Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1900-02-16
DIAMOND COLLARS OF 1904.
Only Four of the Original Coinage
of 1870 In Existence.


Only Four of the Original Coinage
of 1880 In Existence.
Every now and then one reads about
the discovery Of another Of the famous
diamond dollars of 1904" said gen.
tleman Of this city who owns one OF
the finest private collections of coins
and medals in the south. THE dollars
of that date are popularity supposed to
be worth from $500 to $4,000 apiece.
and if a few originals could be pro-
duced I dare say they would bring that
figure easily enough. But 1t happens,
unluckily, 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 Is at
this moment quietly reposing under
| several miles of deep blue sea- The
| true story is rather interesting. In
| 1904 the mint at Philadelphia is known
| to have turned out 1870 silver dollars.
| That was the entire issue, barring the
test pieces l have just spoken of, and
| it was never put into circulation. Inc
whole lot, just as it came from the
| stamping presses, was dumped into an
| iron chest and put on board a mer-
chairman bound for China. 1t was
directed to the captain Of United
| f,;o in oriental wQfpra-
| and was intended to be used in paying
| certain expenses connected with the
| service. The merchantmen ran into
| Chinese typhoon and went to the bot
tom. where to the best Of my informa-
ton 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 nv own, is short one issue, and the
gan will never lie filed until the sea
gives up its own"
do you mean to tell us, then," said
listener to the foregoing, that all
| the diamond dollars now in private
cabinets 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
| government 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 minis had few coins left over
from one year to another, they would
change the date by striking them with
q 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 1900 is
sue were restruck in 1904 and put IN
circulation. 1t is probable that the total
number was not over 40 or so, and a
good many have been lost. The ones In
existence are worth $3.50 apiece, and
you may rest assured that all the 'dia-
mond dollars not mere limitations be-
long to this little lot Of restrfkes.
"Of course, some of them have been
sold to green collectors as originals,
and | was myself the innocent cause OF
such a transaction only a few years
ago. A friend Of mine, who lives In an
| adjoining state, and who owns a great
many rare and beautiful coins, tele-
graphed me one day asking whether
$500 was too much for a genuine 1904
dollar. l took it for granted that he
knew the facts about the issue, and
after puzzling over the message for q
considerable time concluded that it
was an obscure joke of some kind and
that | was simply too stupid to see the
| point SO wired back advising him to
| buy a bushel at that figure, and he
promptly closed the deal. 1t turned out
afterward that the coin was restrike,
and my friend has never quite forgiven
NE. What deceived him was the fact
that the piece was known positively to
have been locked up in an old chest at
Savannah since 1912. That did away
with the counterfeit theory, and the
only thing he was doubtful about was
the price."-New Orleans Times-Demo-
crat.