1804 Early Silver Dollars (1794-1804)

Intriguing History

No silver dollars were actually struck in the year 1804; the Mint had quietly halted dollar production back in 1803 over concerns the coins were being shipped abroad and melted down. Decades later, in the 1830s, the Mint struck a handful of dollars dated 1804 specifically to include in diplomatic proof sets presented to foreign heads of state, including the King of Siam and the Sultan of Muscat. That paradox, a coin dated decades before it was actually made, helped turn the 1804 dollar into the single most storied rarity in American numismatics.