The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-03
COLLECTIONS OF RARE COINS,
Excitement Caused ny n Newspaper
Msprint-Value of Old Copper
Coins


Coins.
From the New York Evening Post.
Washington Nov. A-"Strange as It
may appear" said a leading numismatic
expert of this city to-day, the best Amer
lean coins for collections come from
abroad. This is because the best-pre-
served coins are those which have been
boarded. Foreign ship captains are very
likely to receive them in the course Of bus
mess, and having difficulty in passing them
IN their native land, are likely to put them
! aside partly as savings and partly as Gu
l. riQsities, Years later when the captain and
| his collateral heirs are dead, they are fish
ed out and get into the hands of dealers
Many years ago besides 1t used to be the
| practice when a child was born to set aside
| a complete set of the smaller coins of that
dale, and frequently they were secured
| fresh from the mint. If they were care
fully kept and have been handed down
a couple of generations, they are likely to
have premium value.
But most of the rare coins now discov-
cred come from the farm. Some men who
live in very rural region far from the
railroad, and who earns his money slowly
and does his own banking, may decide TO
buy new wagon. and gets all his savings
in coin out of the old stocking These go
straightway into the local bank, and the
teller, who has a list of premium coins
pinned up besides his window, takes out
any which are worth more than their face
value. If he let's them go by they are
caught in the city bank, or again at the
sub-treasury. Very few get al far as the
/ United States treasury. During several
years when l was in the treasury never
came across anything which had any spe-
cial value. Employees of the treasury are
engaged In a small way in cola and note
collecting. and are permitted to take good
numismaic specimens and substitute their
value In other coinage.
professional coin dealers, not only in
Washington, but all over the country, are
greatly bothered as a result of typo
graphical error in a newspaper article
which has been going through the ex-
changes. Among other things the article
/ tells of the payment not long ago of 81 900
for IS gold piece of the date of 1922 TheEe
are over three million dollars worth of
| the 1922 gold pieces in circulation, and
| about every man who happened to read
that story has been able to secure a gold
piece which agreed with the description,
and has taken 1t to dealer. Many deal
ers have posted a sign near their doors
reading: Which have youa A IS piece
of 1882 or one of 1922? The price of the
former is So; of the latter 81, 0O0' When a
customer enters in state of evident ex-
element his attraction is called TO the
sign"
In a Washington pawn shop our numis-
matlst recently discovered a gold badge
of the Order of the Cincinnati which bears
the date 1893. How 1t came into the pos
I session of the pawnbroker, whether by
theft or by dire necessity. is not known.
! The gold in 1t is worth about $50, but its
value as a relic is, of course, very much
greater.
| The government secret service fire.
/ quently receives material assistance In de-
/ the collectors and dealers In rare coins
I The premium values paid for these coins
furnish a strong motive for making imi-
/ tation articles, and dealers are obliged to
4 be on the alert all the time. Altering
I dates Is the practice most frequently re-
! sorted to by the operators This Is a
much simpler thing than the manufacture
of>an entirely new coin; in fact, so sim
+ pie that few dealers in the country will
/ accept fine specimens of the more rare
/ coins without careful investigation of
/ their history. This is nota bly, true OF the
1 1904 dollar which commands price in the
I thousands, and of which there are sup
/ posed to be only three or four in exist
/ ence. In altering the date the electroplat-
+ ing process is employed, and an old 1901
/ dollar taken as a basis of operations. The
4 figure one Is removed and then the whole
I is coated with a thin layer Of wax
/ through which figure four is etched
/ When the coin Is put into the plating So
/ luton the silver Is deposited on.y on that
! part from which the wax has been re-
moved The figure a" thus produced is
/ carefully finished off with craving tools
( and the result Is calculated TO deceive the
I elect. About the only way these counter
I feits can be detected is by uncertainty as
I to their history. The man who offers one
I 20 the dealer cannot give a connected and
/ we,l-authenticated account OF the chan
nels through which Il came INTO his pos
session. Usually the coins biography goes
back 10 a tramp or a saloon keeper, but
beyond this point Is vague and misty.
Tho story usually told TO account for the