PCGS The Standard for the Rare Coin Industry

In the early 1830s the Department of State desired to expand American influence in the area of the Indian Ocean. At the time the various ports there were frequently visited by British, French, and other European ships, often operated by powerful trading firms such as the Honourable East India Company. Edmund Roberts, a friend and relative of Levi Woodbury, secretary of the Navy and, later, secretary of the Treasury under Andrew Jackson (president 1829-1837), was commissioned as a "special agent" to visit that remote area to discuss trade treaties. Roberts had been to the area before, in 1827, and had made the personal acquaintance of the Sultan of Muscat, who controlled considerable coastline districts on the eastern side of the Indian Ocean. It was deemed desirable to give diplomatic gifts to the Sultan of Muscat and the King of Siam, such to include maps, firearms, and presentation sets of United States coins. In 1834, a request for such presentation sets of coins was sent to the Philadelphia Mint.

At the time the currently-produced denominations included the half cent, cent, half dime, dime, quarter, half dollar, gold quarter eagle, and gold half eagle. Proofs dated 1834 were made of each of these. A search of Mint records revealed that two other denominations were authorized, but had not been struck for many years. Silver dollars had been last struck in 1804 (but terminated by order of May 1, 1806; authority for the denomination was resumed on April 18, 1831) and $10 gold eagles were last struck in 1804 as well. Although the coiners of the Mint had on hand an 1804 $10 gold coin (which would later become a part of the Mint Cabinet), they had no way of knowing, as no numismatic check list had ever been printed, the silver dollars minted in 1804 were of earlier dates.

Seeking to present coins that were historically accurate, the engraver and coiner at the Mint simply made up new silver dollar and $10 gold dies bearing the 1804 date, to illustrate these coins of yesteryear, believed to have been made, but for which no specimens were on hand (and if they had been, they would not have been with Proof finish to match the other coins in the set).

Alternatively, several students of the series, R.W. Julian prominent among them, believe that the dies may have been made in 1831 when President Jackson stated that silver dollars could be struck once again, following a decades-long hiatus. Although no dollars are known to have been made in 1831, perhaps the dies were prepared.

In the 1830s for the first time 1804-dated silver dollars were struck. These were made on specific request by the Department of State, as described. At the time there was some numismatic interest among Mint officials. Several years later, in June 1838, the Mint Cabinet would be set up on the premises, and Adam Eckfeldt and others would contribute rare coins to it, while William E. Dubois was the chief curator. In the meantime, the Mint struck Proof coins from time to time for presentation to dignitaries and also as an accommodation to collectors. It is probable that in 1834 the coinage of 1804-dated dollars was at least eight specimens (the number known today). Apparently, the pieces not needed for presentation were kept by Adam Eckfeldt, who later transferred one to the Mint Cabinet.