The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-06-13
The Convict's Suit.
DOLLAR OF OUR DADDIEs.
One of the Rare Silver Coins of 1904
Sold in Boston for 81 ZOO.

SOI0 In boston LOT Sls$UUs
One of the rarest coins. If not the most
| rare. of the United States mintage, is the
silver dollar of 1904 All sorts of interest
ing stories. more or less fabulous, are told
concerning this issue, but sO-called au-
thorities disagree on almost every point.
Now and then one is sold to a collector
for a big sum, and only a few days ago
there was transaction Of this nature in
Boston. Not long ago w. +. Skinner. a
! Westinghouse. dealer in coins, heard that
| one of these rare dollars was held by John
f. Whitley, the registry clerk in the
| Taunton postoffice. Mr.. Whitley found
the coin stored away among his fathers
possessions soon after the latter's death.
Skinner opened correspondence with
Whitley and offered 81 900 for the curiosi
ty, but even this offer failed to tempt the
! pOssessor. who evidently had some idea
of its worth.
Finally, the dealer. who had an order
for a specimen of this mintage from some
one in New York, raised his offer to ST.
200, and at this figure the silver piece
changed hands.
Dealers and collectors differ in their
| statements as to how many of these dol
| lars are known to be extant. Some say
| four. others eight while Mr.. Skinner says
! he can locate twelve. Four of these, he
says, are held in New England. one being
owned by Capt. Nathan Appleton of Bos-
Boston. one by William Brown Of Salem
and one other. the owner of which he does
not remember.
A writer on this subject says. in an
article published not many years ago,
! that Col. Phineas Adams Of Manchester
n. H. has a specimen for which he paid
$500 Another was purchased in 1889 by
| DR.. Walther of St. Paul, Mimi. from an
| old Norwegian settler, who had long
| treasured it in a stocking. The doctor Sc
| cured this specimen for $3.50. little
previous to this man named S L. Cohen
bought a specimen somewhere in Tennes-
see for $3.50. The British museum holds
one, for which it paid $780, and there is
one on exhibition in the Philadelphia
mint. This accounts for eight, or posi-
bly, nine, of those dollars.
The whole history Of this coinage is
shrOuded in mystery. According to the
| mint records 1850 silver dollars were
| coined in 1904. This is the last authentic
record Of the mintage. and it is not known
whether. they were held in the treasury
and subsequently struck over into later
date or whether they were sent to Africa
to pay off our sailors, as one story runs.
The origin of this yarn is likewise shad-
owy, but it is given for what it is worth,
which, it is feared, is not as much as the
face value Of its subject In 1904 the
United States was engaged in a war up
the Mediterranean with TripOli, and ii is
said that the dollars coined that year Were
sent out to pay our seamen. As the coins
were new and bright, the natives ashore
took a great fancy to them when Jack
would ring them down in payment for
gimcrack for his Nancy at home. The
chiefs of the tribes. or beys, If that is a
more correct term, as soon as they heard
about these cleaning white dollars, COW
eted them for ornaments and tokens and
took measures to get possession of all
they could.
It appears from the scarcity of the dol
lars in this country that they were I'M
usually successful, and must have either
robbed or tricked away the pay Of about
every man in the American fleet.
Another story about the specimens now
in collections is not quite so romatic but
it is none the less interesting. 1t is that
Capt. Hall of the United States secret
service in the West, who was accidentally
shot in 1887 was at the time of his death
investigating the counterfeiting of anti
Guated coins for collections of numis-
mates.
His attention was first drawn to this
subject by the sale of an 1904 dollar at an
auction sale OF a collection in Philadel
phia. The captain examined the coin, and
at once questioned its genuineness. and,
on taking it 10 the mint, it was found TO
to be a counterfeit
Under the action of acids which were
applied. slight traces of lighter metal
were discovered marking a complete
square at the base of the figure "4' of
1884" and a further expert analysis dis
closed the fact of its being a modified
dollar of 1905. of which issue there are
many. The So had been drilled out and
the opening plugged with "a" taken from
some other issue. The coin had been
treated to corrosive acid to give it the old
and worn look.
1t is further stated by persons well
posted on the subject that the dies for
this mintage We're out of the possession
of the mint for over a year and Nalf
before they were destroyed, and 1t is
believed that many of the speciments
now in collections were made at this
time. This was in 1928, it is stated
Such a procedure is, Of course, a penal
offense, and the story may be entirely
without foundation, although it is cred
tied by many students of numismatics.
When the collection Of II. r. Under
man, at one time director of the mint
was sold by auction in New York in 1885,
a fine proof of the 1904 dollar brought
$40. The market value of the coin va
ries. One catalogue fixes it at 5000, while
another offers 5000 for speciments. Col
lectors value their specimens at from
ST. 900 to $4,000.
The dollar has a flying eagle with
twelve stars upon the reverse, while the
face bears the date and a head Of the
Goddess of Liberty with flowing hair
Boston Transcript.