2016-12-28 Wed

Matthew A. Stickney sold the 1785-dated Immune Columbia coin overstruck on a 1775 British gold guinea to the Mint Cabinet on 9th May 1843. Pierre Eugène Du Simitiere founded the first American Museum which displayed nine Massachusetts silver coins and seven Higley coppers. A talented artist named Jacob Marling established the North Carolina Museum in Raleigh in 1818.

Rev. John Christopher Kunze founded the Kunze Cabinet of Coins and Medals which was donated to the New-York Historical Society on 14th July 1818. The coins were stolen shortly after that. Nobody knows where the coins are today. In 1856, a detailed catalogue was published about the coins at the P.T. Barnum’s American Museum.

Experts have stated that on 12th July 1843, Matthew A. Stickney of Salem got a Class I 1804 dollar for which he had traded on May 9. This was exchanged for a 1785 Immune Columbia coin struck over a 1775 British gold sovereign, some Massachusetts silver coins, and some other pieces.

By 1864, Stickney owned another 1804 dollar, probably a newly minted Class II piece that he offered to George Seavy. The first detailed showcasing of the 1804 dollar was done by W.C. Prime in Coins, Medals, and Seals, 1861. But the same was mentioned in 1858 by Joseph Mickley.