PCGS The Standart for the Rare Coin Industry

Third Place Winner PCGS Essay Contest 2000.

"Lifting the creaking lid and peering inside the Winchester box, I saw a number of oblong outlines wrapped in a course mesh of burlap-kindred material. They looked like long blood sausages and were enclosed tightly and sewn together with an intricate stitch. But these items were much heavier than a blood sausage. MUCH, MUCH heavier."

Letter from H. F. Rice to his
Niece Amilla - 1873

It would take perhaps a numismatist who could take Regis Philbin to the final question to know who H. F. Rice was or anything about his contribution to history. Indeed, the only reason I do, or at least, I think I do, is because of some obscure relationship that he had to my grandfather's grandfather's sister's step-niece.

But I believe that what keeps history interesting is when obscurity thrusts itself into the mainstream and reveals itself to have a major impact. And in this case, it certainly will on numismatics.

I first'heard about H. F. Rice during a 'coal-fire story’ that my grandfather sponsored at his cabin in Nevada when I was about twelve. Most often, his stories focused on the Comstock Lode, Morgan Silver Dollars, or some guy named Redfield who had accidentally knocked him down with his pick-up truck in his younger years. My sisters (and I have five of them) seemed to all be enthralled by these silver stories and how they shaped Nevada into what it is today.

Call me weird but I gravitated to the seemingly more infrequent stories about gold. And I'm here to tell you the story my grandfather passed on to us about the 1870 Carson City $20 Gold Piece (Double Eagle) and a man named H. F. Rice my be the greatest story ever told!

Henry F. Rice was originally an insurance salesman before becoming the first Wells Fargo agent appointed in the Nevada Territory. He was quite intelligent and was later described by his quite literate niece Amilla as "….both nefarious and notorious and in [possession of a larcenous elixir in his spirit…" (That equates to "Slick" in modern terminology.)

At any rate, he replaced Abraham Curry as the Carson City Mint's Superintendent in the autumn of 1870 after Mr. Curry resigned that position to run for Lieutenant Governor of the State of Nevada. Curry had been under fire from day one in his position as the Mint's first Superintendent and some say his political aspirations were the only reason he ever took the job in the first place. Serving only from January, 1870 to September, 1870, Curry left the job in haste with some assurances from well-connected political friends that he would be a mortal lock to win the Lieutenant Governor's job. That assurance would prove to be misdirected as he lost that bid. But it was his secretive decision in March, 1870 that led to the fascinating debacle that made H. F. Rice our protagonist.

Mr. Rice was an original member of the commission appointed by the Treasury Secretary to oversee the building of the Mint in December, 1865. When Abraham Curry stepped down, Rice was a natural choice to succeed him.

Rice had admired Curry and the phenomenal job he had done to get the Mint funded and built (Curry was also the general contractor) but in the back of his mind, he felt Curry had a more important personal agenda than just managing the best interests of the Mint. These feelings were strange in reflecting upon one of Miss Amilla’s letters in which she wrote, "If he could have only drawn a fair wage for being self-servant, he certainly would have taken his retirement early."

Our real story begins in October, 1870 as Rice is making his way around the Mint and inspecting the efficiency of each department. On this particular day, he was accompanied by the Captain of the Watch (the frontier equivalent of the Chief of Security), a gentleman by the name of W. J. Cowan.

Cowan was discussing with Rice improvements in vault security and had just described the unimpeachable trustworthiness of his watch crew Edward Vore, Andrew Wright, and Carl Appleburg when Rice noticed a tarp pulled over a long box in an area farthest to the rear of the vault. Cowan had no information concerning the box but was aware that it was a special project known only to Mr. Curry. They walked back to the box and removed the tarp. The box was unquestionably a product of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company as its Gothic-printed insignia appeared on the front. It was secured by a lock which had been filled with the quickly recognizable red sealing wax of the Superintendent. The Superintendent’s seal was embossed heavily across the face of the lock preventing entry or tampering without discovery. A handwritten letter was attached to the top of the box which bore Abraham Curry’s distinctive handwriting.

Rice was familiar with Winchester rifles and had been recently give a Model '66 which had been made with a custom stock by Mr. Curry. He quickly assumed that Curry had somehow obtained an entire box of them and was storing them in the vault for safekeeping. Rice kicked the box playfully but the weight of its contents prevented it from moving an inch. "Perhaps the Superintendent brings with it some extraordinary privileges," he thought as he repositioned the tarp over the box.

In November, Rice discovered a small box in the back of his desk with the word 'WINCHESTER' written on it. He decided to take a closer look at the rifles that evening but wanted to do so without attracting attention as Mr. Curry still had many friends working at the Mint.

At 10:00 P.M., Rice entered the vault ostensibly for an inventory of certain items. Carl Appleburg, the watchman on duty, made an entry in his log that "…the Superintendent had entered the vault at 10:05 with a leather pouch in hand…and an assayer's lamp…" Inside the pouch, Rice carried candles to melt the sealing wax, a stick of additional red sealing wax to reseal the lock, the heavy brass finger-like pedestal of the Superintendent's seal, matches, and a copy of the morning newspaper.

He placed the newspaper under the lock and watched the wax melt off as he held a lighted candle under the lock's tumbler. In a few moments, the heat had cleared the wax and a red pool had formed on the front page of the Carson City Nevada Tribune at Rice's feet. He fumbled to get the key to seat into the lock burning his fingers on the hot metal.

The lamp provided only shadows but it was sufficient to key the lock and its signature click echoed loudly off the vault walls. Knowing Appleburg would return in about twenty minutes, he quickly removed the lock and placed it on the paper. He flipped open the box's security bar and began lifting the lid. It creaked loudly as Rice slowed its upward progress to stifle the noise.

In the blackness of the box, the anticipated outlines of new Winchesters did not appear. Instead, a number of oblong objects became visible and were arranged along the bottom of the box on a double sheet of oilpaper. Hovering the lamp over the middle of the blackness, there were perhaps fifty to sixty of those items all wrapped in a mesh of what appeared to be burlap and seemingly sewn together with a somewhat intricate stitch. Rice immediately thought of how they resembled the blood sausages that he had helped make as a boy. But these items were much heavier than blood sausages. A very great deal much heavier.

Lifting one up, he quickly felt the oppressive yet exhilarating weight of GOLD in his hands. He split the top stitch of the cylinder he was holding and a $20 Gold Piece fell hard to the newspaper below with a muffled thud.

Rice picked it up and placed it under the lamp. The date was reflected strongly: 1870. The luster on the coin was sparkling and it was immediately clear that it had never been placed into circulation. It was not so unusual that new coins would be found in the vault of a Branch Mint. But why were these being stored in a Winchester box? And why had Curry gone to so much trouble to keep people from knowing what the box contained?

Rice tapped the oblong burlap sock and three more coins fell into his hand. They were all 1870 $20 Gold Pieces and all displayed the 'CC' under the eagle's tail on the reverse confirming the Mint had produced them.

But for all the luster these four coins displayed, they also had other markings; none of which were at all flattering.

Rice placed the four coins in his pocket and quickly stuffed the burlap bag back into the box. He dropped the lid, fastened the security bar, and replaced the lock. The candle made quick work of the red sealing wax stick and in a few moments, the seal had been expertly reapplied to the face of the lock. It looked like no one had ever touched it.

He wrapped up the newspaper and stuffed it into the pouch along with the seal, candles, and wax. He was just exiting the vault when Appleburg startled him.
"I’ll lock 'er up, Mr. Rice. Did your count go according to your figgerins?"
"Everything is fine, Carl. Thank you for your help."
Rice made his way back to his office and quickly locked the door behind him. He drew the wick wide open in his lamp flooding light across the desk. He placed the four coins on a velvet coiner’s cloth and positioned them under a magnifying glass.

One word came to his mind and it reverberated over and over again: HIEDOUS. The beautiful design of the Longacre Double Eagle that thrilled any man lucky enough to own one had been compromised. He wrote to Amilla later, "Those coins had a pox and it was surely a pox that could not be cured."

He began to make mental notes. First of all, the luster was a shimmering orange but the overall strike was quite poor. All four coins had deep pock marks and gouges from an unknown source. The eagle and the reverse seemed much sharper than the Liberty profile on the front side. There also seemed to be an unevenness about the coin as though they were incompetently centered at the point of strike.

But most notable was the appearance of the face. The beautiful face that adorned gold coins for years now resembled a hag, scarred and tortured with her lips pursed in such a way as to be begging for mercy.

Rice leaned back in his chair. He knew why Curry could never allow those coins to get into the public's hands. The coin was the watermark coin of every other coin produced at the Mint. It was the coin by which all other coins would be judged. He had simply tried to protect the reputation of the fledgling Mint, a place which had been opposed by scores of powerful people.

By now, so many questions rushed into his mind! Who else knew the coins were there? Perhaps, most importantly, how did Curry cover the distribution records of these coins as the entire mintage supposedly had been placed into general circulation in March and April?

Opening his file box, he gazed in shock at what his copy revealed:
………..……….March 10th, 1870………..……….$20 Gold………..……….3,789 produced………..………. 3,780 shipped………………Distribution complete April 19th, 1870……………………….

If all the coins in the Winchester box proved to be $20 Gold, it would seem to indicate that the distribution record had been falsified.

The following night, Rice returned to the vault accompanied by Edward Vore and indicated that additional inventory needed to be taken. He told Vore to check back on him in approximately two hours.

Rice opened the Winchester box and began ounting. There were seventy-two burlap holders with exactly fifty coins in each one. 3600 coins; $72,000.00 in GOLD!!!! $72,000.00 that the Mint’s records showed had already been distributed!!!!

Rice resealed the box and summoned Vore to secure the vault. Now he was sure of it; being the Superintendent really did have its privileges.

Rice hurried home to formulate a plan to deal with the contents of that box.

Early the next morning, Rice summoned Wellington Stewart, the messenger of the Mint, to contact Karl Svensen, a Swedish immigrant who had developed a reputation in Carson City for the precision construction of travel trunks, strong boxes, and precious metal transport containers. Svensen had done specialty work for Wells Fargo and was a master craftsman, a perfect man for what Rice needed.

Svensen received an order that day that surely amazed him. "FIVE ORNATE HAND TRUNKS, STAINED OAK, TONGUE-IN-GROOVE CONSTRUCTION, HEAVILY VARNISHED, W/PRECISE MEASUREMENTS BELOW. EACH TRUNK TO BE ENCRUSTED WITH TWELVE ENGRAVED SILVER BARS INLAID INTO THE WOOD; DOUBLE REINFORCED WITH ADDITONAL OAK PLANK IN THE INTERIOR. THICK BRASS PLATE TRAY SECURELY SEATED ON TRAY SUPPORT WITH BEESWAX COMPOUND. PROJECT EMPLY WEIGHT: 114 POUNDS EACH. SEE CONFIDENTIAL INSTRUCTIONS!!

A sealed envelope was given to Svensen with the specifications. It was even more amazing: Three of the five trunks are to possess false bottoms under the brass plate tray with PRECISELY 34-1/4 millimeters clearance. No margin for error!! CONTACT: Farleigh H. Buchanon, Esquire, WIRE – Carson City, Nevada

Buchanon was an old friend of Mr. Rice who was traveling in Europe and had left Rice in charge of his home. Rice was sure Buchanon would not mind if his name and address were used. Rice explained to Svensen that Buchanon intended to buy one thousand half dollars from the mint to go into each trunk and then shipped to powerful foreign businessmen in hopes of establishing international trade. Svensen was proud to have been selected and promised the trunks before Christmas.

On December 23rd, Svensen delivered the trunks to the mint to be loaded with half-dollars. They were nothing short of masterpieces! Svensen wondered what the false bottoms were to be used for but knew Mr. Rice well enough not to ask.

The trunks were placed on a long Mint dolly and meticulously wheeled through the Mint and into the vault. Rice pompously announced that the trunks and their contents would become "…. Ambassadors of Good Will from Carson City to the World!…."

The Chief Coiner, Mr. Stanley and his assistant, Mr. McConnell, were given the task of counting out the 5,000 half dollars to be placed in the trunks on Christmas Eve.

That night, Henry Rice made a conspicuous promise to Andrew Wright, the youngest member of the security team, to give him a special showing of the trunks in the vault.

Wright was astonished. The scrolled silver bars gleamed with the outline of the Federal Eagle and intricate engraving up and down the bars gave the illusion that the bird was in flight. The varnished oak was mirror-like and the interior brass trays made it look like the sun was setting in each one.

All five were identical to each other except three of them carried a solid gold star inlaid into the oak at the top of the security clasp. Rice explained that THOSE were destined to be shipped to KINGS!!

Wright gasped and took a step back. He was truly in awe. Rice patted him on the back, pulled a $20 Gold Piece from his pocket, and handed it to Wright. "Take the night off and go be with your family," he told the young man. "And have a wonderful Christmas."

Wright shook his hand and darted out of the vault.

Rice went to work immediately. He pulled the dolly to the rear of the vault and lined it up with the Winchester box. Once again breaking the seal on the box, he opened a straight razor and began to slit open every burlap sock revealing the Double Eagles.

He then opened the trunks with the gold stars and utilizing a long hunting knife, he broke the beeswax compound away and pried the brass trays up revealing the false bottoms all of which were precisely 34-1/4 millimeters deep. With the diameter of a Double Eagle measuring exactly 34 millimeters, the fit was EXACT!! Twelve rows of precisely 100 coins in each row representing an increase of sixty-two and a half pounds per box.

His finger flew as one coin after another was placed on its edge in the false bottoms. As he came to the last four slots, he pulled three from his pocket leaving only the slot open for the coin he had given young Mr. Wright that evening. He laughed as he replaced the brass trays and very carefully melted a cake of beeswax into the narrow gap between the brass and the wood. He did not leave the slightest speck of excess wax on either the brass or the wood. Everything had gone perfectly to this point.

It was almost 4:00 A. M. when Rice removed a letter from his pouch that read, 3,600 $20 Gold……inferior coinage……melted by order of H. F. Rice, Supt., January 28, 1871.

The name of John Felix, the Mint's Chief Melter was forged at the bottom. As he placed the letter in the Winchester box atop a small mountain of empty burlap bags, he was already wording a letter in his mind about how distressed he was to have to terminate John Felix in February for inconsistencies in his bullion melting measurements.

The following morning, the Coiners were in early to ensure that each trunk was provided with exactly 1,000 half dollars. Henry Rice was on had to personally attach a new brass lock to each and then they were wheeled to the loading dock where four men were waiting to load them onto a wagon to be taken to Mr. Buchanon’s home.

With all four men lifting each trunk, none recognized a weight difference in any of them. The boxes were covered, two of the men sat in the back with rifles, and the other two urged the team of horses forward to make the delivery.

Within minutes of their departure, Rice sent the Captain of the Watch and two other men out after the shipment indicating that he had just been notified that a misunderstanding had occurred. Buchanon wanted one-dollar coins to be placed in the trunks; not half-dollar coins!! Instructions and keys had been dispatched to open all trunks, consolidate the half-dollars into the two trucks without the gold stars, and return those coins to the mint immediately. The three remaining empty trunks were to be delivered to Mr. Buchanon’s home as soon as possible.

The two men who were assigned to deliver the three remaining trunks to Mr. Buchanon managed to pilfer about six dollars each in half dollars during the transfer process between trunks so they decided to spend a little while in a saloon before making their delivery. These men, forever nameless and anonymous, figured that the trunks were covered up and it was unlikely that anyone would attempt to steal such heavy merchandise.

A man with six dollars to spend on whisky very quickly became a popular fellow at the bar. When both men spent that amount, they were made to feel particularly important and this concluded in a three-hour stay and complete inebriation upon their departure. They only left because they were broke and began to angrily discuss the value of the trunks which they were supposed to deliver while driving the team toward Mr. Buchanon’s home.

The phrase 'driving under the influence' is not normally associated with being behind the reins of two horses but it was appropriate here. Instead of taking the final right hand turn to arrive at Mr. Buchanon’s home, the men veered left and in a few minutes found themselves driving the team out of town along the trail that ran parallel to the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. They castigated themselves for spending all their money and called each other names for being foolish enough to work on Christmas Eve in what was becoming a bitter cold afternoon. One of them again mentioned how much those trunks must be worth and they decided on a number of at least $100.00 each.

They hatched a plan that they would bury the three trunks in the desert and report back that the trunks had been stolen by bandits. Right in the middle of Carson City in broad daylight! (I have heard people say that somehow things sound more plausible when you have been drinking than when you have a clear head so perhaps there men thought this was a perfect story.)

They had picks and shovels in the wagon (standard equipment for wagons that became mired in snow or mud) and they talked about how deep the hole was going to be when they found the perfect spot.

As they continued to drive further out along the railroad path, they came to a switching station about four miles out of town. The railroad split into three directions with one heading west, one south, and one north.

With only about an hour of daylight left, they decided to head north in hopes of finding the perfect landmark where the trunks could be found again easily. Not too close to the railroad but not too far either.

After driving right to dusk at a nervous speed, the men found the perfect landmark. The tracks abruptly stopped with an old had car resting at the very end. Perfect! Obviously, those 'smart' railroad tycoons had run out of money and just decided not to go any further north.

What an ideal spot to bury the trunks!! Both men jumped off the wagon and pacing off exactly two hundred steps due west from the very end of the tracks, they began to dig. The team of horses had to be relived to finally get a break and they stood watching as the two men dug a hole deep enough so that only their shoulder could be seen.

One man ran back to retrieve the team and they backed the wagon right to the hole.

Clutching each end of the first trunk, they were amazed to feel how heavy it was empty. Pure silver and hard oak would bring some good money in the near future! Lowering it into the hole, they spread an old cavalry blanket over the top of it and placed the second one right on top of it. The third one was packed tightly beside the first one at the bottom of the hole. They both used the shovels to quickly fill the hole in with dirt and sand and smoothed over the top.

Then they counted their steps backward. EXACTLY TWO HUNDRED PACES FROM THE END OF THE TRACKS DUE WEST ON THE NORTHBOUND ROUTE. That would not be too hard to remember.

They packed up their shovels and picks and drove back to town taking more than two hours to return. When they were only three blocks from the home of Farleigh H. Buchanon, they disconnected the horses from the wagon and sent them running loose into the street. They pushed the wagon down an alley and walked to Mr. Buchanon’s home.

They were surprised to find Mr. Henry Rice standing on the porch of the home with fury in his face that seemed to glow in the dark.

"I have been waiting here for almost NINE hours!!!! Where at the trunks?” he screamed at them.

The men began flailing their arms and trying to explain about their misfortune of being robbed and losing their team of horses and wagon.

Rice caught one man by his collars and pulled him close to his face. The odor of hard whiskey still lingered on his shirt and breath.

"You’re both lying!!" Rice said. "Tell me where they are!!!"

The men reiterated their story but could not agree exactly where the robbery had taken place or how many men had robbed them.

Rice was beside himself. So much planning. Everything working to perfection until these two buffoons try to pull this!!! If he made great waves about three empty trunks, it would appear very suspicious. Could it be that these men had discovered the false bottoms and had stolen the gold? No, it that was the case, he reasoned that they would never have returned.

He asked them to accompany him to the Sheriff’s office to report the theft of the trunks. When they arrived there, the Sheriff identified them as having been in trouble many times before. The Sheriff listened to their story and he did not believe them either. He asked Mr. Rice what he wanted to do with them. Rice asked that they be locked in separate cells at the prison until the trunks were recovered.

The above story, as I have attempted to retell my grandfather's story of some years ago, is as true as he believed it was. And with the passion in which he told it, I believe it to be true, too.

If it is, the current market for 3,600 mint-state 1870 Carson City Double Eagles found this summer in the Nevada desert might be realistically……..somewhere between a whole bunch of money and let's say……..a whole bunch MORE money. That should cover the range.

I've been trying to convince my Dad that all of us girls should take a walk in the desert along the western side of the northbound route of the old Virginia and Truckee Railroad with an armada of metal detectors this summer. He thinks the idea is kind of nuts but I am starting to get to him. I keep reminding him that the weddings for six girls are to be EXPENSIVE!!

Oh………what ever became of H. F. Rice and the two men in jail?

Rice came to see them every day but neither of them ever changed their story. Rice offered them a reward, then freedom, then a thousand dollars each to talk about the location of the trunks. By then, they realized there had to be something VERY SPECIAL about them and both steadfastly refused to talk about it and stayed firmly with their robbery story.

Charged with theft, they were each given a year in prison by the local judge after Rice pleaded for maximum sentences.

In March, 1871, a trainload of 600 Chinese laborers (called 'coolies' to the other people in town) arrived in Carson City as railroad employees with the specific assignment of working on the northbound route of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.

When the two men were released from prison in January, 1872, the railroad headed northbound had been extended forty-nine miles into the Nevada desert.

Henry F. Rice continued to run the Carson City Mint until May of 1873 when he was forced to resign amid a scandal that some Carson City gold coins were debased and lightweight.

The day he was escorted to the front door, an empty Winchester rifle box with a curling letter and sliced-up burlap bags inside remained sealed in the Carson City Mint's fault.

MINT MARK: 'C', THE STORY OF THE UNITED STATES MINT AT CARSON CITY, NEVADA, by Howard Hickson, The Nevada State Museum, Carson City, Nevada, 1990

THE COMPREHENSIVE U.S. SILVER DOLLAR ENCYCLOPEDIA, by John W. Highfill, Highfill Press, Incorporated, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, 1992

TYPE TWO DOUBLE EAGLES: 1866-1876, A NUMISMATIC HISTORY AND ANALYSIS, by Douglas Winter and Michael Fuljenz, Universal Coin and Bullion Corporation, Beaumont, Texas, 1996

A GUIDE OF UNITED STATES COINS, 19TH REVISED EDITION, BY R. S. Yeoman, Whitman Publishing Company, Racine, Wisconsin, 1965