The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-07-07
SILVER DOLLAR BRINGS $1,000.
Ninety -nine-Year-O Old Coin Joins the, Col
lection ct Seven.


A United States dollar, now in its
ninety ninth year. yesterday began the
long trip from Denver to Portland,
Ore. after having lain i'll a Denver
collection OF coins for more than
eighteen years. Though the dollar is
about the size Of those coined during
tie present year, and contains about
the same number Of grains Of silver,
il brought in the neighborhood of about
SD per grain Of pure silver in its COM
hination. and all this because it has
been in the, one formorfor nearly 100
years
% The Denver Republican says the dol
lar is one Of the coinage Of 1904. OF
which there are only seven known to
be in existence. It was bought by the
late J.FT.sDexiers;at the, Chapman sale
of coins in 1885. At that time the coin
mad but lately tecn secured from
collection in Berlin, being the only one
OF the dollars that is known to have
been in foreign collection. Mr.. DeN-
ter paid $1,000 for the dollar Eaving to
lid against several other collectors, the
price being at that time the largest that
had ever been paid for one of the coin:
age named. . Since then one of the
other coins had been sold for $1,000, a
record that held good until yesterday,
when G. II. Brown. of Portland. Ore,
paid $1,000 for the coin to r. G. Parvin,
who succeeded to tie ownership OF the
Dexter collection. Mr. Parvin did not
willingly part with the scoin at that
price, for he has held it as the kcy
piece of his numisnaic collection. s.
About year ago The Republican
printed the story of the Parvin 1904
dollar. and it was copied. extensively
throughout the country. AS a result
Mr.. ParVin has been receiving letters
ever since concerning his collection Of
rare coins from ill parts of the coll1l-
try. A Chicago man tried to buy the
dollar, offering up to $500, and failed.
Then a man in ST. Louis tried to secure
it for a collection to be exhibited at
the Worlds Fair. During these nego-
tiations Mr.. zParvin thought that he
had discovered the limit of bidding,
and that no Man would go oyer. S1oO0
in trying; to get the coin. SO when he
was asked by Mr.. Brown to put
price upon it he replied THAT he was not
willing to dispose of it. but had set his
price at $4,000. Mr.. Brown did not wait
for the slow progress of the United
States mail, but telegraphed to send on
the old dollar. Since then kilograms
have been coming at the rate of one
day. Yesterday, while Mr.. Parvin was
reluctantly packing the dollar in
candy box and labelling it there came
another telegram to hurry up the dol
lar anyway, and to send it c. O. D.
if there was no other way. So the dol
lar started west.
The scarcity of dollars of the 1904
vintage issexplained by an accident at
sea. e~Theslarger part Of the silver dol;
lars of that year were struck off to
pay United States soldiers and sailors
doing duty in 1'ripoli. North Africa.
and were shipped to that place. The
vessel that carried them away from
this country was never heard from
again, so the entire cargo is supposed
to rest somewhere upon the floor of the
Atlantic Ocean. Just seven copies OF
the dollarsof that year are in existence,
two lying"in the mint at Philadelphia
and the others being private collections.
In 1858 some copies of the coin Of 1904
were struck off, being known as "re-
strikes" but all but two of them were
called in, the record show, and de-
stroyed. One copy of the "restrike" is
in the mint at Philadelphia and the
other is owned in England. No coun-
terfeit o.. the 1904 dollar was ever
known.