Object Details
- issuing authority
- United States Mint
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- obverse designer
- Scot, Robert
- reverse designer
- Scot, Robert
- obverse engraver
- Eckstein, John
- reverse engraver
- Eckstein, John
- Description
- Employees at the Mint continued to strike 1804 dollars illegally through the late 1870s. It is thought that around half a dozen were created, some for sale, perhaps in European auctions, to give them an air of plausibility; others for trade, to acquire rare coins that the Mint Cabinet lacked. Six of these coins, called "class three" dollars, to distinguish them from the 1834 "class two" dollars, have been traced.
- The Smithsonian's class three 1804 dollar has a checkered history. It was initially the property of Mint Director H. R. Linderman and was probably struck to his order. However, when it appeared in his estate, his widow came up with the story that he bought it on time payments from a coin dealer.
- Eventually this coin was purchased by Willis DuPont. It was stolen in the 1967 armed robbery of the DuPont Collection and retrieved early in 1982. It came to the Smithsonian Institution in 1994. It exhibits the weak strike on the central devices shared by the other members of class three.
- Credit Line
- Willis H. du Pont
- 1804
- ID Number
- 1994.0391.0001
- catalog number
- 1994.0391.0001
- accession number
- 1994.0391
- Object Name
- coin
- Physical Description
- silver (overall metal)
- 0 (overall die axis)
- 0 (overall die axis measurement)
- struck (overall production method)
- Measurements
- overall: .3 cm x 3.94 cm; 1/8 in x 1 9/16 in
- place made
- United States
- Related Publication
- Zoomable Image and Details
- Glossary of Coins and Currency Terms
- Related Web Publication
- http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins/glossary.cfm
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
- Coins
- Numismatics
- Coins, Currency and Medals
- Legendary Coins
- Exhibition
- Value of Money
- Exhibition Location
- National Museum of American History
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_1169155
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a9-f0ee-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
