April 20, 2009Posted by John Dale
Though it’s been a year since Heritage set a company record with its auction of the Mickley-Hawn-Queller 1804 dollar, the experience of holding it (and helping to catalog it!) is still fresh in my mind. Another year, another April, and another Central States Numismatic Society auction have brought many changes, but as it turns out, history has an echo…
I asked the chief cataloger, Mark Van Winkle, for some information about the cataloging schedule. After he gave me the breakdown, I noticed that he’d left out a name.
“What about him?” I asked.
“Oh,” Chief said, “he’ll be busy cataloging the 1804 dollar.”
Wait, what?
I tracked down the 1804 dollar. I wasn’t in a time loop – this was a different 1804 dollar, a Class III and not a Class I, the Carter-Adams specimen and not the Mickley-Hawn-Queller – but the similarities were a touch eerie.
Being in the presence of an 1804 dollar once again was a thrill. This one inspired some different thoughts, many of them centering on local history. Since Heritage has its headquarters in Dallas, I’ve learned plenty of Texas lore by osmosis, particularly stories involving numismatics. Two of the most prominent coin titans from bygone days are B. Max Mehl, coin dealer and promoter, and Amon G. Carter, Sr., who was by turns businessman, philanthropist, and collector.
As it happens, this 1804 dollar passed directly from the first man to the second. It was offered in B. Max Mehl’s Golden Jubilee Sale of May 1950, with the senior Carter (his son Amon G. Carter, Jr., who inherited the piece, was also a well-known businessman-philanthropist-collector) the winning bidder for $3,250. B. Max Mehl kept his offices in Fort Worth, and Amon G. Carter, Sr. was practically synonymous with the city; many have credited his efforts with cementing the “cowboy mystique” of Texas and Fort Worth in particular. As a result, the 1804 dollar did not have far to travel. Mehl and the Carters aren’t its only Texas connections, either; L.R. French, Jr. of Midland County also owned the coin for several years in the 1980s.
The Carter-Adams 1804 dollar has strong ties to Ohio, as well, that will soon become stronger. Its other “name” owner – businessman Phillip Flannagan – hails from the Buckeye State. He once sold it to pay for construction of a school and youth camp near his home. The other Ohio connection is Cincinnati, where this year’s Central States Numismatic Society convention and associated auction will take place.
If you’re planning on coming to the convention, don’t forget to stop by our table and say howdy or hello!
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