Q. David Bowers
Dunn had great chutzpah, and in a letter dated December 10, 1935, to collector H.J. McCloskey, the distributor stated that "I am not in the distributing end of the business to gouge collectors," a honesty which Dunn hoped to confirm by declaring, "In the present case of the new 'D' and 'S' issues, I could have quietly sold to some dealer for enough to retire on for twenty years and no one would have been the wiser. Instead I am personally standing a great expense to return thousands of dollars that I could well accept ... to protect collectors who have been generous to follow along with my issues and realize that I was creating rarities for them with every coin." Further, Dunn made this remarkable suggestion to divert attention from his actions: "If I was the president of the ANA, I would call a meeting extraordinary of the Association for the first week in January to adopt a definite legislative program drafted by the best minds in the Association." (Excerpt from a lengthy letter preserved in the Bowers and Merena Galleries Reference Collection.)
On February 22, 1936, Dunn wrote to McCloskey and stated that "There will be no more 'small' issues; the last one was unintentional." It couldn't have been too "unintentional," as Dunn advertised it publicly in advance! Much of Dunn's correspondence of this period is a tissue of lies.
Thomas G. Melish, a Cincinnati industrialist who was involved in the commemorative market himself and who would soon be the distributor of the 1936 Cincinnati and Cleveland issues, wrote to dealer Walter P. Nichols on January 14, 1936, about the rare Boones:
"I am reliably informed that Mr. C. Frank Dunn of the Phoenix Hotel, Lexington, Ky. will send out Thursday or Friday of this week the D and S mint, 1935 small 1934 Boone commemorative half dollars. Understanding that he is sending only one set to each dealer. I have a number of collections and I am very anxious indeed to secure some additional sets of these two coins .... If you secure a set you will no doubt want to sell it to someone. If you will wire me collect as soon as you receive it the price you are willing to accept for it, I will appreciate it very much indeed. I am counting on you to cooperate with me by wire on these two coins."
Howard E. MacIntosh, manager of the Tatham Stamp & Coin Company, Spring-field, Massachusetts, wrote a letter to Walter P. Nichols on April 11, 1936, which refleeted the increased market value of the rare Boone coins at that time: "We need ready cash immediately and will sacrifice two sets rare 35-34 Sand D Boones for only $140. If you care for only one set our price is $75. This offer is subject to immediate acceptance and prior sale. If interested, we suggest you telegraph your acceptance."
An excerpt from a letter dated August 13, 1936, from L.W. Hoffecker to Walter P. Nichols, gives a view of Dunn's problems:
"Mr. Dunn has quit distributing coins in his name, and everything is in his wife's name now. I expect he thinks he can get around some of the suits this way, but I heard today where a man deposited $ 50.00 in a bank in Lexington, and told them the money was there for a set of coins, and Mrs. Dunn shipped them. I took several of their envelopes! up to Washington with me, showing that Mr. Dunn handled the coins at first, and later on changed it to his wife."
Reaction to the "Small 1934" Situation
A poignant commentary concerning the Boone sets was submitted by Charles M. Prager to The Numismatist, October 1936: "A centennial celebration is, after all, a birthday party. And isn't it queer when a birthday party lasts three years? It would seem to indicate the host is doggone hungry.... If Daniel Boone were alive today, he could learn plenty about trapping." More from Prager: "There is not much danger of commemorative half dollars being counterfeited these days. It's so much simpler to apply to Congress and get out an issue of your own."
Writing in 1938 David M. Bullowa gave a view of the Boone situation of the 1935 Boone coins with "small 1934": "The furore [sic] which resulted from the coinage of these pieces, which every commemorative coin collector and speculator in America was endeavoring to secure, resulted in a vicious attack upon the Commission by those who had not received the coins, and an equally staunch defense by those who had them.
"The result of the agitation was that congressional hearings were held, the abuses of the commemorative coin authorizations were exposed. Following the hearing, larger issues were authorized; the number of pieces which could be secured from the Mint at one time was fixed, and the coinage at more than one mint was stopped, in so far as any new authorizations were concerned. The coinage at several mints has not ceased [Bullowa was writing in 1938], however, for the issues which were authorized some years ago, and these may possibly continue to strike coins for years."
Details of the Boone controversy appeared in letters and articles in The Numismatist throughout the year 1936. In brief, wounded would-be buyers justifiably complained about the inequities of the situation, whereas C. Frank Dunn issued pious pronouncements about how fair he was and continued to be and that he was simply caught in the middle of the distribution of an issue of commemorative coins that had become more popular than he or anyone else had anticipated.
Congressional Testimony
In a Senate hearing involving commemorative coins, held by the Committee on Banking and Currency in Washington, March 11, 1936, the following exchange took place: (From Coinage of Commemorative 50-Cent Pieces, the transcript of the hearing, published in 1936.)
Senator Alva B. Adams (of Colorado): "I think you gave me an instance of coins being sold at a higher price.... "
Mr. Hoffecker (chairman of the Legislative Committee of the American Numismatic Association): "Yes, sir. There is an issue of the 1935 coin with a small 1934 on it. There were 2,000 issued from San Francisco, and 2,000 from Denver. Here is a dealer who is offering that pair of coins, which has only been out since December, for $100. There are bids of $65 a pair for these coins, Mr. Duffield tells me.? The highest offer 1 knew of was $40. There are only 2,000 of them. Those men who handled the issue took money from everybody who sent it in, or 1 should say that man did, and he cashed many checks, and accepted many orders, and found he had more orders than he could fill."