Q. David Bowers
To complete the 1834 and 1835 Proof sets it was desired to include specimens of the silver dollar denominations. The silver dollar or "crown" size piece is traditionally one of the highlights of any country's coinage, and omitting this from an American presentation set would have been a serious error., The United States Mint did not want to produce silver dollars dated 1834-W35, for there was 1).0 authorization to make these, and none was currently being produced for circulation. Thus, it was desired to include top-grade specimens of the last date in which silver dollars were regularly issued, in this case 1804 (or so it was thought).
Specimens of 1804-dated dollars were on hand from 1831, or else a few more were made in 1834. Thus the presentation sets contained the beautiful crown-size silver dollar coin. The same thing happened with the $10 gold piece. Mint records were checked and it was found that the $10 gold pieces or eagles were last minted in 1804. In this instance pieces actually were minted With the 1804 date. New dies for a Proof 1804 eagle were made, and specimens were included in presentation sets. However, since regular issue 1804 $10 pieces were made as well, the Proof 1804 pieces today do not stand out a single rarity so far as the date is concerned.
With the 1804 silver dollar it was soon realized that a rarity was created. During this time the Mint officials were building the Mint Cabinet of rare coins. Also at the same time James Ross Snowden, director of the Mint, actively traded coins with and sold coins to collectors. Others at the Mint made restrikes and special pieces secretly, without the approval or knowledge of Snowden.
The appeal of the rare 1804 silver dollar was soon recognized, and at the Mint in 1858 and later, additional pieces (these being of the Class II and Class III varieties) were secretly struck for distribution to collectors.
Specimens of 1804-dated dollars minted in the 1830s from Reverse X (per Newman and Bressett nomenclature) came to be known as "originals" and, later, Class I dollars. Examples minted in 1858 and later years used the Reverse Y die and were once known as "first restrikes" and "second restrikes" respectively, but are now referred to as Class II and Class III dollars.
Appeal of the 1804 Dollar
Today there are 15 known specimens of the 1804 silver dollar, several of which are impounded in pub" lie collections and museums. Only occasionally does an example come on the market, and when one does it usually creates a numismatic sensation. The Carrett Collection specimen auctioned by my firm in 1980 realized $400,000, setting an all time record (at that time) auction price for an American silver coin.
Interestingly, during the decades of the 1970s and 1980s a spate of 1804 dollars appeared on the market, as recognition of their extreme value became evident, and owners sought to realize a profit. During this period, the following 1804 dollars were bought and sold:
King of Siam specimen (Class I)
Weyl-Dexter specimen (Class I)
Mickley specimen (Class I)
Berg-Garrett specimen (Class III)
Adams specimen (Class III)
Davis specimen (Class III)
Idler specimen (Class III)
This extreme market turnover of seven different coins during such a relatively short period is all the more remarkable when it is considered that the other known 1804 dollars were not available for sale during that period and were mostly in museums or estates, as follows:
Smithsonian Institution (Class I)
Eliasberg estate (Class I)
Childs estate (Class I)
Omaha museum (Class I)
Specimen (Cohen coin) stolen in 1967 (Class I)
Smithsonian Institution (Class II)
American Numismatic Association Museum (Class III)
American Numismatic Society Museum (Class III)
In other words, if a coin was not "tied down" in an estate or museum, or missing as stolen, during the 20-year period 1970-1990, it came on the market. Remarkable!
Doubtless, many of the new owners (and some of the coins changed hands several times during the period) sought to bask in the limelight that the ownership of an 1804 dollar has brought to leading numismatists and important collections in the past. The comment of noted dealer B. Max Mehl, made in the William Forrester Dunham Sale catalogue in 1941, nicely summarizes the 1804 dollar's appeal to collectors:
In all the history of numismatics of the entire world there is not today and there never has been a single coin which was and is the subject of so much romance, interest, comment, and upon which so much has been written and so much talked about and discussed as the United States silver dollar of 1804.
Now that the mystery of the 1804 dollars as well as those Proof novo del "restrikes" dated 1801-1803 has been documented and publicized by Eric P. Newman, Kenneth Bressett, Walter H. Breen, R.W. Julian, Don Taxay, and others, collectors are closer to knowing the exact status of the pieces. The fact that 1804 dollars were not made in 1804, or in any year close to 1804, and that the Class II and III coins were secretly produced and distributed, does not seem to make a great deal of difference. The fame attached to the 1804 dollars overwhelms any thoughts concerning their origin, as amply attested by the Garrett coin's price of $400,000 in 1980 and the Dexter coin's realization of $990,000 in 1989, both of which sales occurred long after the research of Newman and Bressett reached print.
Likewise the fame of the 1913 Liberty nickel, whose parentage has been questioned, outshines its detractors. Among smaller denomination United States coins it is without doubt the best-known and most-admired landmark among non-collectors.
On the other hand, rarities which are bluebloods, examples being the 1802 half dime, 1823/2 and 1827/3 quarters, and a few others, do not capture the public's fancy to such an extent. Indeed, the 1802 half dime and 1823/2 quarter dollar, highly publicized as rarities in auctions during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, have been largely forgotten in recent decades, except by specialists! Consistency, logic, and what scholars think should be right are not necessarily attributes of our hobby. Perhaps such unpredictability is what makes numismatics fascinating!