Q. David Bowers
"The changing of the ratio of metals to 16 parts gold to one part silver in value meant that a gold dollar would be worth less than a silver dollar for the next 40 years after 1834. When this happened, no foreign debtor sent silver in payment after 1834. The United States had no productive silver mines. Inevitably this false coinage ratio stopped silver coinage and drained the country of coins already in circulation. The time came when the owner of silver bullion lost three cents on every dollar if he had a coin in the United States Mint and silver coinage ceased.
"Further, currency historians have thought that the law of 1834 immediately drove out the silver coins and placed the country on a de facto gold standard. However, such historians were wrong, and actually the laws of 1834 and 1837 greatly improved the conditions of the silver currency and gave the country the largest supply of fractional money it had ever known. Some unexpected things happened. Instead of silver coins disappearing, forces combined, and the extraordinary coinage of gold meant that large silver pieces such as Spanish dollars, half dollars, and other coins in bank reserves could now be replaced by more convenient gold coins, and silver coins went into circulation. Also, a flow of silver coins and bullion came into the country.
"The long period of revolutionary disturbances in the Latin American countries before 1825 had restricted the output of silver. About 1830 the Mexican mines were revived on a large scale, and Mexican silver flowed into the United States regardless of the unfavorable ratio. Such figures as are available indicate that from 1840 through 1843 the imports of silver coins and bullion actually exceeded the exports by $20 million dollars. Instead of declining in the face of an adverse ratio silver coinage had a remarkable increase. The coinage of silver dollars, resumed now after suspension of 30 years, and half dollars, almost the only tangible result of the Mint's existence at this time was very small."
The Dollars of 1805 (1860)
The Cabinet Collection of the Mint of the United States, by James Ross Snowden, 1860, p. 108, told of the "1805" silver dollars:
"There is much dispute among. numismatists in regard to the coinage of dollars in the year 1805. It is often contended that 321 pieces were struck; and, in fact, the Director's Report of that year is the authority for the statement. In Bullion Journal A, we find the following entry on page 363, under date of June 28, 1805. We give the entry as it stands upon the Journal:-
" 'Silver Coinage ... Dr. to Chief Coiner his account of silver received from him in pursuance of a warrant of the Director No. 349.
"321 Dollars, being found amongst Spanish dollars brought to the Mint.'
"This entry settles the question, that the issue of that number of pieces took place: and also; that they were not dollars of 1805, but of precious dates. "
Deliveries of dollars in 1804 (but consisting of pieces of earlier dates) were as follows: January 7, 1804: 2,500 (+1 for assay) January 19, 1804: 8,000 (+2 for assay); February 1, 1804: 5,500 (+1 for assay); February 11, 1804: 730 (+2 for assay): and March 28, 1804: 2,840 (+1 for assay).
Fantasy Dollars: 1794 Washington, 1804/3, 1805, Etc. Over the years, many fantasies purporting to be new varieties of early dollars, or new specimens of 1804 dollars, have come to light. Most are "1804" dollars made by altering the last digit of an 1803, or other early dollar, to the numeral 4, while others 'are electrotypes of known specimens of struck 1804 dollars. The Mint itself even made electrotypes for collectors. There are, however, other interesting numismatic fantasies.
1794 Washington dollar: In the early 1860s, when collecting Washington numismatica was all the rage;, an, unknown person created a "1794 Washington dollar." The;, obverse depicts the uniformed bust of Washington facing left WASHINGTON PRESIDENT to the left and right, the date 1794 below. , The reverse is a copy of the U'S. Mint silver dollar' of 1794. The initial, appearance, of the 'issue was in W. Elliot Woodward's' McCoy sale, 1864. Appendix C of United States Pattern, Experimental and Trial Pieces, by]. Hewitt Judd, M.D. states that a' silver specimen of this fabrication went to the William Sumner Appleton Collection (later to the Massachusetts Historical Society), and a copper one is presently in a private collection. Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, p. 141, illustrates the variety, and notes that the silver piece is unlocated, and that two copper pieces exist, one in the Norweb Collection and the other man unidentified private holding.
1804/3: In 1938, John F. Jones implied that two specimens of an 1804/3 overdate dollar existed. ("The 1804 U.S. Dollar." Article in The Numismatist, January 1938, p. 16. His commentary follows:,)
"On April 13-14, 1892, Ed, Frossard sold the-collection of A.H. Saltmarsh, Esq., of Haverhill, Mass" which included an 1804 over 1803 dollar. Following the description in Lot 290, he says:
" 'On account of the peculiar mingling of the figures 4 and 3, and also because the obverse die cracked, it is probable that very few specimens of this, dollar were struck ,at the Mint; at any rate, but two are known at the present time. This one, which for 20 years before it fell into the hands of Mr. Saltmarsh was owned by Milton Chase, of Haverhill, Mass., and the One in the cabinet of John Haigh; Esq., of Somerville, Mass.' "
The account went on to relate that Sylvester S. Crosby endorsed the 1804/3 dollars in an article in the April 1891- issue of the American Journal of Numismatics. The pair Of 1804/3 dollars later faded from view, although one may have surfaced in the form of an 1803 dollar altered with a 4 over the last digit, offered by Ed. Frossard's son in a sale in the early twentieth century; the coin was withdrawn from the auction in question.
1804: During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, phony 1804 dollars were popular fillers in collections, and many appeared in auction catalogues; Today, the, deliberate selling of a fake 1804, even if described as such and sold cheaply, would probably be viewed as a violation of the United States government counterfeiting laws, and of the ethics of the American Numismatic Association, the Professional Numismatists Guild, and other organizations.
Instances of fake 1804 dollars appearing in auction sales are exceedingly numerous, One example will suffice as an illustration here: S.K. Harzfeld's auction of December 7, 1878 included a lot described as follows: "1804 Beautiful electrotype. Silver-plated." The coin fetched $3.75; and the buyer was].W, Scott, one of the best-known dealers of the era who, presumably, planned to sell it for even more money.