Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-01-09
DOLLAR BRINGS $2, 900.
Min Nine Year Old Coin Joins the
 Collection of Seven.


 AeUnited States dollar. now in it's s9th year, yesterday began the long trip from Denver to Portland, Ore. after having lain in Denver collec- t1on or coins for more than IS years. Though the dollar is about the size or those coined during the present year. and contains about the same number of grains of silver, it brought m the nelghborhood of about $5.35 per grain of pure silver in It's combination and all this because it has been in the one form for nearly 100 years.
 The dollar is one of tho coinage of 1904, of which there are only seven known to be i'll existence. It was bought by the late J. V. Dexter at tue Chapman sale of coins in 1885. At that time the coin had been lately secur- ed rom collection in Berlin, being the only one of the dollars that is known to have been in foreign col lection MT. Dexter paid $1,OO0 for the dollar having to bid against sev- eral other large collectors, the price being at that time the largest that had ever been paid for one of the coinage named. Since then one of the other coins had been sold for $1, 200, a record that held good until yesterday, when Fl. G. Brown of Portland, Ore, paid S2,OO0 for the coin to R. G. Parvin who succeeded to the ownership of the Dexter collection. Mir. Parvin did not willingly part with the coin at that price, for he has held it as the key piece of his numismatic collection. About a year ago the Republican printed the story of the Paryin 1904 dollar, and it was. copied extensively throughout the country. As result ! MT Parvin has been receiving letters ever since concerning his collection or rare coins from all parts of the coun- try. A Chicago man tried to buy the dollar, offering up to $1.5OO, and failed. Tben man ill St Louis tried to secure 1t for a collection to be exhibited at the worlds fair. During these nego- tiations MT Parvin thought he had dls- 1 covered the limit of bidding, and that no man would go over $1,5OO Tn trying to get the coin. So when he was askeu by MT Brown to put a price upon it he replied that he was not willing to dispose of it, but had set his price at $2OOO. Mir Brown did not wait for the slow progress of the United States mall but telegraphed to send on the old dol- lar. Since then telegrams have been coming at the rate of one a day. 1es- terday. while MT Parvin was reluctant Iy placing the dollar in candy po1 and labelling it, there came another telegram to hurry up the dollar any way and to send it 0. O. D. if there was no other way. So the dollar starf- ed west. The scarcity of dollars of the lso4 vintage is explained by an accident at sea. The larger part of the silver dol- lars of that year were struck off to pay United States soldiers and sailors dolng duty in rripoli, 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 some where upon the floor of the Atlantic ocean. Just seven copies of the dollar of that year are in existence. two iy- ine in the mint at Philadelphia and the others being ill private collections. In 1858 some copies of the coin Of lsV4 were struck off, being known as re strikes" but all but two of them were called in, the records show, and de. stroyed. One copy of the 'Test1ke is In the mint at Philadelphia and the other is owned in England. No coun- terfeit of the 1904 dollar was ever known.-Denver Republican.