The Savannah morning news., 1901-04-09
THE COIN EXPERTS TRIALS.
bothered n Good Deal by Pedsons
Who Think They Have Valuable
Pieces.
From the New York Times.

the NEW 1OTk Hines.
Yes" said the coin man, there are
from twenty to sixty people who come in
here every day, some to ask questions
concerning coins they have at home, some
bringing coins with them to sell, and most
of them expecting to realize something
more or less and usually more. That is
the worst of it for 1 don't believe there
is one of the lot who comes in and brings
coins who has not an exaggerated idea
Of their worth, and they never go away
believing a word L have told them. They
never do. They always leave with feel
ing that for some reason or another l am
trying to cheat them and don't want to
give them the full value of the treasure
they have.
There are two coins that give me more
trouble than any others and have caused
more correspondence than probably all
the rest put together These are the quar-
ters of 1853 and the nickels of 1888 People
have got into their heads that those two
coins are valuable, and it is easier to
get such ideas firmly planted than to
remove them. There are two quarters for
1853, the one with the arrow points on
either side of the date and with the rays
back of the eagle on the reverse. That Is
the one that is so often brought to me,
but it is a very common coin and there
are any number of them. There is anoth-
er quarter of that some year without the
rays and without the arrow points which
IL valuable, but not extremely so.
THE nickel of 1888 is worth no more
than it's face value. There were three diff
ferent nickels made that year The old
type was made with the shield and the
two others with heads, and one had thu
word cents on the reverse side below
the "V," and the other had not 1t Is
that one without the cents which people
have an idea is valuable. But they are
all very common, and they always will
be common.
Another fairy tale in which the peo-.
pie are interested is told concerning the
silver dollar of 1875 You may call that
the tail of coin, indeed, for the point
about that dollar which interests the peo
pie is to be found in the tail of the ca
gle. There is very slight difference in
the two coins; in one the tail of the eagle
has seven feathers, and in the other eight.
But both of those dollars are very COM
mon.
THE fractional currency in bills, which
people bring in sometimes is worth some
thing if the bills are new and crisp espe,
cislly the earlier ones. Those with red
backs are good, so are others with the
autograph signatures, and especially the
issues with perforated edges, where they
were made in a sheet and torn off as the
postage stamps are.
"Of the people who come in to bring
odds and ends of coins the greater num-
Der are men, though 1 don't know but l
buy quite as much of women. Everything
has its value and 1 know where there is
a market for all kinds The collectors are
chiefly men, though I have known wo-
men to collect, but they have not had
the most valuable collections There was
one woman in Chicago who had quite a
collection, though she did not care to put
too much money into it:
"A collector is born anyway. They can't
be made. A man must have liking for
it, and then if he is willing to study
and spend some money you have a good
collector Different people may collect
few odd things, but they are not genuine
collectors.
lone fine collection that has been dis
persed now, was worth $40 900, and l could
put my hand on one or two men who
have collections approaching that in vai-
ue, but the greater number will have
coins worth 5000 to 5000. These will be
most of them United States coins. Those
are the coins that bring in the best re-
turns, though a good collector never looks
at his collection from strictly CONNER
cial point of view. There may be few
who collect in that way, but men who
love coins do not.
"A man must not do much in the way
of collecting until he knows what he is
doing. Yes, he has to begin to collect in
a small way for if he does not collect
he will not study, but when he begins to
study, then he knows something, and
warrant that in two years he will have
changed every coin he has in his collec-
ton.
THE copper COMES are relatively-con-
sidering their little intrinsic worth-the
most valuable, and the rare cents are
tnose of the years 1893, 1904, 1893 1909 and
1911, and in that order. There were two
coins made In 1899, one stamped regular
ly with that date and the other with the
nine stamped over the eight. Both are
rare but the one stamped clearly with the
nine is the best The 1893 was the first
issue, but the issue of 1893 seems to have
been soft, and it is more difficult to find
them in a state of good preserva ton.
There is a great deal of imitation of
these as in all other valuable coins, but
1t is not difficult for any one who has
had experience to detect the fraud. 1t is
experience and nothing else that wall
really count 1 am so familiar with the
shape and date of those two mines that l
can tell the difference as quickly as the
ordinary person will tell Washington
from Lafayette. The coins have been
initiated by electrotyping and by alter
ing the dates, but it is always possible
to detect them. ! believe experts to-day
know every operation that has been used
in marking coins up to date. But 1t is
necessary always to look out for every
imitation is done by a different hand, and
there are none of them alike.
THE hghest-priced silver coin is the
dollar of 1888 That will brlng-but no.
don't say how much that will bring, or I
shall be overrun with persons who have
1898 dollars. or think they have. The 1904
dollar is the most valuable II one Is to be
found but there Is some doubt about such
a coin having been coined. The gold coins
are very interesting. and there are many
rare coins among them. The half eagles.
or hve-doar gold pieces OF 1915 and 1922
are very valuable. Gold coins wear quick
~ and depreciate IN value 80 easily that
they are more dinieult 10 obtain.
perhaps n ~ this reason that the col
lection OF gold coins seems 10 be q par.
ticular passion Tor the collector. II Il
quite aside from the intrinsic value OF
the gold. The commercial interest does not
enter into ihe feeling u the collector.
though BE- VIII always make a. good q
bargain ~ possible The coins ~ many
collectors viii SHOW many interesting
pieces boo gold, aud many collectors have
thF SOLD dollar from fha fret one in 1913
io fhe iaHt lp ist9
f"rhs oaHEonai dollars we're fhe work
N private enterprise. They were started