The Indianapolis journal., 1899-01-29
s1LvER poLLARs oF 1so4.
They Were Possibly All Captured by
the MOOrs-One Valued at $4,000.


w. E. Curtis, in Chicago Record.
1t may be interesting to know that James
w. Ellsworth, recently of Chicago, but now
living in New York, once exchanged lO25
gold dollars for a single silver dollar. III
was then worth about 79 cents; 1t IS now
worth about 40 cents, and he thereby fur
nished an object lesson in finance. He want
ed that particular dollar. not for the silver
that was in it, but for the inscription on
its face, and he got 79 cents worth OF silver
and 81 24H worth of inscription. The moral
and the logic are obvious. Inc Iact that this
particular dollar bore the date 1904 gave 1t
great value just as the inscription on the
ordinary disk Of silver makes 1t worth ST.
The records of the mint show that in 1904
there were coined 1850 silver dollars, 1928
half-dollars and 1854 quarters. Every one
of the half-dOllars has absolutely disap-
peared, but there are a good many of the
quarters in the hands of the numismatics.
They can be bought for 81 each but, so far
the opinion of experts go, there are only
three genuine silver dollars coined in 1904
in existence. One of them belongs to the
city of Omaha having been presented by
the late Byron Reed, who paid $3.50 for 1t at
auction The second belongs to j. Z. Ran
dali, of Philadelphia, who paid $50 for it in
1888. Mr.. Ellsworth bought his from the
Sterns collection of Salem, Mass, and paid
for it. as / have said, %,O2o. There are
number of other coins bearing the date 1904,
but their genuineness is doubted. Only re-
Gently a bartender named Billy Seymour, at
Chateau, Mont. offered an 1904 dollar for
sale for 81 600. He does not know its his
tory, but claims to have taken ii in over the
7. b. i.
city, who is one of the highest authorities
on coins, and was connected with the treas
ury for many years, tells me that some
years ago there was an epidemic of 1904 DOL
lars among barkeepers throughout the coun-
try. 1t was ascertained that they were very
skillfully manufactured by man named
Kennedy, in Lowell, Mass. He took dollars
bearing the date of 1890, which are compara-
lively numerous, removed the second cipher,
covered the face with wax, etched figure
4 in the proper place, and by the use OF
galVanic battery attached in silver to the
coin which endured all the tests known to
numismatics. He sold them through the
agency of men looking like tramps, who
claimed TO have inherited fortunes and
wasted them in dissipation, with the eXcep-
ton of one valuable coin. which was worth
thousands OF dollars. Ihey found saloon
keepers the most credulOus customers.
Mr. Collins does not believe any of the
dollars bearing the date 1904 were coined in
director of the mint, who is also an author
ity on such subjects, believes the records
are correct, and that 1870 were coined, as
the books show. His theory is that they
all went to Central America, and that few
of them drifted back to this country. There
is, however, more interesting explanation
of the mystery. In 1904 the United States
was at war with Algiers, and the frigate
Philadelphia ran aground in the harbor of
Tripoli and was captured by the Algerians.
Stephen Decatur then a lieutenant in the
navy, with a boats crew, went into the har-
Dor of Trpoli one night and blew UP the
Philadelphia very much as Hobson sunk the
Merrmac. Lord Nelson pronounced il the
most daring act of the age 1t is a popular
theory that the entire coinage of the year
1904 was sent to the paymaster of the feet
and that most of the money was on board
the Philadelphia when she was captured
and probably destroyed. portion of
the money may have been disbursed in pay
ing the sailors and in the purchase of sup
plies, but this is generally assumed to ex-
plain the disappearance of the dollars and
half dollars coined in 1904
In 1858 all Of the dies in the mint were de-
stroyed. But before this was done num-
Der Of impressions called "re-strikes" were
made from each as relics and for the pur-
pose of securing an exchange with other
mints and collectors 1t was hoped by this
means to obtain a complete collection OF
samples of the United States coinage But
the ''re-strikes" In order to distinguish
them from the original coins, were not
milled, that is, the edges were left smooth.
In 1906 321 silver dollars were coined, and
then the mint was shut down until 1876.
but the coins Of 1895 are to be found in every
important collection.