Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1895 — A Valuable Dime. [ARTICLE]

A Valuable Dime.

Whoever has a dime of ISO 4, coined by the San Francisco mint, lias a coin for which $5 has already been offered, and when all the facts are known regarding its scarcity it is not unlikely that it will command a much higher premium. Inquiry at the mint elicited the information that during the fiscal year of 1894 only twenty-four dimes were coined at the San Francisco mint. How this came about was told by Chief Clerk Robert Barnett. “All undercurrent subsidiary coins, viz., those containing other than the design now being used when received at the sub-treasury, are not again allowed to go into circulation, but are sent to the mint to be recoined with the current design. In the course of the year 1894 we received a largo sum in these coins, but having an ample stock of dimes on hand, it was not intended to coin any of that denomination in 1894. However, when nearly all of this subsidiary coin bullion had beeu utilized we found on our hands a quantity that would coin to advantage only into dimes, and into dimes it was coined, making just twenty-four of them. “My attention was first drawn to the matter particularly by the receipt of a letter from a collector somewhere East requesting a set of the coins of 1894. In filling this order I found there were no dimes of that date on hand. Subsequently I received quite a number of similar .lettjers, and in each case was, of unable to furnish the, dimes. “Plenty of dimes were coined that year at Philadelphia and New Orleans mints, bHt there are many collectors who accumulate the coinage of each mint, as each has its distinguishing mark. Those coined here hear a letter ‘S’ under the eagle. New Orleans used, the letter ‘O’ and Carson City the letter ‘C,’ while Philadelphia coins are identified by tlie absence of the letter. “We receive each year about fifty requests from coiu collectors for coins, mostly for those of silver.”—San Francisco Call.