Coming August 30th, numismatic history will once again be made. Crossing the block in another landmark Bowers and Merena sale will be the Childs specimen of the "Original" Class I 1804 silver dollar, certified Proof-68 by PCGS, the finest known specimen by far! The next few weeks will be devoted to the mystery and historical importance surrounding this rarity. For further information on the sale or to order the catalogue featuring the 1804 dollar, click here.
Numismatic knowledge was scarce in America in the early 1830s. The first specialized book on United States coins had yet to be written, and the Mint's own collection, the Mint Cabinet, would not be formed until June 1838, although "master coins" (Proofs) of certain issues had been saved for a number of years in anticipation of the establishment of a collection within the Mint. Thus, it was not unusual for M.W. Dickeson in his 1859 American Numismatical Manual to assume that the 19,570 silver dollars minted in 1804 were, in fact, dated 1804. Many explanations were advanced as to why nearly all of the 19,570 1804 dollars had disappeared. These make fascinating reading today.
One theory is that they were lost when the ship sank which was transporting them to France in payment for the territory then known as Louisiana. Another theory held that the entire mintage of 19,750 1804 silver dollars, except for a few that were saved beforehand, was shipped to Tripoli on the Barbary Coast of the Mediterranean, either to pay ransom to pirates or to pay wages to American seamen who were fighting the pirates. Unfortunately, the dollar-laden ship sank, and all of the coins went to Davy Jones' Locker. Another version names the American ship as the Philadelphia and states that it was blown up in the Tripoli harbor. Exciting stuff, this!
Somewhat more numismatic was the theory based on the known fact that the bullion value of the silver dollar at that time exceeded the face value, for which reason the silver dollars which were coined were melted into bullion almost as fast as they were minted. In 1806, James Madison, then of the Department of State, wrote to the Mint director instructing him to discontinue striking silver dollars.
All of these explanations are interesting to read, but all are fiction.
Although Mint records state that 19,570 silver dollars were minted in calendar year 1804, nowhere is it stated that those coins actually bore the 1804 date. At the time it was Mint practice to keep using dies of earlier dates until they broke or wore out. Sometimes these older dies were overdated (the 1802/1 dollar is an example), but often the original dates were retained as made, quite probably because the dies had already been hardened for use, and the overpunching (overdating) procedure required that the dies be heated to a high temperature, cooled, and cleaned, a painstaking process. Thus, it is believed that the "1804" dollars struck in calendar year 1804 bore earlier dates. In a nutshell, this explains why the 19,570 silver dollars are nowhere to be found.
Q. David Bowers has been in the rare coin business since 1953 when he was a teenager. The author has served as president of the American Numismatic Association (1983-1985) and president of the Professional Numismatists Guild (1977-1979), is a recipient of the highest honor bestowed by the ANA (the Farran Zerbe Award), was the first ANA member to be named Numismatist of the Year (1995), has been inducted into the Numismatic Hall of Fame (at the ANA Headquarter in Colorado Springs), is a recipient of the highest honor bestowed by the Professional Numismatists Guild (The Founders' Award), and has received more "Book of the Year Award" and "Best Columnist" honors given by the Numismatic Literary Guild than any other writer. He has has written over 40 books, hundreds of auction and other catalogues, and several thousand articles.
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