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The latest date on a coin on which Anne Bingham appeared is 1808, on the half cent. The last coin on which she appeared, however, is one of the most famous, and expensive, of all U.S. coins, the 1804 dollar, sometimes called the King of American Coins.

According to Mint records, 19,570 silver dollars were produced in 1804, but it's nearly certain that they were all dated 1803 (or possibly earlier) and were among the 85,634 dollars minted with this date. It was common practice in those days for the Mint to use dies from previous years provided they were still capable of producing acceptable coinage.

In 1804 the Mint stopped regular production of silver dollars. Massive amounts of them were being shipped to the West Indies and China, where they were used in trade. Half dollars and other smaller coins took up the slack. Regular production of silver dollars didn't resume until 1840, the first year the slightly smaller Liberty Seated dollar was issued for general circulation.

In 1834, however, President Andrew Jackson ordered the Mint to issue 1804 dollars, 1804 being the last year the dollar coin was officially authorized. The State Department wanted a complete set of U.S. coins for use as gifts to foreign dignitaries. Eight of these "original," or Class I, 1804 Draped Bust dollars, minted between 1834 and 1838, are known to exist today.

In the 1850s, when coin collecting first started becoming popular in the U.S., Mint employees secretly began making restrikes of 1804 dollars to sell to collectors. Today, one Class II 1804 Draped Bust dollar is known to exist, struck in 1858 or 1859 over a Swiss taler, with others having been confiscated and melted down. Six Class III 1804 Draped Bust dollars are accounted for today, struck between 1858 and 1875 with an original obverse die and a reconstructed reverse die. Many regard Class II and Class III 1804 dollars as "Mint forgeries."

Mint employees during this time or somewhat earlier also issued proof Draped Bust dollars dated 1801, 1802, and 1803. Though these pieces are highly prized by collectors today, the king remains the 1804 dollar.

In recent years, a different kind of chicanery has visited 1804 dollars. The grading services have been giving them them higher and higher grades. Their selling prices, no doubt for this and other reasons, have also been increasing.

One Class I dollar, a PCGS Proof-68 once owned by the Sultan of Muscat (now Oman) and the finest known 1804 specimen (pictured below), sold in 1999 to coin dealer David Akers, who reportedly bought it for a private collector. The price was $4.14 million, the second most ever paid for any individual coin through a public auction (the most was for a 1933 Saint-Gaudens twenty dollar gold piece, which sold for $7.59 million in 2002). The same coin had earlier been graded Proof-65 by Q. David Bowers.

This photo, incidentally, illustrates well one of the diagnostics of all authentic 1804 dollars, a thin obverse die crack that runs from the top of star 3 to the top of the "T" in "LIBERTY." The photo most clearly shows the crack before and after the "L" and the "R." All authentic 1804 dollars also depict distorted edge lettering as a result of their lettered-edge planchets being struck inside a smooth-collar press.

I will not meet anyone in person unless I have half down, Due to the fact of people getting killed for a quick buck. I accept the following payment, Check, Money Order, and Bank Transfer. I offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the coin, but it needs to be in the same condition as when you received it. You can contact me via email at ericstephenson1@hotm­ail.com

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