollars acquired their name because they are not true dollar coins but rather privately issued medals that approximate the size and weight of U.S. silver dollars. The collecting specialty emerged in the early 20th century and was formalized by the Hibler-Kappen catalog, which organized hundreds of diverse pieces — from exposition medals to political tokens to private monetary experiments — into a coherent collecting framework.

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.

Cross References

HK-827; PCGS #643562