The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1906-07-17


coin experts found that there were so
many different dies made for the cent
in 1874, 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 1898 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 1893 cent, and each has marked
differences from the coins of the previ-
Gus year.
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
a single attempt to counterfeit this IA
nous coin, but 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 179S The silver dollars of
1893, 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 trifiing differences that make
the variety and the year of issue as
clear as daylight
I'm 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 into
4. 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 man came into
my place from the far west. Out Of a
cnahois 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 were very valuable and had
bought them at 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 $75 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 a prairie schooner, came to a
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 across in his flatboat 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
he called for it and paid the price of
the ferriage
1.-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 $780, 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 very likely story
and ought to sell any cOin but not here
in the east They were both very fine
eye, but they were both limitations and
not worth any more than the metal Of
which they were made except as Curl
osities.
"The 1904 dollar was one altered
from 1901 which a glance at the re-
verse showed, although the substituted
4 would have given the thing away.
for this last figure was raised very per
ceptibly higher than the $780,
''As for the 1853 half dollar, it bore
no arrow points on either side of the
date, for the very simple reason that
they had been rubbed away. The work
had been done very cleverly and thor
oughly One would hardly suspect that
1t had ever borne arrow heads fol-
there was no indication left to show
forgotten to rub away the rays behind
the eagle on the reverse of the coin.
"There We're two varieties of half
dollars made in 1853. One, the COM
mon variety, had arrow points on eli
Their side of the date, while on the re-
verse rays shot out in all directions at
the back of the eagle The other va
rlety, which is the valuable one, had
oeither rays nor arrows.
Attempts have been made to imi-
tate the cent of 1915. No cents were
issued in that year, and yet 1 have
seen a dozen specimens bearing the
date.
Now the latter day imitators have
taken up the task of adding mint let
tiers to certain coins to make them re-
semble rare varieties. The accumula-
ton of coins bearing these mint marks
Is taking a good deal of the attention
of collectors nowadays, and the imi-
tators think they have an easy field,
but their time is simply wasted, for
their productions meet with no better
success than the imitation Of the earlier
coins and can be singled out In a mo
ment
'The coin most often initiated Ia the
half dollar of 1888, made at New Or
leans. There were only twenty Of
these coined, and each one is worth
from $50 to 500. To all appearances
this coin is just the same as many
others issued at other branch mints
during the same year, with the excep-
ton of the tiny % beneath the bust.
From time to time persons have
taken an ordinary half dollar Of this
date and with infinite pains have sup
piled it with this mint letter. In the
majority of cases the work has been
done so skillfully that the letter has