Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-05
WORTH OF OLD COINS
Chief Sample Tells of the
Operations Of the Mint.
SOME OF THE BIG PRICES
THE SILVER DOLLAR OF 1904 THE
MOST VALUABLE.
No Effort by the Government to Collect
Rare Pieces-Quotations Of
the Numismatists.
SOME OF THE BIG PRICES

Written for The Evening Star.
Talk about money? The very first men
ton of money in history tells us that 1t was
used for the purchase of a grave. Get
your Bible and read about the old man 60
ing out to buy burial site for his dead
wife. and then study over the sad scene
before the Cave of Machpelah, and / be-
lieve that It will be realized that the coin
OF the realm is of no higher value to a
man than Just the price Of his grave"
The speaker was Mr.. ]. A. Sample. chief
of the division of issue Of the treasury, a
position he has filled for many years, and
who doubtless knows as much about the
value Of money as. any man In the United
States, the numismatists who pay 81, 100 for
a silver dollar Of 1904 not excepted. It Is
Mr.. Samples business to keep posted, and
he loves his work and receives handsome
salary from Uncle Sam to assume general
superintendence over what is termed the
junk shop of the treasury. for to his divl-
sion is sent all the coin after 1t has grown
old and worn and mutilated.
"Coin collectors have put very high
price on many pieces of money" continued
Mr. Sample, land 1t is not often that these
rare pieces reach the redemption division.
We handle a very great deal of old money,
but I am thankful that some of the first
American money is not sent here.
First American Coinage.
1.-THE first coinage for America was that
made in 1912 for the Virginia Company at
the Somers Islands. It was made OF brass,
with hog on one side and 'Somers Island
on the other 1t was called the hog money
on account of the large number of hogs
found on the island. Massachusetts minted
the first colonial money in 16o2-a shilling,
sixpence and three-penny pieces. Before
hn
very mixed one musket balls, tobacco, to-
bacco receipts. corn, beans, codhsh Wam-
pun, shell beads, conch shells, ETC. II we
had some of these to handle our division
would resemble junk shop more than 1t
does now.
Not a Coin Collector.
"Our government is not In the business
of collecting coins. either modern or an
cient. When a piece of our money has
worn out so that it is not fit for circulation
1t can be sent here and the sender will get
good money in return. dollar for dollar, if
it can be identified as an issue of the United
States We are not on the lookout for bar
gains and snaps in the old coin line, as the
government never pays premiums on It's
currency and the amount appropriated by
Congress for buying old coins would not
pay for one-half of an 1904 dollar. Inc
British government spends more tnan $o,ooV
a wear for old coins and the collection In
the British Museum VIII HuHlpel ioi g tioii
256OOO pieces. 1 don't know that the United
States will ever have such collection. but
there are some very large and valuable col
lections owned by citizens OF the United
States. That some of these coins are coun-
terfeit there can be but little doubt. From
the earliest dates Of coins men have been
found to initiate them for purposes of gain.
1t is peculiar fact. too. that in some in
stances the counterfeit is worth more than
the genuine. More than half a century ago
the government of Haiti coined base
money; it regulated the importation of Sill
yer; so that the value of the coin was not
affected, and 1t gave by decree high value
to the base issue. Counterfeiters in this
country made coin Of pure silver, sent 1t to
Haiti and passed it at the rate of the base
coin. The most rare and costly of modern
coins are counterfefted, and not few fine
pieces contained in collections and ranking
high in catalogues manifestly illegally
manufactured coins. In this country the
art of manufacturing coins for collectors
is well understood The counterfeit is so
perfect that none but an experienced eye
can detect it.
Silver Coinage to 1905.
"a New York numismatist, am informed,
declares that the 1904 silver dollar was
coined after 1896. and says that the records
of the treasury cannot show that 1t was
coined in 1904. To proper persons our rec
ords are always open. and If man is
sporting man he can place his last red--an
1904 dollar or any other dollar-on the fact
that the published reports of the mint and
treasury are absolutely correct. There is
no reason why they should not be. That is
what we are here for. There was a con-
tinuous coinage of silver dollars from 1893
to 1905, inclusive. Between the latter year
and 1896 none were coined. but in 1896 there
was coinage of an even one thousand sill
yer dollars. There was no issue in either