Trivia: King of Siam Set!

Clinker · 09-13-2007, 12:59 PM

Soon after Andrew Jackson was sworn in as President of the United States the U.S. Department of State approached him about a way to cement the diplomatic relationships of the U.S. with the King of Siam and with the ruler of Muscat and Oman.

It was agreed to present the King of Siam and the Imam of Muscat and Oman with unique diplomatic gifts in recognition of the newly augmented trade treaties worked out with those two countries.

President Jackson and the committee members from the Department of State agreed to have the Director of the Mint produce a special struck complete set of coins of the United States. The coins were to be struck in "mint condition" It was further stipulated the special minted coin sets would be housed in special containers. Each container would be of wood covered in Moroccan leather.

Here's a photo of that case:

http://www.1804dollar.com/SIAMCOVR.GIF

THERE IS MORE TO THIS STORY:

Special Agent Edmund Roberts was entrusted to deliver the two important sets to their respective destinations. He did present one coin set to Sayid Sayid bin Sultan, the Imam of Muscat and Oman. The leader was very appreciative and reciprocated the occasion with a gift of his own: (a lion and lioness were delivered to the Washington Zoo).

However, Roberts died enroute to Siam and the Department of State presented the other set to King Ph'ra Naga Klao, King of Siam, on April 4, 1836.

Now it's time to explain a couple of facts pertaining to these special coin sets.

The sets were made in 1834.
The Mint Director understood the sets were to be complete, that is one of every U.S. coin struck in 1834 would be included in the set which is what President Jackson and the Department of State intended. But an error in judgement occurred.

Namely this:

The Mint Director and his employees reasoned the set would not be complete without including a silver dollar and a ten dollar gold coin.

Now here comes the numismatic error:

No Silver Dollar or Ten Dollar gold Eagle was on the agenda for inclusion in 1834 coinage. The Director of the Mint, Samuel Moore, decided that to create the perfect complete set of coins for these two special gifts, a search of the mint's records should be made to determine when those two coins were last struck.

Those records showed that both coins were last struck in 1804. New dies were produced for both coins and the sets were considered complete!

The complete set included the following coins: (images courtesy coin facts)

1834 HALF CENT: (image courtesy Coin Facts)

http://www.coinfacts.com/half_cents/...ssic_head.html

1834 ONE CENT: (image courtesy Coin Facts)

http://www.coinfacts.com/large_cents..._varieties.htm

1834 HALF DIME: (image courtesy Coin Facts)

http://www.coinfacts.com/half_dimes/...pped_bust.html

1834 DIME: (images courtesy of NGC)
obverse

http://www.ngccoin.com/images/1629417-003o.jpg

reverse

http://www.ngccoin.com/images/1629417-003r.jpg

1834 QUARTER: (images courtesy NGC)

obverse

http://www.ngccoin.com/images/1629417-004o.jpg

reverse

http://www.ngccoin.com/images/1629417-004r.jpg

1834 HALF DOLLAR: (image courtesy Coin Facts)

http://www.coinfacts.com/half_dollar..._varieties.htm

1804 SILVER DOLLAR: (mage courtesy Coin Facts)

http://www.coinfacts.com/silver_doll...ver_dollar.htm

1834 QUARTER EAGLE: (image courtesy Coin Facts)

http://www.coinfacts.com/quarter_eag...rter_eagle.htm

1934 HALF EAGLE: (image courtesy Coin Facts)

http://www.coinfacts.com/half_eagles..._varieties.htm

1804 GOLD EAGLE: (image courtesy Coin Facts)

http://www.coinfacts.com/eagles/turban_head_eagles/1804_eagles/1804_turban_head_10_eagle.htm

Now are you wondering why this set sold for over $4,000,000.00 a few years ago?

The only coin so rare that makes this set worth so much is the 1804 Silver Dollar And it was created in error!

Remember the mint records report that silver dollars and Ten Dollar gold pieces were last minted in 1804? Well, there were 3,757 Ten Dollar Gold coins struck but no 1804 Silver Dollars were struck.

There were 19,570 silver dollars struck in 1804, but they were all dated 1803or earlier.

In 1842, numismatists first learned of the 1804 dollar thru a book displaying an illustration of the 1804 dollar from the Mint Cabinet. These silver dollars are known as "original" or Class I 1804 dollars. Eight of these coins are known to exist.

The coin collecting public first learned of the existence of the "King of Siam" set in 1962.at the American Numismatic Association convention where it was .

The King of Siam set was recently purchased by Mike Bobb of Mike's Coin Chest of Torrence, California. He had it authenticated and certified by NGC.

When you look at the photo of the set resting in it's special case, you'll notice the Half Dime and the Five Dollar Gold coin are missing.
No one seems to know why.

Here's a photo of that set.

http://www.1804dollar.com/SIAM.GIF

Now you may ask, "How did the set ever get from the King of Siam to ANA?".

Remember the movie "ANNA AND THE KING? It explained it all.
Popular legend states that the proof set was given to Anna Leonowens by King Rama IV of Siam Sometime in the 1950s the King of Siam Proof set (along with the 1804 dollar) was sold by a pair of British ladies claiming to be Anna’s descendants.

This coin was displayed as part of the "King of Siam" collection at the Smithsonian Institution in 1983 where it was given the name "the King of Coins." It was purchased by Mike Bobb in 2001.

NOTE!

The late 1834 to early 1835 period wasn't the last time "1804" Silver Dollars were struck at the U.S. Mint. Between 1858 and 1860, a small number of 1804 silver dollars were illegally struck by an employee of the Mint named Theodore Eckfeldt, and sold to coin collectors through a store in Philadelphia. Two parts of the minting process was improvised by Eckfeldt by striking the 1804 dies into another coin and using another similar reverse where the lettering and clouds are positioned slightly different than the Class I and Class III specimens.

The number of coins minted is believed to be between ten and fifteen, struck with two separate coin dies, known to numismatists as "Class II." The illegally minted coins were hunted down and seized by officials of the Mint.

Today, only one Class II coin exists, residing at the Smithsonian Institution. It is alleged that it has been struck over an 1857 Swiss Shooting Thaler.

Some numismatists and non coin collectors believe 1804 Silver Dollars are counterfeit coins because they were not created in the normal course of business.

But, in the days of yore, in the due course of building its own collection of coins, the mint created or recreated many scarce and rare coins to trade for those it didn't posess. Plus the fact that the eight 1804 Silver Dollars were created by authority in 1834, legal status has been decreed.

Hope you enjoyed this trivia...

Clinker

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