E-Sylum Feature Writer and American Numismatic Biographies author Pete Smith submitted this article on 1804 dollar stories published over the years. Thanks! Published long before any definitive research on the topic, most newspaper stories were an amusing mix of fact and fiction, and most of the coins discussed were likely fakes such as altered dates. But just because most of the coins were fake doesn't mean all of them were. -Editor

"The 1804 dollar is the rarest of all dollars; only two of them are known in any collection."

"John Maguire of Keil & Bro., is the possessor of a silver dollar dated 1804. There being only four of these pieces in existence, the piece is considered valuable. John was offered one hundred dollars for it yesterday. He says that one thousand dollars will buy it,"

"Only six of 1804 dollars were struck off."

"George T. McComb of Lockport, N. Y., has an 1804 dollar, of which only eight specimens are known to exist."

"A fact of greatest interest to numismatists is the finding of the missing 1804 silver dollar. Only four silver disks of this date were ever put into circulation. A few days ago Dr. Edward Walther walked into the Commercial National bank and produced the sought-for piece. He had found it in the southern part of the state, where it had reposed, no one knows how long, in the stocking of a Norwegian." [Found in 31 papers]

"The belief that only seven of the 1804 silver dollars were in existence has been an error, for the eighth one has turned up. Rosenthal Brothers, dealers in old iron, had a debtor in Virginia from whom they tried vainly for some time to collect a bill of $500. Recently the Virginian sent the firm one of the much sought for 1804 dollars. He stated that he sent the coin in payment of his bill, and if the Rosenthals could sell it for more than the total of the account they should keep the balance. In explanation of how he came in possession of the dollar the Virginian wrote that he had bought it for $30 from an old negro, who was ignorant of its rarity and value and in whose family it had been for a long time. The Rosenthals took the dollar to the mint here and it was pronounced genuine." [Variations of the story appeared in 36 papers]

"Harriott, the jeweler, has an 1804 dollar. He has been offered $500 for the coin."

"A dispatch from Great Falls, Montana, says that the last missing coin of the United States dollar issue of 1804 was brought to light a few days ago in Teton County. A bartender found it among his receipts and showed it to a friend who knew its real value. There are only four dollar coins of the 1804 issue, and the one found in Montana will bring $8000 to $10,000 if it proves to be genuine,"

"N. D. Todd, superintendent of the Chicago & Atchinson bridge, has a dollar of 1804. There are two others in existence, and they are said to be worth $2,000 each. [Found in four papers]

L. T. Altwein of St. Joe, owns one of the two 1804 dollars admitted to be genuine, paying $1,000 for it."

"Christopher P. Gallagher, a Bangor grocer, recently discovered in his collection of old coins what appears to be an American silver dollar of the coinage of 1804, said to be worth about $1,100. Where or when he got it Mr. Gallagher does not know, but he's glad to have the old dollar, and is now negotiating for its sale to a New York collector." ]This story appeared in 45 papers]

"John T. Robertson has an 1804 dollar. It was left to him by his wife's father, Joseph Hallett, who died at Waverly."

"O. S. Anthony, living near the West street power house has an 1804 dollar which he found several days ago. It is said to be worth $1,100. In 1804, the United State mint at Philadelphia burned, and very few of the dollars were issued that year."

J. T. Deveux, a wealthy ice dealer of Chicago, has paid to J. A. Ryan, a Berkley saloon keeper, $2.90 for a dollar coined in 1804. Deveux made a special trip to Norfolk, Va., to purchase the coin, says the Chicago News. Ryan while digging the foundation for a house found the dollar. [This story appeared in 14 papers]

"S. Gelhaar, the furrier, has an 1804 dollar in a good state of preservation, considering that it is over one hundred years old. Mr. Gelhaar has had his for eighteen years. Anyone can see it by calling at his place, on Eau Claire street."

"Two of the rare United States silver dollars of the 1804 issue turned up here today. They were found by Miss Mabel Smith, executrix, among the property of the late John C. Comfort, a well-known patent attorney who died two weeks ago," [Variations of the story appeared is sixteen papers]

"A fine specimen of the 1804 American dollar, one of the most valuable coins in existence, was picked up by accident from a homesteader on the New Pacific coast lines of the Milwaukee road in South Dakota by Frank N. Webster of this city. The coin is said to be the tenth existing specimen known."

"William Sullivan, a laborer, excavating on the site of the ice rink for the Yale hockey team turned over with his shovel an old jar which rested on a bowlder 7 feet below the surface of the street nearby. Under the bowlder was a silver snuffbox made in Nurenberg, green with oxidation and in it a United States silver dollar, dated 1804, in good condition." [This story appeared in 177 papers]

"Only two 1804 silver dollars are known to exist. Anybody who finds a third can get a small fortune for it."

"The long search for the "eighth 1804 dollar" is ended. For years seven of the eight coins of that vintage known to be in existence have been located. The eighth is in Lancaster and is the property of Martin Hettinger. It has reposed in an old bureau drawer for many years."

"Mrs. Frank G. Adams, wife of the proprietor of a local movie theater, and ticket taker in the same place, accepted a silver dollar Friday from an unidentified party as payment for a ticket. She made change, tossed the dollar in the till and thought nothing of it. Friday night when she checked up she noticed the dollar was made in 1804. It was such an unusual looking coin that she wired a Fort Worth, Texas coin dealer for its value. Saturday she received a wire offer of $1,250 for the dollar. Only four of the 1804 dollars were coined, it was understood. One was recovered several years ago in Philadelphia.

"Smith Hamil, a wholesale grocer in Keokuk, Iowa, has an 1804 silver dollar which is valued by rare coin collectors at $2,500. It is estimated that there are only nine silver dollars of this date in existence." [Found in three papers]

"Worn and hungry looking, a Kentucky mountaineer sought to exchange an old coin for currency more readily negotiable. He wandered into the office of a Cincinnati coin collector, Thomas O. Melish, yesterday. The numismatist felt sorry for him, gave him $2 for the coin, The Kentuckian vanished. Only then, said Melish, did he examine the coin closely. It was an 1804 dollar. Only 13 are known to exist." [Found in 109 papers]

"Gilhousen, 73, obtained the silver dollar he has for sale from a coin collector in the East, a past president of the American Numismatics assn., with whom he has been dealing for over 50 years."

"The attorney for the estate said today he will try to determine whether a silver dollar found in the effects of the late Wilbur E, Brooks is of genuine 1804 coinage."

So where are all of the fake 1804 dollars today? Melted down for silver content? Held in reference collections? Owned by reclusive collectors insisting that they're real? We've documented all the real ones we've found. What about the fake ones? Anyone have one of these? -Editor