A Valuable Dime

Whoever has a dime of 1894 coined by the San Francisco mint has a coin for which $5 has already been offered, and when all the facts are known rec;arding its searcity it is not unlikely that it will cornmand a much higher preraiuin. Inquiry at the mint elicited the information that during the fiscal year of 1894 only 24 dimes were coined at the San Francisco mint. How this carne about was told by Chief Clerk Robert Barnett. "All underenrrent snbsidiary coins - viz, tho.ie containing other than the design now being usod - when received at the subtreasury are not again allowed to go into circtilation, but are sent to the mint to be recoined with the current design. In the course of the year 1894 ve received a large sum in these coiiis, but having an ampie stock of dimes on hand it was not intended to coin any of that denominatiou in 1894. However, when nearly all of this subsidiary coin Lrallion had been utilized, we found on our hands a quantity that would coin to advantage only into dimes, and into dimes it was coined, making just 24 of them. "My attention was first drawn to the matter particularly by the receipt of a letter from a collector somewhere east rcquesting a set of the coins of 1894. In filling this order I found there were no dimes of that date on hand. Subsequently I received quite a iiumber of similar letters and in each case was of course unable to fnrnish them. "Plenty of dimes were coined that year at Philadelphia and New Orleans rnints, but there are many collectors who accumulate the coinage of each mint, as each has its distinguish.ng mark. Those coined here bear a lettev S under the eagle. New Orleans uses .he letter O and Carson City the letter C, while Philadelphia coins are identified by the absence of the letter. " We receive each year about 50 requests from coin collectors for coins,