The Mena weekly star., 1897-08-18
ROMANCE OF A COIN.
Spurned by a Bartender, Bought for
 $1OO by Numismatist.

$1OO by Numismatist.
 From being turned down when of- fered in payment for kettle of beer to being purchased by a numismatic for $10O is in brief the recent history ot an ancient coin found by some labor CTS the other day. The details be- tween the time of the finding of the coin and the disposition of it are in- teresting, as showing how, after chang ing hands several times and being the subject of several proposed bargains, but not consummated, the coin sprang from the depths of gnominy-spurned by bartender-to it's proper place as a recognized treasure.
 It was discovered by laborers who were making an excavation at Broad and Catherine streets. 1t was a dis reputable thing to be called a coin, being so long covered with dirt that the image and superscription were not recognizable. The man who picked it up looked at it doubtfully.
 "I don't know what it is." he said, "or how much it's worth, but 1 guess it's good for a kettle of beer, any way"
 And so the long buried coin started on it's journey to prominence. It was thrown on the bar of a nearby saloon, offered in exchange for cold, froth- ing kettle of lager. The bartender eyed it suspiciously.
 No good" was his verdict, uttered in the cold and unsympathetic tone which only a bartender can use, as he secs coins and apologies for coins of all sorts thrown before him by thirsty nor tals
 The finder of the coin was disappoint- cd. He wanted the beer. He began to argue the case and attracted the atten- ton of another man in the saloon, who took up the coin and examined it. "Ill give you 30 cents for it." and the next moment it was in his pocket, the finder of the coin paid for his beer, disappeared, came back and had the kettle reflled, disappeared again, and so on until the half dollar was gone. He and his friends thought it was q great piece of luck to find a coin worth half a dollar.
 Then came a rapid exchanging of hands, so far as the coin was concerned. | The man who paid 30 cents for it showed | it to a friend who offered him dol- lar for it. The deal was promptly closed. Then the man who had paid | the dollar found a man who was will- | ing to give five dollars for it, and again the coin changed owners. But here the locust-story phase of the coins history ceases. The next chapter was one of bidding and the re- fllsal of bids. The tive-dollar man took it to a coin dealer, who offered him SEQ for it. The five-dollar man said he'd think it over. and went to another dealer.
 Twenty-Five dollars" was the figure offerd by dealer No. 2, but the five-dollar 1 man still held on to the coin. If one man offers $2O, and you are willing to pay $25," he said to the coin dealer, ''the next one strike may make it S30."
 The dealer thereupon offered to take the coin and find buyer at once, get ting the most he could for it, and de- ductiug a per cent. commission. The owner agreed, and the coin was taken tU a well-knowu numismatist, who saw it was no everyday find. It was an old English coin, containing about $1t worth of gold, but valued at many times that much money, because there are, 1t is said, only four of the kind in exist l cnce.
 The coin was purchased for $1OO, and ! the buyer is not expected to lose money, even at that figure. Indeed, the other three coins of the kind are said to have sold for as high as $40o apiece.-Phila- 1 delphia Inquirer.
 ProyfSion for Roth