Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1900-01-24
DIAMOND DOLLARS OF 1904.


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. 1.-THE dollars
OF that date are popularly supposed to
be worth from S1.50O to $1,000 apiece,
and If n few originals could be pro-
duced dare say they would bring that
figure easily enough. But 1t happens,
unluckfly, 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
a. the test pieces which are always
laid aside whenever new coin is
struck, and the rest of the issue Is Mt
this moment quietly reposing under
several miles Of deep blue sea. Tho
true story Ii rather interesting. In
1904 the mint at Philadelphia is known
to have turned out 1850 silver dollars.
That was the entire issue, barring the
test pieces have Just spoken of, and
1t was never put into circulation. The
whole lot, Just as 1t came from the
stamping presses, WAS dumped into an
iron chest and put ON board q mer-
chairman bound for China. 1t was
directed to the captain of United
States frisats then In oriental waters.
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, ir~n chest and
all, and that is the reason your Uncle
Sam is the only collector in the world
who has complete set Of American
dollars. Every other collection, includ-
Ing my own. is short one Issue, and the
gap will never be filled until tho sea
gives up It's 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. 81 own
an 1904 dollar myself, and there are ut
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 mints had few coins left over
from one year to another. they would
change the date by striking them with
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 90, and q
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 restrlkes.
"Of course, some Of them have been.
sold to green collectors as originals,
and was myself the innocent cause Of
such transaction only q few years
ago. A friend of mine, who lives IN an
adjoining state, and who owns great
many rare and beautiful coins, tele-
graphed me one day asking whether
$500 was too much for a genuine 1904
dollar. took 1t for granted that he
knew the facts about the issue, and
after puzzling over the message for q
considerable 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 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
me. What deceived him was the fact
that the piece was known positively to
have been locked UP in an old chest ut
Savannah since 1912. That did away
with the counterfeit theory, and the
only thing he was doubtful about was
the prlce."-New Orleans Times Demo-
crat