The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-10-14
DrAMOND DOLLARS or 1884.
Only Fear O4 the Original Coina8e
~ ~ 63O IN Bxlotence.


EVERY now and then one reads about
the discovery OF another Of the famous
diamond dollarI Of lso4' said . gentle
man Of this city. who owns one OF the
finest private collections Of coins and med
ais u the South. The dollars Of that
date are popularity supposed to b worth
81. 500 to s.. 90 apiece. and II few orixi-
nails could be produced dare say they
would bring that figure easily enough But
1t happens. uniuekiiy, that there are only
four on earth. and they are locked up In
the vaults Of the treasury building 1t
Washington. and couldn't be bought at
any price. They are what are known a.
the test pieeeA' which are always laid
aside whenever Z new coin n struck. and
the rest Of the issue II 1t this moment
quietly reposing under several miles OF
deep blue sea. The true story = rather
interesting. In 1904 the mint at Philadei-
psaia Is known to have turned out 1850
silver doiiarA That was the entire issue.
barring the test pieces have spoken Of.
and it was never put into circulation. The
whole lot, just as II came from the stamp
irg presses, was dumped into an iron chest
and put aboard = merchantmen bound for
China. It was directed to the captain Ct
= United States frisate then In Oriental
waters. and was intended to be used In
paying certain expenses connected with
the service The merchantmen ran into q
Chinese typhoon and went to the bottom.
where, to the best OF my information. she
still remains, iron chest and ALL and that
Is the reason your Uncle Sam ID the only
collector in the world who has . complete
set OF American dollars. Every other col
lection, including my own 10 short one IL
sue. and the gap viii never be filled until
the sea gives ur its own"
do you mean to tell us. them" said .
listener to the foregoing. that all the
diamond dollars now in private cabinets
are counterfets?' by no means" re-
piled the collector. II own an 1904 dollar
myself. and there are at least three others
to my knowledge. In the South. They were
issued by the government and are per-
fectiv good and legal coins. but they are
NOT originals. They are what are known
technically as 'restrikee.' In the early
days. when the minis had few coins left
over from one year to another. they would
change the date by striking them with
a special die. an operation that can al
ways be detected by an expert. For some
reason or other. nobody knows Just why.
few dollars OF the 1870 issue were re-
struck In 1904 and put in circulation. It
Is probable that the total number was NOT
over forty or nifty, and good many have
been lost. The ones In existence are worth
$50 apiece and you may rest assured that
all the diamond dollars not mere imita-
tons belong TO this little lot Of restrlkcs.
OF course, some n them have been sold
TO green collectors as originals. and l was
myself the innocent cause Of such a trans
action cniy few years ago. A friend OF
mine who lives In an adjoining state. and
who owns a great many rare and beauti-
f,d coins. telegraphed me one day ask
ing whether 500 was too much for a gen
uine 1874 dollar. took Il for granted that
he knew the facts about the issue and az
ter puzzling over the message for q 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 back advising him to buy busi,el
at that figure. and ne promptly closed the
deal. 1t turned out afterward that the
coin was . res;rike, and my friend has
never quite forgiven me. wha. deceived
him was the fact that the piece was
known positively TO have been locked up
in an old chest ST Savannah since 1914
That did away with the counterfeit the
Dry. and the only thing he was doubtful
about was the price. New Orleans Tmes-
Democrat