The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-12-14
AN UNFORTUNATE COIN.
The Sorrowful History Of the Souvci
Half Dollars.

The sorrowful History of the Souvenir
Half Dollars.
The order Of Secretary Carlisle to
use the Columbian souvenir silver coins
as cash is the closing chapter In the his
tory of an unsuccessful venture In spite
Of the efforts of the promoters Of the
exposition to sell these half dollars at
double their face value, with the gen
eral co operation Of the banks, the news
papers and number Of leading stores
In Chicago, New York, Boston, Phila-
delphia and elsewhere. about 5000, 600
remain unsold and In the hands Of the
treasury authorities.
At first the Chicago people pleaded
with Secretary Carlisle to hold the coins
till they could raise fund to redeem
them at their double price in the holr
Of saving the value Of those alreaf
sold, which would be bound to dec,in
Is soon as the remaining coins wer
thrown into the ordinary channels Q
trade. This was done, but the atteTtn
was fruitless, and few days ago =
projectors of the scheme notified tn,
secretary that they could not do any
thing, and that they would not ask him
any longer to carry the load of unavail
able silver.
Mr.. Carlisle shrewdly decided to do
something which would make the coins
pay for part of the trouble and delay
they had caused So he ordered them
paid out at par, but in exchange, for
gold coin. This would have the effect,
he believed, Of stimulating a few enter
prising retail shopkeepers to buy up the
lot and advertise that they would use
them in making change for their custom
ers The treasury would by this means
add little gold to its balance, while at
the same time the coins would probably
be held as souvenirs by the customers
attracted by the advertisements, and
thus would be prevented from passing
into general circulation.
The collapse of the souvenir coin fad
recalls the fact that a syndicate was
formed during the summer Of 1898 fo1
the taking and disposing of 100, 900 Of
the half dollars. Some large jewelry
houses were interested in the enterprise,
which might have grown to larger pro
portions if any encouragement had beer
received.
1t seems that q leading American
| jeweler, while on a journey abroad, saw
some of the British souvenir coins strucl
in honor of Queen Victories jubilee
| boo,tiF,,ll1y do,orotad with ayo,,af opf
mounted as watch charms, brooches
etc. He took number of Columbian
half dollars to London with him las
year and had them treated III the sun,
way. 81,
One device was to cover all the bod,
Of the diverse Of the ooin with trans
lucent enamel, leaving the head of Co
lumbus and the inscription uncovered
In another the reverse side was treated
the caravel being colored on the fell
against which it was projected. No tw'
designs were alike, and the coins wer
eagerly snapped up at IS, IS and evel
$40 apiece by curiosity seekers.
But no sooner was the formal propo
sition made to take the 100, 900 coin
out of the custody Of the treasury 70
the purpose mentioned than the secre
service people pounced upon the inter
ested parties and warned them that ev
cry coin thus treated and exposed 70
sale would be seized. I'll,
No law against the mutilation Q
coins appeared to stand in the way, blu
the argument Of Chief Drummond, a
we'll as 1t could be understood, was tba
some evil minded person might scrap
off the enamel from the decorated coin
and pass them upon unsuspecting poo
persons, who would then find themselve
with coin in their possession bearin
on it's face the value of so cents. but O.
account Of its mutilation oommandin
in the market only its bullion value
which, with silver at its present depre
citation, would be only quarter Of
dollar. The opposition Of Chief Drum
mond, supported by Secretary Carlisle
broke up the plan. Washington Star.