Q. David Bowers
3. Davis Specimen, EF Cleaned
• U.S. Mint. (struck c. 1858, edge lettered in the mid- 1870s)
• Capt. John W. Haseltine. Sold to the following on October 23, 1877, for $500; guaranteed to be genuine. (1875-1877)
• Robert Coulton Davis, Philadelphia druggist and collector of patterns, regular issues, and other coins. Davis obtained a letter dated September 17, 1878, from William E. DuBois, curator of the Mint Cabinet, stating in part: "I have no doubt that his dollar is one of the original issue-and not a 'restrike' from Mint dies." Sold it back to the following for $1,050.00 in 1883. (1877-1883)
• Capt. John W. Haseltine. Sold it to the following for $1,200.00. (1883)
• George M. Klein, Vicksburg, Mississippi. (1883-1888)
• W. Elliot Woodward's sale of the Vicksburg Collection (Woodward's 95th sale), Part I (Klein Collection), May 21-25, 1888, Lot 1940, $660.00. "Extremely Fine, the finest original [sic] dollar of this date ever offered at auction; struck on a lustrous planchet as occasionally met with in the coinage of the years 1795-1803, entirely different in appearance from the brilliant Proof restrikes of which several specimens have within a few years made their appearance in the market." (1888)
• J. Colvin Randall, purchaser at the above sale as agent for Robert Coulton Davis, who had owned the coin earlier. (1888)
• Robert Coulton Davis. (1888)
• Robert Coulton Davis estate (1888-1890)
• Capt. John W. Haseltine, who sold it to the following for $850.00. (1890)
• John M. Hale, Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. (1890-1897) ·John M. Hale family; R.H. Hull (1897-1950)
• Parke-Bernet Galleries' sale of the Hull Collection, May 11, 1950, Lot 221, $3,400.00. Sold to the following .
• Mrs. Fullerton, daughter of Henry P. Graves, as agent at the sale for her father. (1950)
• Henry P. Graves. (1950-1952)
• Henry P. Graves estate. (1952-1954)
• Stack's Davis-Graves Sale, April 8-10, 1954, Lot 1333, $8,000.00. (1954). Sold to the following.
• Ben H. Koenig, New York numismatist. (1954-1960)
• Stack's sale of the Fairbanks (Koenig) Collection, December 10, 1960, Lot 576, $28,000.00. Sold to the following. (Underbidder at $27,000.00 was Q. David Bowers bidding for Ambassador R. Henry Norweb.) (1960).
• Samuel Wolfson, Jacksonville, Florida. (1960-1963)
• Stack's Wolfson Collection Sale, May 3,1963, Lot 1394, $36,000.00. Sold to the following. (1963)
• Norton Simon, California entrepreneur. (1963-1971) ·James H.T. McConnell,Jr. (1971 to date)
415.9 grains. Edge lettering doubled and blundered in places. 0 in date aligned with the second T in STATES. EF, cleaned. W.E. DuBois falsely called it "original" in a letter 9/ 17/1878, quoted in Breen's Proof coins and complete Encyclopedias, 1978 and 1989, and there illustrated. Exhibited at 1985 ANA Convention at Julian Leidman's table.
4. Linderman Specimen, Proof-63
• U.S. Mint. (struck C, 1858, edge lettered in the mid- 1870s)
• Mint Director Henry R. Linderman, whose widow claimed he bought it, presumably from a dealer (per commentary of B. Max Mehl in the Ten Eyck catalogue, quoting an affidavit of July 1, 1887, in which the director's widow Emily Linderman said the price had been so high to her late husband as to require installment payments). Probably, Linderman obtained it directly from the Mint, where it is believed to have been struck c. 1858, with the edge lettering applied separately at a later date, after James Ross Snowden's departure in 1861. In a list of 1804 dollars and their owners published in the AmericanJournal of Numismatics, April 1891, John A. Nexsen made this forthright statement: "Dr. Henry R Linderman, of Philadelphia, obtained this dollar from the U.S. Mint, with which institution he was connected from 1853 to 1879.:'
• Linderman estate. (1887-1888), Consigned to the following:
• Lyman H. Low's sale of the Linderinan Collection, June 28, 1887, where the piece is said to have sold for $332.50. "1804 Beautiful sharp Proof; evenly centered, edge lettered." However, Newman and Bressett state that the sale did not take place, and the piece was reoffered, this time by Scott (see below). (1887) , ·J.W. Scott's sale of the Linderman Collection, February 1888, Lot 40, $470.00. Sold to the following. (1888) Scott's catalogue description is given herewith: "Dollar, 1804. A beautiful sharp Proof; evenly centered, edge lettered. The finest known specimen of this valuable coin. This piece has the advantage over the few existing specimens, in being the property of the late director of the Mint, Dr. Linderman, which alone is a guarantee of its being struck in the U.S. Mint; it is from the same dies as that in the Mint Cabinet. The edge lettering on this is distinct; * * *HUNDRED CENTS * * *ONE * * * DOLLAR * * *OR* * * UNIT. The latest impressions are said to have plain edges, and others have muddled inscriptions, but this is of neither sort. At previous sales, inferior specimens have sold 'for $1,000 and $1,200. The perfection of the one now offered should command a large advance on all preceding prices."
• James Ten Eyck, Albany, New York. (1888-1910) ·James Tell Eyck estate. (1910-1922)
• B. Max Mehl's sale of the Ten Eyck Collection, May 2, 1922, Lot 394, $840.00 Sold to the following. (1922)
• Lammot du Pont, Wilmington, Delaware. (1922-1952)
• Willis H. du Pont. Brilliant Proof. Involved in the October 5, 1967 armed robbery of the du Pont coins at the du Pont home in Cocoanut Grove, Florida, during which coins reported to be worth $1.5 million were stolen; this 1804 dollar retrieved March 31, 1982, through the efforts of Tom Delorey, the F.B.I., and others. (See Newman and Bressett, "The Fantastic 1804 Dollar: 25th Anniversary Follow-Up," in Coinage of the Americas Conference, American Numismatic Society, 1987, pp. 170-172, for details concerning the recovery of the coin and the subsequent trial of the person who had it.) Loaned to the following in 1982. (1952-1967, in other hands 1967-1982, recovered 1982 and loaned to date)
• On loan exhibit to the ANA Museum, Colorado Springs. (1982 to date)
413.52 grains. Blundered edge lettering. Proof-63. (Grade per letter from ANA Museum Curator Robert W. Hoge to the author, September 11, 1992.)