The Monticellonian., 1899-11-10
FORTUNES FOR PENNIES.
Romance Concerning Some Coinr Thar Were Recently Purchaseu
 at High Prices.

X short time ago q Queen Anne rar thing dated 1if3 was sold at Ghristie's for { 2S los. Ia view Of the fact that the coin had seemingly augmented in value 10 such an enormous extent ii is inter- esting to note that had 1t been invested at rather less than 5a4 per cent. on the day 1t was issued and the interest that accrued had also been invested year by year, the compound interest, plus the original capital, would now equal tie sum the coin has been sold for.
 Early i'll February last q firm of American lawyers offered q reward of S500 (about [ 1o0) for an American dime, or ten-cent piece, whose face value is fiyepenee. The coin, which ac- eidentallv passed into circulation in De cember last, is wanted, and evidently badly wanted, in an important will case Descriptions and illustrations Of the coin appeared in many newspapers.
 This mysterious coin, which has been heard of in several places, but always eeades capture has already had q novel and exciting melodrama founded upon it's history. If it had been invested upon the very day it was struck, and the interest that accrued had also been invested, it's owner would have had te purchase with it some security bearing interest at the rate Of 103 per cent. per annum 10 allow of the principal and accumulated interest to equal the re- ward offered.
 Another valuable American coin is the perfect silver dollar ffaee value about four shillinesl of 1so4, winch would have had to have been invested at IL per cent. on the day il was struck 10 allow of it and the compound inter- est to date to amount to the highest price given for it at coin auction namely, { e260. The cause of it's pop ularity among collectors lies in the fact that only t3 fac-simiIes exist and each has q record of ownership.
 This national hunt for q particular coin recalls q similar search upon q l large scale in France the coin in ques ton being tive-frane piece. The le gend that was the foundation of so much assiduous search ayers that Ma poleon Bonaparte, finding that par tieular issue of fiye-frane pieces was hanging fire, let the report be freely circulated that he had caused an as signment of lDa.000 francs E8,00g) to be concealed in one of the new coins and had aftelward had the coin remint- ed in order to make it exactly resemble its fellows before it was issned to the public.
 As the search necessitated the split ting open of the coin and as the value of the coin when split was but the mar l ket value of its weight in silver the pursuit of the assignment cost the pur- suel considerable sum every time he eNpefimented.
 Of expensive pennies there are large number. \ silver penny Of William the l Gouquefoe's reign sold some time apo for e.32; a stephen aud Matilda penny for z @3; a Matilda Oxford penny for e36, and a golden penny Of the thir- teenth century realized at the famous Mentaen sale no less than E250.
 But all these pence sink into insg- niticanee when compared to the famous Lee penny. which suggested Sir Walter Scott's "Falisman.' This emblem, con sisting of d transparent blood-red col- ored stone of trefoil shape, set in an ancient silver coin. supposed to be shilling of Edward Is time, is an heir loom of the Lockhart family and Was obtained by q former member of the family from captive Saracen chief as 1 part of his ransom.
 It is supposed to possess certain mag ical properties and at the time of the cattle plague at Neweastle-on-Tyne in the reign of Charles II. it was lent to that city. a guarantee of 6,00o being given for its return.
 Perhaps. however, the most expensive coin ever sold was the first of the souvenir silver half dollars coined in 1899 at the Philadelphia mint. at the time of the Columbian exhibition, for which before t WIS struck I great type- writer manufacturing company bid e2,000. This at the time was said 10 be "the highest price eyer paid for any coin modern CT antique. .'-London Mail