1804 Silver Dollar

The 1804 Draped Bust dollar purchased by Phineas Adams about 1876 for $550 brought $874,000 at auction Nov. 30, 2001.

The coin, consigned by Ohio collector Phillip Flannagan, was purchased by coin dealers Donald Kagin and Martin Paul, according to a spokeswoman for Bowers and Merena Galleries, the firm conducting the auction in Baltimore.

According to the spokeswoman the $874,000 was the highest price ever paid for a Class III coin.

No 1804 dollars were struck in 1804. Some were struck in 1834; these are referred to as Class I specimens. One Class II specimen, struck about 1858, survives; it is in the Smithsonian Institution Collection. Class III specimens were struck sometime from 1858 to 1875.

The Class I coins were struck for use in sets of coins to be used as official diplomatic gifts. Class II and Class III coins were struck unofficially for sale to collectors.