The 1804 dollar is one of the rarest and most valuable American coins.
Proof coin sets, including the dollar, were created for use as
diplomatic gifts carried by envoy Edmund Roberts on his trips to Siam
and Muscat. Though the dollars are dated 1804, none were struck until
the 1830s; the earlier date was a mistake based on misunderstood U.S.
Mint records from 1804. Later, Mint officials struck some of the coins
to trade with collectors in exchange for rare coins needed for the
Mint's coin cabinet. In response to numismatic demand, Mint officials
surreptitiously produced several coins, one of which lacked the correct
edge lettering. The coins produced for the diplomatic mission, the
dollar struck without edge lettering and the later examples with
lettering are known as "Class I", "Class II" and "Class III"
dollars,
respectively. Altogether, only fifteen specimens are known to exist, and
in 1999, one sold for $4.14 million, the highest price paid for any coin
up to that time. These coins have been frequent targets of
counterfeiting and other deceptions.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1804_dollar>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1554:
Jesuit missionaries José de Anchieta and Manoel da Nóbrega
established a mission at São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga, which
grew to become São Paulo, Brazil.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Paulo>
1890:
American journalist Nellie Bly completed a circumnavigation of
the globe, inspired by Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, in
a then-record 72 days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly>
1949:
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presented the first
Emmy Awards to honor excellence in the American television industry.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmy_Award>
1995:
A team of Norwegian and American scientists launched a Black
Brant XII sounding rocket, which was mistaken for a Trident missile by
Russian forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_rocket_incident>
2006:
Three independent observing campaigns announced the discovery
of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb, a super-Earth extrasolar planet 21,500 ±3,300
light years away from Earth near the center of the Milky Way.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Birds' Wedding:
A custom among the Sorbs (Wends) of Lusatia in Germany, whereby on the
evening of 24 January children put empty plates outside, and on the
morning of 25 January they find pastries, meringues and candy in the
form of birds, which are said to have been left for them by birds
celebrating their wedding.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Birds%27_Wedding>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Once you begin to take yourself seriously as a leader or as a
follower, as a modern or as a conservative, then you become a self-
conscious, biting, and scratching little animal whose work is not of the
slightest value or importance to anybody.
--Virginia Woolf
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf>