The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1885-11-09
coxx COLLECTING.

AAoia-a nj tf0a AoHSN 80 !. 49,
Of New York stands row Of boards
with coins and medals fastened IL
them. The DO ards are covered with
white paper, and the coins are held it
place by Snort nails, three to each
coin, pressed into the boards, anc
clasping the bits OF metal with ,heiI
heads. Constslis are common in Eu
ropesn cities, ana on the coping Of TIE
wall that borders on the Saine on To.
Latin side OF Paris are placed numer-
GUS glass cases Ia which coins are OK
Ooin de lsrs AGA few, and the owusr o
this particular outhJ is one of two WIN
cell their goods In the open air In New
York. He IL al his post at all times,
except ia rainy aud snowy weather,
for tho coins would not st8od expos
ure TO toe elements. Tempting Ms toe
display may re to thieves, tn-y rarely
attempt TO NJ propriate specimens.
~ hAd one batch or coins sssieu,"
said the dealer, shut IL was cut ot 4
safe In that building across the street
1t was u collection that / had storeO
there While was making up cata-
logue. I have no Idea how the coinp
were stolen. l only know that one
day at noon hey were gone, aud noue
Of them have turned up since. They
were worth 81 200. / aidn't fell vsfy
good over II, you may b5 sure.
Thieves wonid take coins If they cOuid
get them, Il course; but there arc so
many Of them that would be OF no usr
to anybody but collector, that the
thieves prefer siivesware or something
OF thai kind. A friend o, mine In Quo
lost y collection % American cents q
fortnight or 20 ago, but the burglar
would never have touched them IL he
hadn't rolled them up and marked the
value, $1,000, on them. 1t was one o;
the best collections vi cents IN the
country"
"Thsn s. pretty complete cole csion
Of Americas cents is worth 81 ,5O0?"
"Eesily. Good cents arc getting
scarce--that Is the old csrtwhseI cents
land s,me dates, like 1899, nre worth
from $50 to $3.50 in good condition. It's
the condition Of the piece that makes
She worth ~ It, though young colleot-
ora d0n't understand tbat. Then a
complete collection of cents means
more han just ono cent OF each date
There were sOme years when lhers'd
be, Isuppose, 20 varieties. The d fer
ences would be too little tor You to no.
tlce may be, hut collector would know
them AZ quick as q wink. There are
little variations In the size of tho let
tiers or figures, or stars, or shape of a
leaf or curl Il nair, made in repeating
the dies to replace worn aud broken
ones. Sometimes a triding tbiag,
Iikn a lorxt.s uvS N a at. nj nn "a q.
\ difference in tho value of coin,
Ever hsar or the 'cow lick 5-irspc
piece Of NapolsOn III? When he was
president OF France, in 1851, new coins
were struck with his head ON them,
and The first franc piece was taken To
him for approval. He said 1t was al
right, and told the mint master to 20
aheed y ith then; but q little later he
noticed ssif-lo0king lock OF hair
over ,he temple, such as We would call
. Cow lick, and he sent word 10 have
q new die made with more orderly
hair. That was dons, but in the
meantime Is of tho pieces
had gone out into circulation, and |
suppose $50 you'd not buy ono of them
from any OF the men who own Them
now"
SIS there much counterfeiting Of rare
coins?"
"W0l, not much nowadays. They
wouldn't be rare, you know, II they
were copied very much, and the exact
number and ownership of some Of the
rarest are known 10 tho collectors, so
that II one oil the same kind appears in
q sale u csn no spotted IA bogus a.
once. TIE things that jewelers. sell Tor
old coins arc sO bad That nobody who
knew anything ut all about coins
W0uld ever mistake them for genuine
pieces. There was a factory OF bogus
Greek aud Roman money IN Padun Two
or three centuries sg0, aud the work
was mighty good, too; but this thing
has been reduced 10 regular science,
40 that an expert will take "a dou ttIui
coin and in 10 or 20 minutes will tell
you whether i, Is genuine OF bogus:
whether II is Roman, PsGuan or mod
ern; whether the patinB, or green coat
ing, ia the results OF ago or acid; wheth
or 1t Is Of tho right material aud proper
weight or not Stu, there are some
countortei's made. even now that are
pretty clever.
"You know S., the coin man up
the street? We'll fellow went iuto
his place one day and asked 20 see
some Roman coins, rare ones. The
rarest Of the !os he was little vncer-
tain ABOUT aud said: u think I've 90.
this In my collections, but III take IL TO
make sure, providing that you'll re-
turn my money II find that | have
It, That MAS agreed 10, and some
weeks later the fellow showed up aud
said: MIR. s.. yon'il have 10 exous q
me Tor Keeping that coin so loug.
live III Philadelphia, aud haven't hoen
In Nov York since bought 1t, but
have the piece, aud what Is more,
mi4a Is 80 much like IL that / got the
two mixed up la my cabinet and cam;
tell them apart. Now, II you'll pick
out tho one that you think Ia yours,
pll take the o'her., And he uur0lled
two coius from some tissue
paper. Well, sir, S. was
stumped. He looked at them through
glass AMI all Sorts Of ways, and
finally puto side. Then tho stranger
said: NO, you're wrong. This is the
genuine, and that Ia a forgery l mad,
from II. NV name is. reckon
you've heard uf nic. Somebody told
me that c,uldu't deceive you With I
copy, but I've doue 1t, and now that
have inside the dies / can Gcc0mmO.
antV gNh NAhA 80 vi tANFl
AZ you want. Good morning.n
"What coins are la most demandfr
"In tais country, American coins
It's next 10 impossible TO get com.
plote act OF tha coins OF any o.hoi
country, unlessit DO some OF the South
American republics, but hero the urin.
cipsi COMA are all available. We're
only little over 100 years OLD, and our
money hasn't had time 10 grow scarce
Some Of cur coins are going 20 b.
scarce"
"yoa cant ge. them from tbs mint
now"
- mo, indeed You can 10, this year.
set, hut no other. The d es ara
smashed Vt the and of tho wear
Thore used 10 b. soma funny busines I,
at tho Mot, aud v good many 'bacl
numbers my seriously appeared, but
tho dies Me destroyed now as soon n,
the year ie up. II you nro on goo
terms with he superintendent OF IA,
mint, though, you can Ind our juA
how many coins Of u particular do
Vnf,tu.f.nn ara sxntau o.. A..