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
_______________________________ 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
_____________________________ 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
___________________________ 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
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