The "Numismatic Bookie" Joel Orosz published a column in Coin World October 2, 2015 about catalogs offering 1804
dollars, a nice numismatic literature collecting specialty. -Editor
Back in May, the Numismatic Bookie bought an 1804 silver dollar for $15. OK, it was really my wife, Florence, who made the purchase, and
the 1804 dollar was actually photographed in an auction catalog. This experience, however, illustrates how you can build an important
numismatic library without breaking your budget.
Antique fairs, flea markets, book sales: bargain-priced numismatic literature hides in them all. We attended the annual Rhinebeck, New
York antiques fair, but it could have been any sale, anywhere. Florence spied a Parke-Bernet catalog featuring an 1804 dollar (although its
cover depicted a 1907 Saint-Gaudens, Roman Numerals double eagle), at a dealer’s booth, and quickly paid the $15 asking price.
Not only was Florence’s find a bargain, it was also inspiring. The 1804 Draped Bust dollar — “The King of American Coins” as dealer B.
Max Mehl called it — has been the straw that stirs a coin collector’s drink ever since the first one was revealed in 1842. One of the
greatest numismatic books ever written — The Fantastic 1804 Dollar — exposed this storied coin as a novodel, struck illegally long after
the date on its face, but nonetheless, at every public auction appearance, a bidding frenzy erupts. So why not try collecting one copy of
every auction catalog offering an 1804 dollar for sale?
If you love challenges, this one will turn your crank. You’ll need to find more than 50 catalogs, ranging in age from 148 years to few
months, and in price from hundreds to the $15 Florence paid. Most are American, some British, and one is German. Most are relatively
common, some are rare and expensive, and a few are uncommon, yet inexpensive. It will take years of work with numismatic literature
dealers, but when finished, you’ll have a superb catalog collection.
Two “keys” are required to complete such a set. The first is the oldest: W. Elliot Woodward’s sale of the Joseph J. Mickley Collection,
Oct. 28, 1867. The second is the rarest: Adolph Weyl’s sale of Oct. 13, 1884, which featured, glued to its cover, a photograph of a plaster
cast of the 1804 dollar known as the Dexter specimen. Why photograph a plaster cast instead of the real coin? No one knows, although
theories abound.
The Parke-Bernet catalog offers a different example, the Davis specimen. After Philadelphia numismatist Robert Coulton Davis purchased
this coin from John Haseltine in 1877, he sought assurance from the U.S. Mint that it was an “original” coin (today called a Class 1
dollar, struck around 1834). Mint Assayer William Dubois compared the Davis specimen (today called a Class III dollar, struck around 1858),
with the Class I dollar in the Mint Cabinet (museum), and declared that Davis owned an “original” issue. Dubois was a knowledgeable
numismatist and longtime curator of the Mint Cabinet who knew the differences between Class I and Class III 1804 dollars, which are readily
obvious upon comparison. Dubois simply lied to Davis.
Too bad for Mr. Davis, but good for us. The story of 1804 dollars is chock-a-block with intrigue, skullduggery, and double-dealing. A
collection of such catalogs provides hours of fascinating reading as you trace how people over decades pieced together the truly fantastic
history of the 1804 dollar.
Three cheers for Florence! Nice find. I have a partial shelf of books and catalogs about the 1804 dollar, and at one point I purchased
two Gallery Mint replicas, planning to exhibit my 1804 Dollar collection at a show sometime. Life intervened and I never got around to
doing that. Perhaps someday... -Editor
To read the complete article, see:
Collecting
auction catalogs offering 1804 dollars: Numismatic Bookie
(www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2015/10/collecting-auction-catalogs-offering-1804-dollars--numismatic-bookie.html#)
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.
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