"Strange as it may appear," said Mr. B. F. Collins, the leading numismatic expert of this city, "the best American coins come from abroad. This is because the best preserved coins are those which have been hoarded. Foreign ship captains are very likely to receive them in the course of business, and having difficulty in passing them in their native land, are likely to put them aside, partly as savings and partly as curiosities. Years later, when the captain and his collateral heirs are dead, they are fished out and get into the hands of dealers. Many years ago, besides, it used to be the practice when a child was born to set aside a complete set of the smaller coins of that date, and frequently they were secured fresh from the mint. If they were carefully kept and have been handed down a couple of generations, they are likely to have a premium value.

"But most of the rare coins now discovered come from the farm. Some man who lives in a very rural region far from the railroad, and who earns his money slowly and does his own banking, may decide to buy a new wagon, and he asks Maria where those old coins done up in a stocking are. These get straightway into the local bank, and the cashier, who has a list of premium coins pinned up beside the window, takes out any which are worth more than their face value. If he lets them go by they are caught in the city bank, or again at the sub-treasury. Very few get as far as the United States Treasury. During all the years I was in the treasury I never came across anything which had any special value. Employees of the treasury are engaged in a small way in coin and note collecting, and are permitted to take good numismatic specimens and substitute their value in other coinage."

Professional coin-dealers, not only in Washington but all over the country, are greatly bothered as a result of a typographical error in a newspaper article which has been going through the exchanges. Among other things the article tells of the payment not long ago of $1,000 for a five-dollar gold piece of the date 1822. But the date was accidentally made to read 1882. There are over three million dollars' worth of the 1882 gold pieces in circulation, and about every man who happened to read that story has been able to secure a gold piece which agreed with the description. And he has been taking it to the dealers and demanding one thousand dollars for it. Many dealers have posted a sign near the door reading: "Which have you — a five-dollar piece of 1882 or one of 1822? The price of the former is $5; of the latter $1,000." When a customer enters in a state of evident excitement his attention is called to the sign.

In a Washington pawnship Mr. Collins recently discovered an article which he prizes highly. It is a gold badge of the Order of the Cincinnati, which was founded by George Washington. It bears the date 1793. The order is undoubtedly the oldest and most honorable of its kind in the United States, and these badges of membership in which have been handed down as heirlooms are naturally regarded highly by their possessors. How came it in the possession of the pawnbroker, whether by theft or by dire necessity, is not known. The design is an heraldic eagle carrying a laurel wreath in its beak. In red and blue enamel in the centre is a miniature which seems to represent a meeting of officers under a tree. It is pendent from a bar and ribbon, and is finished on both sides. The gold in it is worth about $20, but ita value as a curiosity is very much greater.

The government secret service frequently receives material assistance in detecting and punishing counterfeiters from the collectors and dealers in rare coins. The premium values paid for these coins furnish a strong motive for making the imitation article, and dealers are obliged to be on the alert all the time. Altering dates is the practice most frequently resorted to by the operators. This is a much simpler thing than the manufacture of an entirely new coin; in fact so simple that few dealers in the country will accept fine specimens of the most rare coins without a careful investigation of their history. This is notably true of the 1804 dollar, which commands a price in the thousands, and of which there are supposed to be only three or four in existence. In altering the date the electroplating process is employed, and an old 1801 dollar taken as the basis of operations. The figure one is removed and then the whole is coated with a thin layer of wax, through which a figure four is etched. When the coin is put into the planting solution the silver is deposited only on that part from which the wax has been removed. The figure "4" thus produced is carefully finished off with engraving tools and the result is something calculated to deceive the very elect. About the only way these counterfeits can be detected is by the uncertainty as to their history. The man who offers it to the dealer cannot give a connected and substantial account of the channels through which it came into his possession. Usually the coin's biography goes back to a tramp or a saloon-keeper, beyond which point it is vague and misty. The story usually told to account for the scarcity of this dollar of 1804 is that nearly the entire mintage was on board the frigate Philadelphia when she was blown up in the Bay of Algiers to keep her from falling into the hands of the pirates with whom the United States was then at war. If this be true, the genuine article is not likely to become plentiful unless some one does some successful prospecting in the waters of the Mediterranean.

"To the dealer in old coins copper is infinitely more valuable than gold or silver. Many people do not understand this, and jump naturally at the conclusion that gold or silver coins command the greatest premium. To the collector condition is the main consideration. A coin must be perfect to have high premium value. Gold and silver will keep in good condition almost indefinitely. But copper is very perishable. Take a copper cent to-day fresh from the mint and put it out-doors over night and in the morning it will be, from the view-point of the collector, greatly damaged. There is not an absolutely perfect set of American copper coins in the world. A great deal is heard of the 1804 silver dollar, one of which sold for over two thousand dollars. A copper cent of 1799 in perfect condition is infinitely more scarce and would bring a much higher price. But I can with confidence that it does not exist. Mere age counts for very little. I can furnish Greek and Roman coins of absolutely undoubted authenticity over two thousand years old, for seventy-five cents, but a silver half-dime of 1846 in perfect condition I will gladly pay ten times that price for."

Boston Transcript.