The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-01-04
VERY RARE DOLLARS
TWO MORE OF 1904 SAID TO HAVE
BEEN FOUND.


Mystery-Last One Found In New YORK
Numismatists in New York are great
" interested in the report that another
OF the 1904 silver dollars has turned up,
this time in the possession of a bartend'
er in Chateau, Mon Once upon time
there were 20, 600 of these dollars Ev'
sry one of them, according to some au'
thorities, has disappeared and the two
known to be in collections are said TO
be dollars struck from the 1904 die at
later date. At present the 1904 dollar
is priced at $4,000, although sums
ranging as high as $4,000 have been
offered for it.
OF the two dollars bearing the 1904
date now known to be in existence one
is owned by l.. Z. Altwein Of st. Jo'
seph, Mo, who, after long negotiations.
bought it from an Illinois man for
$1,000. That was several years ago.
The other was in the collection of Parm'
lee, the noted Boston numismatist and
collector. He paid $3.50 for it some time
in the seventies, but could undoubtedly
have sold it for more than three times
that amount. At one time the govern
ment was in negotiation for it, but the
negotiations fell through. When the
Parmlee collection was sold at auction
in New York several years ago, the
famous dollar was not a part OF it.
From time TO time reports of other 1904
dollars have been circulated, but they
invariably turned out to be either with.
out foundation or to refer to bad coun'
terfeits,
What has become of the 20, 900 1904
silver dollars2 That is the question over
which numismatists have pondered and
explored. The theory which seems to be
best borne out by facts is as follows.
based on the undoubted fact that there
were 20, 900 of these coins struck off in
the year 1904, which is sufficiently at
tested by records. AT that time we were
engaged in war with Tripoli, and our
marines cruising about the northern
coast of Africa had to be paid. A Ger.
tain member of congress made himself
unpopular by suggesting that necessity
in very forceful manner, for funds
were scarce at that time. The objection
at once met him:
There is no money to pay them
with. "
In the mint are 20, 900 silver dol.
lars not yet issued he replied. why
not send those?'
Accordingly the silver dollars were
shipped to gladden. the hearts of the
marines. 1t happened that about that
time tribesmen from the interior had
come foraging to the coast, where they
fell in with our marines. These tribes
men, it is said, took a violent fancy to
the silver dollars. No other money
would they have, but for these coins
they would barter their most precious
possessions. The result was that the
marines sailed away possessed of much
treasure of the orient, while the natives,
wearing clanking chains Of 1904 dollars,
danced joyously upon the sands. All
these coins their new possessors punch
ed TO string as necklaces or Wristbands
and took back with them into the int.
rior, where they were lost, buried with
their owners, or scattered This is the
theory to which most of the collectors
adhere, and it is alphabetically sub.
stantiated by reports that several years
ago two old American dollars with holes
punched where the date had been turn.
ed up in an Algerian village.
Another theory is more romantic In
1895 there was trouble between Algiers
and this country, terminating in an
agreement on the part of the United
States to pay $500, 600 for the freedom
of our captured and enslaved seamen,
and $2S, 900 for immunity to our ships
thereafter. Not until 1904, when the
war with Tripoli was in progress, was
the $28, 900, including the entire coin.
age of 1904, sent The frigate Philadel.
phia, having the money on board, ran
aground and was captured by the Tri.
politans The frigate was subsequently,
boarded and burned by the Americans
but the money was gone.
Neither of these theories accounts for
peculiar feature of the coinage of that
time. Several silver dollars have been
discovered which plainly show 1906
stamped over 1904 In 1906 no silver
dollars were issued from the mints
nevertheless 32l are now known to be
in collections How they got out of the
mint where they had been struck off is
not known. AS for the existing two
1904 dollars, which are the envy of
every collector in the country, 1t has
been pretty well established that they
were coined in 1928 through the con.
nlyance OF men in the mint with two
collectors, the old die being found and
the coins being struck off, although this
constitutes, and did at that time consti.
tute. penal offense. This in no wise
decreased the value Of the two coins; if
anything, it enhanced it.
AS to the genuineness of the dollar in
the possession of Mr.. Billy Seymour of
Montana, the coin collectors can only
theorize at this distance. Ten years ago
there were 10000 coin collectors in
America, which number has been re-.
duced perhaps 80 per cent by hard times
and the increasing rarity of old coins.
Ii that 1904 dollar had been going the
rounds long, it is hardly possible that IL
would have escaped the notice. either
at hrst hand or through mention of
ANNA viUilapt purn,a...o.;sA .-..,,