The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-08-08
RARE COINS FORGED
THE COUNTERFEIT PIECES DO NOT
FOOL THE EXPERTS.

Rare United States coins can't be
cOunterfeited SO as to pass muster,
said an old coin dealer emphatically
There is no more chance of die max
ers being able to make an exact coun-
terpart of a coin than there is to imi-
tate successfully the impression Of a
mans thumb.
That there are limitations is true
enough, but they are clumsy. Most OF
them are simple alterations OF date.
They can be told at a glance by signs
as unfailing as the sun.
while the coins Of a series of years
may seem at first glance to be all OF
one exact pattern, yet close observa-
ton will reveal distinct differences.
No better illustration of this can be
shown than the rare cent pieces of
1894.
.Fifty-siX distinct varieties of cents
were issued in that year, and all OF
them closely resembled one another.
Careful study enables experts to tell
them apart 1t was in this way that
coin experts found that there were SO
many different dies made for the cent
i'm 1894. for the mint records make no
mention of the fact
1.-The favorite coin with those who al
ter dates is the rare 1899 cent, which
is worth $500 and more if in uncircu-
lated condition. The 1893 cent Is the
issue that most closely resembles this
cent and this is the coin that is used
for alteration. No collector should be
taken in by one of these altered speci-
mems, for there were only two varieties
of the 1899 cent, and each has marked
differences from the coins of the previ-
Gus year.
1.-The 1904 dollar is another fine ex-
ample. That is the rarest American
coin. You would naturally suppose
that there would be many attempts to
counterfeit this dollar, for it is worth
from $1,000 up. There has never been
single attempt to counterfeit this ia
NOUS coin but a number of coins have
been turned out with the date altered.
The design of the 1904 dollar is the
same to all practical purposes as that
of the year preceding it and in fact as
far back as 1913. The silver dollars Of
1913, 1899. 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903 and
1904 are all supposed to be alike, with
the exception of the date, and they do
look as much alike as two peas to the
novice Yet the die makers each year
have left trifing differences that make
the variety and the year of issue as
clear as daylight.
''In almost every case when attempts
have been made to initiate the 1904
date the dollar of 1901 has been used,
a specimen of which is only worth a
couple of dollars. To all appearances
an 1901 dollar is precisely like the 1904
coin, with the trifing difference In
date. and thus the person making the
alterations seems to think he has moth
ing to do but simply change the l into
t. Yet the reverse of the 1901 dollar
bears little variations that show the
year in which it was struck
plausible tales are nearly always
told by persons with such altered coins
to sell Not long ago a man came into
my place from the far west. Out Of a
chamois bag which he carried around
his neck he took two coins carefully
wrapped in tissue paper.
"Tenderly he laid the coins in my
hand. He was not a coin collector, he
said. but had heard that these two
pieces We're very valuable and had
bought them at a low figure.
Zone of the coins was supposed to be
an 1904 dollar and the other the rare
1853 half dollar, without the arrow
points alongside of the date, which
ought to have been worth from SIS to
500. They were certainly beauties,
both of them, and the old man told
their history, which went something
like this:
Back in the early forties a farm
seeker, with his family and all his eff
fects in prairie schooner, came to q
halt at ferry landing on the eastern
side of a river in Kansas. The man
was at the end of his financial re-
sources, and the only thing in the way
OF money he had left was large silver
dollar of 1904.
He persuaded the ferryman to take
his outfit aAoss in his fatboat and left
with him this dollar, which the pioneer
said was a rare one, worth $40 or $12
back in the states, and he made the
ferryman promise to hold the coin until
he called for it and paid the price Of
the ferriage
The owner of the dollar never call
ed After keeping the dollar for many
years the ferryman died, and his son
disposed of it to the present owner,
who had picked it up for the bargain
price of $500. The ferryman's son, who
was a good natured fellow, gave the
buyer as good measure the 1853 half
dollar, which, he said, was also a rare
coin.
Now. that was a very likely story
and ought TO sell any coin, but not here
in the east. They were both very fine
specimens. and they looked good to the
eye. but they We're both limitations and
not worth any more than the metal of
which they were made except as curl
OSitiaS