The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1885-11-04
.,,ooo COIN ooLnEoroRs.
A Dealer in Curious Money 1aiks
About HIS Business.

A Dealer in Curious Money Talks
About Has Business.
AGAINST an iron fence in busy
mart of New York stands row OF
boards. with coins and medals las
tened 10 them. The boards are COW
cred with white paper, and the COINS
are held in place by short nails, three
10 each coin, pressed into the boards
and clasping the bit Of metal with
their heads. Coin stalls are COM
mon in European cities, ana coping
of the wall that borders the Seine
on the Latin side OF Paris are placed
numerous glass cases In which COINS
are eNnosed 70 view but in this
conniry coin dealers are lew, ana
the owner of this particular outilt Is
one o. the two who sell their goods
in the open air in New York. lie
was formerly a circus rider, bot hay-
inc received fall that dlsgusted
bim with that way Of making a ny
ing. he drifted into the coin trade.
He Is at his post al all times, ex-
cept in rainy or snowy weather, ior
thf coins would nol stand expos
nre TO the elenets. When q sudden
shower makes its appearance the
boards with their crust OF numlsmat-
ie oddities and treasures are stacked
together, covered with cloth, and
mysteriously vanish somewhere IN
the neiehborhood. Tempting as the
display nav be to thieves, they rare
~ attempt to appropriate speci-
mems.
Il had one batch OF coins stolen,
said the dealer, but 1t was out OF a
safe IN that building across there 1t
was a collection that / had stored
there while ] was making up cata-
logue. / only know that one day
al noon they were gone, and none
of them has turned up since. They
we're worth $1,000 / didn't ieel
very good over it, you may be sure.
Thieves would take coins II they
could get them, OF course; but there
are 80 many of them that would be
of DO use TO any body but collector
that the thieves prefer silyerware or
something Of that kind. A irlend OF
mine last a collection OF American
cents a fortnight OF 80 ago, but the
burglars would never have touched
them If he hadn't rolled them up
and marked the value, Sl,5OO on
them. Ii was one OF the best collec-
tons of cents in the country.
Then a pretty complete coilec-
;iou OF American cents IL worth
s1,500?'
Easily. Good cents are getting
scarce-that is, the old cartwheel
cents-and some dates, ike the 1893.
are worth from $50 10 $50 il good
condition. It's the condition OF the
niece that makes the worth OF IL,
though Young collectors don't un-
derstand that. Then complete
collection Of cents i more than just
one cent OF each date There were
some years when theTed be, l sup
pose. twenty varieties. The differ
ence would be too little for you 10
notice. may be, but a collector would
know them as quick as a wink.
There are little variations IN the
size OF the letters or figures. or stars,
or shape Of q leaf or suTl OF hair,
made ia repeating the dies to replace
worn OF broken ones. Sometimes a
uihing thing like a large or small
date makes a difference In the value
oi the coin. Ever hear about the
COW lick FIVE franc piece of Napo-
leon III?
"When he was President of France
in 1861. new coins were struck with
his head on them, and the first FIVE
franc piece was taken to him for ap-
proval. He said it was all right and
told the mint master TO 90 ahead
with them, but a little later be no.
ticed a stiff looking lock of hair over
the temple, such as we would call a
COW lick, and he sent word to have
new die made, with more orderly
hair. That was done, but in the
meantime twenty-three of the pieces
had gone out into circulation. and L
suppose thirty dollars would not
buy one of them from any of the
men who own them now"
." Is there much eounterieiting OF
rare coins p
Well, not much now-aday
They wouldn't be rare, you know, If
they were copied very much and the
exact number and ownership of some
OF the rarest are known to collectors
so that if one of the same kind ap-
pears in sale it can be spotted as
bogus at once The things that les "
elers sell for old coins are SO bad
that nobody who knew anything
at all about coins would ever mis-
take them for genuine pieces
There was a factory of bogus
Greek and Roman money in Padua
two or three centuries ago, and the
work was mighty good, too; but
this thing has been reduced to a
REGULAR science, so that an expert
will take doubtful coin and in fif-
teen or twenty minutes will tell you
whether it is genuine or bogus
whether it is Roman, Paduan, or
modern; whether the puatina, or
green coating, is the result of age or
acid; whether it is of the right ma
terial and proper weight or not.
Still, there are some counterieits
made even now, that are pretty
clever"
What coins are in most de
mand ?"
''In this country, American coins.
Its next to impossible to get COM
plete set OF coins OF another country,
unless it might be some OF the South
American Renphlics hnt here tba