Today we think that coins are easily obtained, either from circulation or from dealers who specialize in certain areas of numismatics. This has not always been true and in the early 1800s there was a different situation entirely, there being no dealers or printed materials to guide the collector.
No doubt there are many collectors who would be happy to transport themselves back in time, find the rarities and then bring them back to the present. Unfortunately, it would not always work even if it was possible to travel to a year such as 1805 and easily return.
The most famous rarity of this era is of course the 1804 silver dollar, of which there are only a few known. The infrequent appearances at auctions show quite clearly that it requires millions of dollars to own one of these prized coins, but it would have been impossible to obtain a specimen in 1805 for the simple reason that they were not yet in existence.
The “original” 1804 dollars, as they are now called to distinguish them from the restrikes made in the late 1850s, were first struck in 1834, and again in 1835, as an integral part of several sets of coins being assembled as diplomatic presents for middle and far eastern rulers. The first 1804 dollars were not actually obtained by collectors until the 1840s, a far cry from 1805.
A second 1804 rarity is the lesser-known, but still very valuable, proof eagle ($10
