The Portland daily press., 1899-10-04
DIAMOND DOLLARS OF 1904.
Only Four off Original Coinage OF
1880 I'm Existence-Others Are ere
ssrtkes.v

tFrom the New Orleans Times Democrat. }
EVERY now and 4hen one reads about
the discovery Of another OF the famous
Diamond Dollars of 1904" said y gen.
tleman OF this oity. who owns one of tho
finest private collections of coins anu
medals In the south. "The dollars of
that date are peculiarly supposed TO be
worth from 81. 900 to $4,000 apiece, and If
few origins could be produced l dare
say they would bring that figure easily
enough. But 1t happens, unluckily, that
there are only four ON earth, and they
are locked up In the vaults of the Treas
uIy building at Washington, and couldn't
be bought at any price. They are what
are known as the test pieces, which
are always laid aside whenever u new
ooin is struck, and the rest of the issue
Is at this moment quietly reposing under
several miles OF deep blue sea. The true
8 DRY Is rather interesting. In 1904 the
mint at Philadelphia is known to have
turned out 1850 silver dollars. That
was the entire Issue. barring the test
rieces have just spoken of, and 1t WAS
never put into circulation. The whole
lot, just as 1t came from the stamping
presses, was dumped iuto an iron chest
and put on board merchantmen bound
for China. 1t was directed to the cap.
tain of United States frigate, then In
Oriental waters, and was intended to be
used In paying certain expenses connect
ed with the service The merchantmen
ran into Chinese typhoon and went to
q bottom, where to the best of my in
formation she still remains. iron chest
lad all. and that Is the reason your
Uncle Sam is the only collector in the
world who has a oomplete set of Ameri-
can dollars. Every other collection, in
oluding my own. is short one issue. and
the gap will never be filed until the sea
liyes up its own"
do you mean to tell US, then" said
listener to the foregoing, 'that all the
Diamond Dollars now In private cabi-
nets are counterfeits?" "By no means, :"
replied the collector. 81 own an 1894 dol
lar myself, and there are at least three
others, to my knowledge, in the south.
They were issued by the government.
and are perfectly good and legal coips,
Tut they are not originals. They are
what are known technically as RE-
strikes In the early days, when the
minis had "a few coins left over from one
year to another they uld change the
date by striking them with a special die,
an operation that can always be detected
0y an expert. For some reason or other
nobody knows just why, a few dollars
OF the 1900 Issue were restruck In 1904 and
put In circulation. 1t Is probabls that
the total number was not over forty or
iifty, and good many have bean lost
The ones in existence are worth $3.50
apiece, and you may rest assured that
all the Diamond Dollars not mere imi-
taftnnu hal tn 10 INe 81
strikes. or course, some of them have
been sold TO green collectors as originals
and l was myself the innocent cause of
such a transaction only few yenrs ago
A friend OF mins who lives in AN I'd
joining state. and who owns a great ma ny
rare and beautiful coins telsgraphed m.
ore day asking whethyr $500 was tor
much for a genuine 1904 dollar. l took 1t
for granted that he knew the facts about
the Issue, and after puzZling over the
message for considerable time concluded
that 1t was an obscure joke of come kird
and that l was simply 100 stupid 70 see
the point. So wired hack advising him
10 buy bushel at that figure. and be
promptly closed the deal. 1t turned out
afterward that the coin was a rsstriks,
and my friend has never quite forgiven
me. What deceived him was the fact
that the piece was known positively TO
have been locked up in an old chest at
Savannah since 1912. Tint did away
with the counterfeit theory, and the only
thing he was doubtful about was the
price"