Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-10
VALUABLE OLD COINS
NUMISMATIC DISCOURSE BY AN
AMATEUR IN THE SCIENCE.
The Dollar of 1SO4-Coins Now Only
Seen Under a Glass
Roof

| What particular fad are you indulginS
now?' asked Star reporter of an old ac-
quaintarfce who always seems to have a
sufficient allowance of leisure at his dis
posal to follow up dreams that have little
or chance of future realization.
Well was the good-natured response,
| Il am taking much delight now in a study
of the beautiful science of numismatics. 1
am longing for something that have about
| as much chance of obtaining as the little
boy who cried for the moon had of acquir-
ing that nocturnal luminary, and that is a
cabinet of ancient coins and medals
and then breaking off at a tangent he re-
marked: You haven't such a thing as a
silver dollar of the coinage of 1904 about
you. have your?
TIE reporter informed his friends that he
was not only out of coins of that particular
date. but of all other coins. why 90 you
want a dollar of that perod?' he queried.
| Il can easily see" said his friend, that
your knowledge of numiSmatlcS Is at q very
| low ebb Now l. though lack possession
of a collection. can justly assume to be an
| amateur in the science. I've been studying
it for long time. reading all the books ana
| treaties on the subject l can lay my hanoS
| on. and enjoin it upon you my 1rlena IL
| ever YOU come across an 1904 silver dollar
| grapple 1t hard and fast. l can tell you
| he said that one of them has hcutlous
| value of at least thousand Times il9
| weight in gold and the poSSeSSor OIL one WHO
is sordid enough to wish to Sell IL can get
| a prfncely sum for it if it's genuine cana
there have been counterfeits made OF TINS
precious dolar). l find in the libraries soiio
| evidence of the fact that the real pure UNI
alleged 1904 dollars are among the raresl
coins in the universe. l mean OF coulSe,
| United States coins. There were orlsinaily
somewhat less than twenty thouSaiio VI
| them coined and the few in existence To-Day
are in carefully guarded cabinets OF Wen
| to-dO coin collectors. 1t requires We'Ith ~
acquire a coin and medal CABINET. Inat
| why ! am without one. All countries HaNe
them in their national museums. put tnat
is rather poor satisfaction for the ndlVlo-
ual.
Watch for Old Pennies.
| Now. here's another thing, SAID the
amateur deliver into numismatics' II you
ever get any old pennies in change "heh
YOU buy your cheese and crackers from
| the green grocer's shop on the corner scfu-
| tinize those old cents with an eagle eye:
| They may be angels in disguise. Some OF
| those old pennies are very valuable KNOW
a farmer who has place IN Maryland hot
| far from the Chesapeake bay. who not long
! ago, while blowing in one OF his lleIdS, uil-
| earthed an old English copper coin OF the
| revolutionary period. His theory was that
| it was dropped there by some soldier WheI
| the English were overrunning that part OF
the country This farmer, however, had no
soul for the antique. He put the coin IN his
| pocket and, acting upon the ADVICE VI
| friend the next time he went to Baltimore
| to arrange for a sale of his tobacco crop
| he sold the coin for somewhere in the
neighborhood of $. would have given
| him fifty for tiff l had possessed that
| amount of wealth'-the amateur added
| somewhat mournfully. .i-.-- =
Just think what grand thing II would
be If you could come into possession OF a
| collection of the coins issued by the Ameri-
| can colonies, the silver and copper pence
and half pence. before the revolution 1t
isn't difficult to get a glimpse of them in
any Well-regulated museum. The old pine
tree shilling of Massachusetts and the six
pence and three-penny coin are very rare
in private cabinets. Let any person pro-
duce one of them and thoroughbred nu-
mismatist would go great lengths to get it.
The manufacture of a great many New
| England coins antedate the seventeenth
| century. A shilling of those days minted in
Hulrs minting house, Pembroke square
| Boston, would bring today at least a hun
dred dollars, but where is the person who
carries one for pocket piece? l have
seen many of these colonial coins locked
up under glass roofs" said the student of
numismatics. and some of them are most
assuredly quaint-looking specimens Of
money. New York, when it was called
New Amsterdam, had her pine tree shil-
| Massa chusetts had a lovely penny, the
diverse side of which was a noble looking
aborigine, bow in one hand and arrows in
the other. and on the reverse peculiar
of arrows in the right claw and an olive
| branch in the other. On the diverse face
there were also q star and the word Com
| monwealth.' / think 1t Is a prettier coin
than any penny in circulation today.
The Lord Baltimore Shilling
| Maryland and Virginia were not behind
| in their coinage. In the former the Lord
Baltimore shilling. sixpence, grost and penny
were unique productions. Virginia coinage
| of those days, as gather from the books"
he continued. was mainly of English origin
| and coined in the old country for Virginia.
| The Gloucester token was one of these.
| and multitude of half-pennies were COIN
ed. The old California gold slug. though
| not so rare Is a curio of coinage 1t is not
| a lawfully authorized coin. but bears the
| United States stamp indicating it's degree of
| fineness. AS a matter of course there are
| numerous dimes. half dimes. quarters and
| half-dollars in silver that have more than
| their face value l know lady in this city
| who has half-dollar coined in 1890 that
| for some reason or other she places a high
| value upon and intends to leave as a legacy
to her grandchild in the hope that when it
| Uhe grandchild not the 50-cent piece be-
| comes of age the coin will rank high in the
numismatic scale.
| well" said the gentleman after this dis
| sertation II believe have put in nutshell
| most all have gathered about the value
OF the old American coins. Sorry, though
you haven't one OF those old 1904 silver
! dollars