The 1804 silver dollar is one of the rarest and most famous coins in the world, due to its unique history.
In 1834, the U.S. Department of State was creating sets of coins to present as gifts to certain rulers in Asia in exchange for trade advantages. However, the United States Mint ceased production of silver dollars in 1804. In order to have quality pieces for the set, new coins were struck for the presentation sets and dated 1804. However, it was common practice at the mint to continue to use dies from the previous year as long as they were usable, and all coins reported as being struck during 1804 were dated 1803. Therefore, when the mint struck these new 1804 coins thirty years later, they actually created a coin that had not previously existed.
The first 1804 silver dollars minted in 1834 were presented as gifts to the King of Siam and the Sultan of Muscat. These silver dollars are known among numismatists as “original” 1804 dollars. Eight of these coins are known to exist.
A single 1804 silver dollar was minted in 1857. This particular coin was actually struck onto an existing coin (A Swiss "Shooting Thaler" coin), and it is believed the coin was minted as an experiment by employees of the United States Mint.
Between 1858 and 1860 a small number of 1804 silver dollars were illegally struck by an employee of the Mint named Theodore Eckfeldt, and sold to coin collectors through a store in Philadelphia. The number of coins minted is believed to be between ten and fifteen, struck with two separate coin dies, known to numismatists as "Class II" and "Class III" strikes. The illegally minted coins (which are not classified as counterfeit because they were actually produced at the United States Mint) were hunted down and retrieved by officials of the Mint, with most of them being destroyed. One single Class II coin is known to exist (currently held at the Smithsonian Institution), while six or seven of the class III coins are believed to exist today.
Popular legend states that the rare coin given by King Rama IV of Siam to Anna Leonowens, as seen in the story of “Anna and the King of Siam” and the movie The King and I, was indeed the same 1804 silver dollar produced in 1834 as a gift to Siam. This coin was kept in Anna’s family for several generations, until in the 1950s it was sold by a pair of British ladies claiming to be Anna’s descendants. This coin was displayed as part of the “King of Siam” collection at the Smithsonian Institution in 1983, where it was given the name “the King of Coins.” It was purchased by an anonymous collector in 2001, who purchased the entire set of coins from the King of Siam collection for over $4 million.
On August 30, 1999, an “original” 1804 silver dollar from the 1834 minting was sold at auction for over $4 million.
The records of the United States Mint state that 19,570 silver dollars were minted in 1804, but numismatists believe these were all dated 1803; it was a standard practice of the Mint to continue to use coin dies from the previous year if the dies were in decent condition.
Various silver mints have produced “commemorative” replicas of the 1804 dollar over the years, and these replicas are widely available to coin collectors. The replicas have little worth as collectors’ items, with their silver content fetching them a typical price of between ten and twenty-five dollars. These duplicate 1804 silver dollars can frequently be found on Ebay and other auction sites. Con artists and perpetrators of fraud have been known to attempt to sell these replicas for large amounts of money, claiming that they are the original 1804 silver dollar.
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