 The new pieces were publicly announced on May 15 , 1965 , and coin dealers immediately offered $ 7 @.@ 50 each for them , ensuring that they would not circulate . The public announcement prompted a storm of objections . Both the public and many congressmen saw the issue as a poor use of Mint resources at a time of severe coin shortages , which would only benefit coin dealers . On May 24 , one day before a hastily called congressional hearing , Adams announced that the pieces were deemed trial strikes , never intended for circulation . The Mint later stated that 316 @,@ 076 pieces had been struck ; all were reported melted amid heavy security . To ensure that there would be no repetition , Congress inserted a provision in the Coinage Act of 1965 forbidding the coinage of silver dollars for five years . No 1964 @-@ D Peace dollars are known to exist in either public or private hands . Two specimens were discovered in a Treasury vault in 1970 and were destroyed , but rumors and speculation about others in illegal private possession continue to appear . The issue has also been privately restruck using unofficial dies and genuine , earlier @-@ date Peace dollars resulting in an altered date . 
