The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-10-06
DIAMOND DOLLARS OF 1901.
ohIy. -Four ofthe Original Coinage of
1880 ia Existence.

Only Four ofthe Original Coinage OF
1880 in Existence,
New Orleans Times-D Democrat: "Ev-
cry now and then one reads about the
discovery Of another of the famous
Diamond Dollars Of 1904" said gem
tleman Of this city, who owns one Of the
finest private collections Of coins and
medals In the south.i The dollars Of that
date are peculiarly supposed to be
worth from 1880 to 5000 apiece, and
II q few originals could be produced
dare say they would bring that dgure
easily enough. But It happens, unluck-
lly. that there are only four on earth.
and they are locked up in the vaults Of
the treasury 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 a new coin Is struck, and the
rest Of the issue IL at this moment
quietly reposing under several miles OF
deep blue sea. The true story Is rather
interesting. In 1904 the mint at Phlla-
delphia is known to have turned out
1850 silver dollars. That was the en-
tire Issue, barring the test pieces have
Just spoken Of, and 1t was never put In
to circulation. The whole lot, Just as 1t
came from the stamping presses was
dumped into an Iron chest and put on
board merchantmen bound for China.
It was directed to the captain OF q
United States frigate then In Oriental
waters, and was intended to be used IN
paying certain expenses connected with
the service. The merchantmen ran In
to Chinese typhoon and went to the
bottom, where to the best Of my infor-
nation she still remains, iron chest and
all, and that Is the reason your Uncle
Sam is the only collector In the world
who has a complete set of American
dollars. Every other collection, includ-
Ing my own. Is short one Issue, and the
gap will never be filled until the sea
gives up Its own.
do you mean to tell US, then?' said
a listener to the foregoing, that all the
Diamond Dollars now in private cab
inets are counterfeits?" by no means,
replied the collector. Il own an 1904
dollar myself, and there are at least
three others to my knowledge In the
south They were Issued by the gov
eminent. and are perfectly good and
legal coins, but they are not originals
They are what are known technically as
'restrikes.' In the early days, when
the mInts had few coins left over
from one year to another, they would
change the date by striking them with
special die, an operation that can al
ways be detected by an expert. For
some reason or other, nobody knows the
reason why, a few dollars OF the $500
Issue were restruck In 1904 and put In
circulation. 1t Is probable that the to-
tai number was not over forty or tltty,
and a good many have been lost. The
ones In existence are worth $3.50 apiece.
and you may rest assured that all the
Diamond Dollars not mere limitations
belong to this little lot Of 'FestFikes.'
OF course, some OF them have been
sold to green collectors as originals, aud
was myself the innocent cause OF
such a transaction only few years
ago. A friend of mine who lives in an
adjoining state. and who owns u great
many rare and beautiful coins tele-
graphed me one day asking whether
$500 was too much for a genuine 1904
dollar l took II for granted that he
l.rcw the facts about the issue, and af-
ter puzZling over the message for con-
siderable time concluded that II was an
obscure Joke Of some kind, and that
was simply too stupid to see the point.
So wired hack advising him to buy
bushel nj that figure. and he promptly
closed the deal. II turned out after
ward that the coin was a restrlkc. and
ny friend has never forgiven me.
What deceived him was the fact that
the piece was known positively to have
been locked up in an old chest at Sa-
yannah since 1872. That did away with
the counterfeit theory, and the only
thing he was doubtful about was the
price"