The St. Louis Republic., 1904-05-01
DOLLAR Of 1904
SELLS FOR $4,000
Famous United States Coin Is
Purchased by a Pacific Coast
Collector.
ONLY SEVEN IN EXISTENCE.
Rest Of Issue, Lost at Sea, Were
Sent to Pay Of American
Sailors in North
Africa
REPUBLIC RR-Ar,


WASHINGTON. April so-A United States
! coiirr. Eow n It's c1e hundredth year. re-
/ eert,y began the long trip from Denver to
Portland. Ore, after having lain In Den
yer collection ot coins .or more than eight
!. cen years. Though the dollar Is about the
. sizo "f those cc.s.eI during the present
year and contains about the same number
o. grains OF silver. II brought In the
neishhorhood OF SIS per grain o. pure
silver IN its combination. and al this be-
cause I: has been In the one form for 10
Years
The dollar 10 one OF the coinage Of 800
o: which there are only seven known 70
be IN existence. II was bought Sy the late
J. V Dexter al the Chairman sale OF coins
fn l25- At that time the ccin had been
but lately secured from q collection IN
Berlin. being the only ere OF the dollars
That is known 10 have been n foreign
collection
Mr., Dexter paid 1900 for the dollar
having &c bid against several ether COL
iectors- the price being al that time the
largest that had ever been paid for one
OF the coinage named Since then one Of
che other coins has sesn sold for s1-2lo q
record that held good until n. G. Brown
OF Portland Ore. oaid y 90 for the coin
10 Il u tarNln. VINO SUCCeSCSG 10 the
ownership OF the Dexter collection. NJ
Parvin did not willingly part with the
coin al that uTfce. for he had held IL
as the keyolece Of his nuaisn.sttc coIlec-
ton
About wear ago the story OF the Par
win 1904 dollars was printed in papers
throuEhout The country. As result M
Paryin has been receiving letters ever
since concerning his collection Of rare
coins from all parts Of the country. A
Chicago man tried 10 buy the dollar Of
sy- nd
man in St Louis tried to get It for COL
Ffi-,
During these negotiations Mr.. Parvin
thought he had discovered the limit OF
bidding ard that no man would 20 over
s1-soo in trying 10 get the coin Sc. when
replied that ne vas not willing 20 dispose
Of II. but had set his pr-ce at 5. 90.
BROWN TELEGRAPHED.
Mf. Brown did not wait for the slow
progress Of the United States mali. but
teiesraphed 10 send on the dollar After
that kilograms came II the rate OF one a
day. and. while Mr.. Parvin was reluctant
iy placing the dollar In q candy box and
labelling #. there came another telegram
send II &C. o D." II there was no other
way. So the dollar started West
The scarcity Of the dollars OF the 1905
vintage is Exp aimed by sn accident at sea:
thai year were struck OF to pay Uni.e1 ]
States soldiers and sailors doing duty IN
TripoH. North Africa. and were shipped
TO that place The vessel that carried them
away from this country was n=ver heard
from again. 50 the entire cargo Is sup
posed to rest somewhere upon the door OF
the Atlantic Ocean
Just seven copies OF the dollar Of that
year are In existence, two lying II the
mint at Philadelphia. and the hers being
In private col -ections. II lsss some copies
of the coin OF 1904 were struck Of being
known as restrikes" but all but TWO OF
them were called In. the records show.
and destroyed One copy OF the 'restrike"
Is In the mint at Philadelphia and the
othe- Is owned IN England No counterfeit
Of the 1904 dollar was ever known
Said an amateur numismatist the other
day. I've besn studying about coins for q
long tine re n ~ = t1z h0atz sni IRA
sses on the subject could lay my hands
on, and enioin il upon 20 my friend. II
you ever come scroSs an 1904 silver dollar,
grapple II hard and fas. can tell you"
he said that ore Of them has fictitious
value OF st least a thousand times its
weight IN gold and the possessor Of one
who Is sordid enoush to with TO sell II can
get a priacely sum for IL | fnd In the
libraries solid evidence OF the fact that
The real pure, unaloyed lsA dollars are
among the rarest coins IN the universal
mean, OF course. United States coins
There were originally some less than n
eae OF them coined. ard the few In exiss-
cree to-day ore in carefully guardod cab
inets OF weli-tO-do coin collectors.