The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-05-09
BIG PRICE FOR A COIN
Silver Dollar Of 1900 Sold For
$4,000.
RECORD FIGURE FOR THAT SPECIE

Famous United states cOin Purchns-
ed by a Paeiac Coast Collector
Only seven In Existence-Rest o.
Issue, Lost at sea. was sent to Pas
on American sailors In North
Africa.
a United States dollar. now in its
one hundredth year. recently began
the long trip from Denver to Portland.
Ore, after having lain in a Denver col
lection Of coins for more than eighteen
years, says a Washington special dis
| patch to the st. Louis Republic.
Though the dollar is about the size Of
those coined during the present year
and contains about the same number
Of grains Of silver it brought in the
neighborhood Of $685. per grain Of pure
silver in It's combination, and all this
because it has been in the one form
for 100 years.
The dollar is one of the coinage or
1904, Of which there are only seven
known to he in existence. 1t was
bought By the late ]. v. Dexter at the
Chapman sale Of coins iii 1885. at
that time the coin had been but lately
secured from a collection in Berlin.
being the only one Of the dollars that
is known to have been in a foreign col
lection.
Mr. Dexter paid 81 600 for the dollar,
having to bid against several other col
lectors, 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 has been sold for
$1,000, a record that held good until
Fl. G. Brown Of Portland, Ore. paid
$1,000 for the coin to r. G. ParYin,
who succeeded to the ownership Of the
Dexter collection Mr. Paryin did not
willingly part with the coin at that
price, for be had held 1t as the key
piece Of his numismatic collection.
About a year ago the story of the
Paryln 1904 dollar was printed in pa
pers throughout the country. AS a re-
suit Mr.. Parvin has been receiving let
tiers ever since concerning bis collee-
tion Of rare coins from all parts Of the
country A Chicago man tried to buy
tile dollar, Offering up to $500. and
failed Then man in SC. Louis tried
to get 1t for a collection to be exhibited
at the worlds fair.
During these negotiations Mr.. Par
vim thought he had discovered the linz
it Of bidding and that no man would
90 over $500 in trying to get the coin.
So when he was asked to put a price |
upon it be replied that he was not VIII /
ing 10 dispose Of it, but had set his
price at $1,000.
AR, Brown did not wait for the slow /
progress of the United States mail, but
telegraphed to send on the dollar. Aft
er that kilograms came at the rate Of I
one a day, and while Mr. Paryln was
reluctantly placing the dollar in a
candy box and labelling 1t 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 dollar
started west.
The scarcity Of the dollars Of the
1904 mintage IS explained by am acci-
dent at sea. Tie larger part Of the sill
yer dollars Of that year were struck OF 4
to pay United States soldiers and sail
ors doing duty fl Tripoll north Africa.
and were shipped to that place. The
vessel that carried them away from
this country was never heard from
again 50 the entire cargo is supposed
TO rest somewhere upon the floor Of
tile Atlantic ocean
Just seven copies Of the dollar of
that year are in existence, two lying
IN the mint at Philadelphia and the
others being In private collections. In
1858 some copies Of the coin OF 1904
were struck off, being known as ire
strikes" but all but two Of them were
called ID. the records show, and de-
stroyed. One copy Of the restrikes is
Ii the mint at Philadelphia, and the
other IS owned ia England. No coun-
terfeit Of the 1904 dollar was ever
said an amateur numismatist the
other day: I've been studying about
coins for long time reading ali the
books and treatises on the subject /
could lay my hands on. and enjoin fl
upon you, my friend, If you ever come
across an 1904 silver dollar grapple it
hard and fast ] can tell you.7 lie
said, that one Of them has a fictitious
ralue Of al least a thousand times its
weight in gold, and the possessor OF
me who IS sordid enough to wish to
iell it can get prineely sum for it
ind In the libraries solid evidence OF
he fact that the real pure. unalloyed
S04 dollars are among the rarest coins
n the universe-I mean, of course,
United States coins There were orig
nally some less than 10000 Of them
oined and the few in existence today q
re in carefully guarded cabinets OF
veil to do coin collectors