The 1804 Silver Dollar, Creating the King of American Coins


Creators Podcast

Episode #5

08.18.2024

When I set out to record a podcast episode on the 1804 silver dollar, I had no idea I would have so much fun.

What made my discovery of the “King of American Coins,” so enjoyable was the book I purchased called, “The Rare Silver Dollars Dated 1804: and the Exciting Adventures of Edmund Roberts,” by Q. David Bowers.

First you must understand, Q. David Bowers is a legendary rare coin collector and expert. I knew that when I ordered the book. But I had no idea what a great book I was actually getting until I flipped open the cover, and started reading.

The book is packed full of insights on not only the 1804 draped bust silver dollar, but the collectors who owned them.

Not only that, but the book chronicles the entire life of Edmund Roberts, a U.S. diplomat who delivered the very first 1804 silver dollars to foreign governments in an attempt to broker trade deals on behalf of President Andrew Jackson.

And to go a step further, Q. David Bowers book includes amazing in-depth research on each collector, their backstory’s, and how they became great collectors.

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading this book on the 1804 silver dollars by David Bowers. Let me tell you just a little more about it, then you can go buy the book for yourself and enjoy it as much as I did.

1804 Silver Dollars, The Rarest Coins of All Time?

The first amazing fact I must tell you is the super rare 1804 silver dollars were not even minted in the year 1804. It wasn’t until 1834 that President Andrew Jackson wanted to present gifts to foreign governments in the East, Muscat and Siam.

So they put together “sets” of coins, to show off the amazing coinage of the U.S. and present the gifts in hopes of creating trade deals.

Once they realized they needed the 1804 silver dollar for the gift sets, they went to the Mint storage room to search for the dies.

They realized they didn’t the dies from 1804, but when they checked the Mint records, it showed 19,750 silver dollar coins produced in 1804. What they didn’t realize at the time, and what took decades to figure out, was that the silver dollar coins struck in 1804 were not dated 1804, they were most likely dated 1803, and possibly some dated 1802.

The First Eight 1804 Silver Dollars

So the first eight draped bust silver dollars dated 1804 were actually made in 1834. Then presented as gifts to foreign governments by Edmund Roberts.

Now, the story is not over, not even close. There were additional 1804 silver dollars created later, but it wouldn’t be until the late 1850s.

Why? What was going on that would motivate people at the U.S. Mint to produce more 1804 silver dollars? I can answer that, and it’s the answer to many questions you might have. Money.

From 1834, when the first eight 1804 silver dollars were struck, to the late 1850s, rare coin collecting became more and more popular.

Not only did collectors enjoy hunting for one coin for every dated year, but they started to discus rare coins, and more and more desirable coins. Of course, this quickly turned into a hunt for more valuable coins. The more rare, the more valuable.

And over the few decades leading into the late 1850s, coin collectors started discussing the 1804 silver dollar, and how they just couldn’t find it anywhere. Now that must be a rare coin, if nobody anywhere owned it. And that’s how it all began.

William E. Dubois and the Mint Cabinet

Like Q. David Bowers says in his book, “It is likely the main “culprit” was William E. Dubois, cofounder of the Mint Cabinet.”

It was a common practice to restrike coins for collectors at the U.S. Mint. But there was always the safe assumption that hundreds of thousands or millions of a certain coin is already in circulation, so what’s it going to hurt to produce just a few more for a coin collector, here and there?

Not a big deal, right? But when you are starting to take requests from savvy coin collectors who are doing their homework, and learning what rare coins are from what years, then requesting them so they could re-sell to other collectors, now you are starting to blur the lines of what the simple “restrike” tradition at the Mint was originally all about.

So it didn’t take long for William Dubois, and other collectors, namely William Idler, to start a side-hustle, where certain coins were reproduced, then sold to dealers. And they purposely didn’t keep any records of these deals either, since they really didn’t want anyone finding out about it.

But other coin collectors started hearing rumors of the restrike operation at the Mint, and began writing letters complaining of the practice, and how unfair it was. Turns out, it was these letters by other collectors complaining that helped solve the mystery of the super-rare 1804 silver dollar many years later.

The Fantastic 1804 Dollar, by Eric P. Newman and Kenneth E. Bressett

It wasn’t until 1962 that two very well-known coin collectors, Eric P. Newman and Kenneth E. Bressett, wrote a book documenting everything they knew about the 1804 silver dollars.

They chronicled every piece of evidence available to them, starting with all these amazing letters from back in the day. Luckily, they had great coin collectors documenting every step, and every twist and turn.

The two collectors were able to solve the mystery of the “King of American Coins,” and then the values really started to skyrocket.

1804 draped bust silver dollar

Now, with just 15 of these awesome coins in existence, coin collectors were paying tons of money for each one. They soon were out of reach for even the best collectors. In much too high demand and secured in the great collections, only to be offered for sale maybe once in a generation.

Luckily, Q. David Bowers book tells the story of every one of these lucky collectors who were once able to acquire such historic coins. This was a blast to read about. So I picked out a few of my favorite old-school coin collectors to share their stories.

Famous Collectors of the 1804 Draped Bust Silver Dollar

Now, don’t get me wrong, the book by David Bowers tells the entire story on how the amazing 1804 silver dollars were created, and why they are so rare. But I want to start with another great feature of the book. The collectors.

Turns out, the incredible mystery of the 1804 silver dollar took over one hundred years to solve. And we would have never solved the mystery if it wasn’t for these great coin collectors of the 1800s and 1900s.

1804 silver dollar reverse

So David Bowers tells the story of each one, and what made them great, and how they obtained their own coins, some of the rarest coins in the world.

Thomas L. Elder

One of the stories I really love is that of Thomas L. Elder, a well-known and respected coin collector and dealer around 1900. One thing Elder loved to do was to convince people that they should have a hobby, and that hobby should be coin collecting. I love the argument because I also believe it to be true, but it’s words you just don’t hear much in this crazy day and age.

Some amazing quotes by Elder include –

“Collectors as a class are, I believe, somewhat misunderstood, and occasionally maligned. The best type of collector is a most valuable member of society. By the best collector I mean one whose pursuit, study and research in connection with his hobby have magnified his imaginative, aesthetic, romantic and intellectual qualities. His wide and varied experiences with various odd and interesting objects, and his painstaking care of them, have given him a remarkable fund of out-of-the-way information, as well as patience, a sense of order and practicality.”

Elder was not shy about professing the benefits of coin collecting. He made his arguments in several publications back in his day. I can’t pass up the opportunity to include this amazing quote. Check out Elder, going all out for coin collecting!

“Contrary to current opinion, the best collector is far from eccentric. He is the finest sort of an example of the cultured and refined man. Collecting keeps people busy at odd moments, and hence keeps them out of mischief. It emphasizes in no uncertain way that keeping young is largely the result of the mental attitude, for collecting, above all other panaceas, meatless diets, and physical exercise even, keeps people young. I have for a correspondent a man who is 94 years of age. At last report he was still riding a bicycle.”

And it turns out Thomas Elder was not only a great writer and ambassador for coin collecting, but he was also a collector himself, and a great coin dealer back in his time.

He once owned the 8th specimen of the legendary 1804 silver dollars. It was just for a short time before he sold the coin, but he did have it. And that means Bowers tracks him in his book. Everyone who once owned the coin is in the book!

Matthew Stickney

There’s another legendary collector we need to discuss. His name was Matthew Stickney.

David Bowers book details this character and his entire life, but Matthew Stickney was the first coin collector to acquire the 1804 silver dollar from the U.S. Mint. He’s known, as I like to call him, as one of the most observant, and studious coin collectors in history.

He was paging through a book one day, at his home in Massachusetts, when he noticed a picture of the super-rare 1804 silver dollar. He must have fallen right out of his chair, because he knew that coin was nowhere to be found. I’m sure he had been looking for it high and low, but to no avail.

And the crazy thing is, he was reading a book published by William Dubois. The same William Dubois who was the founder of the Mint Cabinet. And the same person running a side-business out of the Mint by restriking coins for certain collectors.

The book was titled, “A Manual of Gold and Silver Coins of All Nations,” and was co-written by another collector named Jacob Eckfeldt. Here’s another crazy thing, Dubois used a medal-ruling machine with a pantograph device to scan the coins sitting in the Mint Cabinet, then transpose them into the book. This is how Stickney noticed the 1804 coin.

Needless to say, Matthew Stickney ran directly to the Mint and traded one of his coins for the 1804 silver dollar. And not only that, but Stickney made sure to document the entire episode in letters written in the years that followed.

He knew what he had. He was hunting that 1804 silver dollar for years, and now he had it. When other collectors offered to buy it from him, he wrote letters saying he was not selling… not even for twice the price he was offered!

Another detail Stickney shares is the exact date, and who he acquired the coin from at the Mint. It’s a good thing for his letters, or collectors might still be trying to piece this mystery together.

Q. David Bowers calls Stickney, “one of the most knowledgable individuals ever to pursue the hobby of numismatics.” That’s very high praise from the legend himself.

Matthew Stickney lived until he was 89 years young. Which reminds me of Thomas Elder, who we also talked about. He argued how coin collecting keeps people young, almost like no other tonic or prescription.

In another amazing article written by Thomas Elder, he tells the story of an old man, who was in very rough health, and at the end of his years. That is, until he noticed a fine “K’ang Hsi Famille Verte vase,” which Elder says, the old man had long wished to own.

The sight of this vase revived the man, and I’ll let Elder describe it, as only Elder could –

“The sight of it revived his forces, his breathing cleared, he sat erect in his chair, and presently, in the excitement of bargaining, was upon his feet, striding about the room. The struggle and the victory revived him, and he lived for several years before death finally won him, and the British Museum entered on its inheritance.”

That’s Thomas Elder, making his case for collecting – something – anything! And he says it will keep you young. I can’t argue with him.

The Amazing 1804 Draped Bust Silver Dollar

The amazing twists and turns of this story had me glued to the book by David Bowers like I was not expecting. Hundreds of years of coin collecting history packed into one tiny coin. That’s what I love about learning the coins.

The book by Q. David Bowers is packed full of stories, photos, graphics, and illustrations. You’ll be going on a journey through time, across the globe on a wooden ship and back again. Then following around the greatest coin collectors to ever do it.

I strongly recommend you go out and buy the book by Q. David Bowers on the amazing 1804 silver dollar. You won’t regret it.