Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-04-18
THE DIAMOND DOLLAR
THE FASCINATING MYTH CONNECT
ED WITH THE COIN OF 1904.

THE FASCINATING MYTH CONNECT
ED WITH THE COIN OF 1904.
1t Is Declared to Be Fake, as the Gov
eminent Never Issued Such q Coin-Oth-
er Instances of Curious Fraud Practiced
Upon Collectors.
A sprucely dressed young fellow, with
an air of badly suppressed excitement,
walked into a secondhand book store
and curio shop on Marietta street Satur-
day night and laid a silver dollar on the
show case.
"What is that WORTH" he said to the
proprietor.
The man behind the counter examined
the coin with an imperturbable counte-
nance. Zone dollar" he replied.
"But, man alive!" almost screamed the
visitor. ''Don't you see the date?"
Certainly. It's 1904"
The visitor fumbled in his pocket and
produced pamphlet. "Read that" he
said, opening it and putting his finger on
a certain page. The paragraph he in
Dictated ran as follows:
"The dollar Of 1904, the diamond dol
lar as it is Familiarity termed, is the
rarest of all American coins. A very
limited number were struck from the
dies, and only four are known to be in
existence. One is owned by the British
museum, one by Mr.. E. L. Carpenter, a
collector of Boston; one by the Illinois
Historical society, and one by Mr.. v.
Herbert of Roanoke, Va. The last one
sold was bid in for 81 $780,"
The dealer read this deliberately and
assumed tired expression.
"That is pure bosh,' he said. SIN the
first place there is no such thing as an
1904 dollar. mean a genuine one. OF
course there are plenty of dollars with
1904 on them, but it was not put there
by the mint. If Mr.. Herbert of Roam
oke OF anybody else ever paid 81 500 for
such coin, they were done to the tune
of exactly 81 ,499. There are eight 1904
dollars right here in Atlanta besides
this one. Two are in Mr.. Abe Fry's safe,
Mr.. Ed Brown has four and Mr.. Will
liams two. would bet that there are
at least so of them in the state of
| Georgia. Some of the owners know that
they are fakes, and some fondly believe
| that they have a treasure"
"And you say that the government
never coined them?' gasped the visitor.
81 do. l made special inquiry at the
United States treasury department at
Washington and was informed that nc
| dollars were issued that year. In the
collection of coins there, which is OF
course complete, there is no 1904 dollar,
| know that the myth is widespread, but
| it is myth all the same. 1t was started
| by INSCRIPTIONS dealers, and there is g
regular factory in New York for run
ming out these dollars. They simply
change the date on an 1907 or an 1905
dollar, both of which are comparatively
common They are then sold by private
agents. If they were posted in the cata
logues for public sale, the fraud would
be quickly denounced, but they are
worked off ON collectors who think they
are getting a snap"
The young man sighed and put his
| dollar in his pocket. ''There must be {
good deal of fraud of that kind prac
ticed," he said.
eyes," replied the dealer, "there is
Take for instance the Greenville (Ala.)
cent Confedera tie stamp. No such a STAMP
was ever issued, yet you can buy them by
the hundred. They bring all the way from
81 to $25. The 81 900 Confederate bill il
another example. There were exactly
seven of these printed, and the plate wa
then destroyed. It's long story, bu
that is the gist of it. One is in the Brit
ish museum, one in the Aster library a
New York and the others are owned by
individuals throughout the country, {
specimen, by the way, being here in At
lanta. Now, have had dozens of thes,
bills offered me for sale. There ar,
thousands in collections over the world
all spurious, every one of them. In fact
the fraud practiced in that line would
fill a volume"
After the young man went out cons1d
erably crestfallen, reporter, who hat
overheard the conversation, asked
whether there were really many Ameri
can coins that brought very fancy prices
eyes," said the dealer. "Quite mum
Der. There is the 1858 quarter withou
the arrowheads and rays. The quartz
with both of these devices on it is com
mon. but without them is exceedingl,
scarce and worth several hundred dol
lars. A very rare coin is the 1903 hal
penny, but recently several thousand o
them were found in Ohio, and the pric
has dropped to next to nothing.
"Most people," he continued, "labo
under the impression that coin isvalu
able simply because it is old. Conse
quently they will hoard up old pennies
nickels and silver pieces that are reall.
only worth their face value. The pre-
MUM on a coin is not fixed by its age
but by its scarcity. How do coins be
come scarce? Heaven only knows! It is
great mystery. There are instances o
coinage of about equal volume on tw
consecutive years where specimens from
one are as plentiful as blackberries AM
the other as scarce as hens teeth. No
body can explain tive simply know
that it is SO. The mysterious disappear
ance of people which we occasionally rea,
about is not half the enigma that thi
disappearance Of money is. 1t vanishe
from circulation, melts apparently int
! l. I L