Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-06-21
PRICES OF RARE COINS.

PRICES OF RARE COINS.
Fictitious Values Placed Upon Some
Worthless Pieces.
Perhaps in looking over your silver
coins you may find a half-dollar dated
1S61, and bearing on it's front side a
close rese mblance to the half-dollars
now in use, except that it has only
thirteen stars. If you find upon the
back or reverse of such a coin the
words Confederate States of Amer
ica," handle it carefully, for it is worth
six hundred dollars. 1t is not worth
while to spend much time watching for
these coins, for only four of them were
made, and two of those have disap-
peared. Those four silver half-dollars
were the only coins made by the con-
federate government. and they were
struck in New Orleans The confed-
crates printed tons of paper money.
but they could not make coins because
it was impossible for them to obtain
gold and silver in large quantities
There was in 1881. as there is now,
only one mint in the southern states
the one in New Orleans. When Loui-
siana seeded from the union the state
took possession of that mint, and In
February, 1851, it was turned lover to
the confederate government. So the
confederates had all the machinery for
making metallic money, but they had
not the metal 1t was thought at first
that there was enough gold and silver
plate in the south to supply the people
with coins, and all the old officers of
the New Orleans mint were reappoint-
ed by the confederates
In April of that year the confederate
secretary of the treasury gave notice
that designs for a silver half-dollar
might be submitted to him, and from
the designs sent in the one having on
the diverse a Goddess of Liberty sur
rounded by thirteen stars, and on the
reverse a shield with seven stars,
with stalks of sugar-cane and cotton
entwined about 1t, was selected. The
seven stars represented the seven states
that then comprised the southern con-
federacy, and the thirteen stars repre-
sented the original states of the Amer
lean union.
The dies were made and four of these
coins were struck Then came an order
from the treasury department suspend
ing operations because enough silver
could not be had. Silver and gold too,
might have been brought in from other
countries, but the federal government
blockaded all the southern ports, so
that vessels could not go In or out A
great 'many vessels did go in and out,
as you will remember from your his
tories; but they did it at great risk, and
carried principally cotton going out,
and provisions in coming back
The four silver half-dollars, the onlv
coins made by the confederate govern
ment, were of no use for circulation,
anG from the first they were only curl
osities. One of them was sent at the
time to the confederate government;
one was presented to Prof Biddle, of
the University of Louisiana; the third
was sent to DR.. E. Ames, of New Or
leans, and the fourth was retained by
DIR. B. F. Taylor, chief coiner of the
confederate government. Most of
these gentlemen are now dead, and two
of the coins have disappeared. The
other two are still In New Orleans,
where they are very highly priced.
The governments estimate of their
value is 5000 each, but no doubt it would
take much moro money than that to
buy one of them.
But there is one real American coin
that is worth more even than the con-
federate half-dollar. This is the famous
1904 silver dollar, which is known as
"the king among rarities." 1t is be-
hof hop
eight of these coins are in existence,
and they are valued at one thousand dol
lars each. 1t is not certainly known why
the 1904 dollars are so scarce, because a
great many of them were struck; but
there is story (which may be true and
may not) that almost the entire issue
was for some reason shipped to China
in one vessel. and that the vessel was
lost. A coin-dealer bought one of these
dollars in Berlin in 1885, and imInedi-
ately resold it in Philadelphia for one
thousand dollars
Such prices as these for coins of the
present century are entirely fictitious;
that is, although the coins have no real
value, collectors are willing to pay
large prices for them merely on account
of their scarcity. But there are old
coins that are really worth great sums
of money, for they are theaonly record
that is left of certain periods of history.
IF there were no other record OF Ha-
drian," said Gibbon, the historian. Ibis
career would be found written upon
the coins of his reign" Old coins giye
us portraits of famous rulers, incidents
in the history Of nations, the costumes
of long-forgotten peoples, heraldic en-
blems, specimens of ancient architec-
ture, and tell us many other valuable
things that we could not otherwise
learn. Such old coins have real value
-Harper's Young People.