The Stolen Linderman 1804 Dollar Returns After Fourteen Years

A Date Correction Before the Story Begins

The audited CoinCrafters master workbook assigns the Linderman 1804 dollar recovery to March 31, 1982.

Research for this article uncovered stronger and more specific documentation.

Contemporary Coin World material preserved by the Newman Numismatic Portal states that the Linderman specimen was returned to Willis H. du Pont on March 16.

Modern pedigree records from Heritage, Stack's Bowers and other specialist sources give the same date.

The National Museum of American History independently confirms that the stolen Linderman specimen was retrieved early in 1982.

This article retains the event in the March 31 calendar position because that is the master workbook's selected primary story, but it does not repeat March 31 as the documented return date.

A compelling story is not improved by attaching it to the wrong exact day.

The evidence supports March 16.

Few American coins carry more mystique than the 1804 dollar.

It has been called the “King of American Coins.”

That paradox is the beginning of the entire story.

The coins themselves were made decades later.

The Mint ceased regular production of silver dollars after the early 1800s.

No genuine federal silver dollars bearing the 1804 date were produced for ordinary circulation during that year.

In the 1830s, the U.S. Department of State prepared special sets of American coins as diplomatic gifts for foreign rulers.

Edmund Roberts

Diplomat Edmund Roberts was tasked with presenting coin sets during missions intended to expand American trade relationships in Asia and the Middle East.

Officials wanted impressive examples of American denominations.

Mint records indicated that dollars had been coined in 1804.

But those recorded 1804 deliveries had actually consisted of coins bearing earlier dates.

When officials prepared the diplomatic sets, they apparently assumed that an 1804-dated silver dollar should exist.

New dies bearing the date 1804 were created in the 1830s.

The resulting coins looked like an 1804 issue even though they had been manufactured roughly three decades later.

Eight known examples are traditionally grouped as Class I.

Some were placed into presentation sets intended for foreign rulers.

Roberts presented a set to Said bin Sultan in 1835.

A presentation set went to Rama III of Siam.

Its later rediscovery helped confirm that the original 1804 dollars had been made for diplomatic presentation sets rather than in the year appearing on the coins.

Later Mint-connected individuals produced additional 1804 dollars.

A unique Class II specimen survives in the National Numismatic Collection.

It was struck over an earlier foreign coin and originally lacked normal edge lettering.

A later group of restrikes became known as Class III.

These pieces were associated with clandestine or unofficial Mint activity and later received lettered edges.

The stolen du Pont coin recovered in 1982 was not one of the original diplomatic presentation pieces.

It belonged to the later restrike group.

The specimen takes its name from Dr. Henry R. Linderman, an important nineteenth-century Mint official.

He served in senior positions at the Philadelphia Mint and later became Director of the Mint.

The museum states that the specimen was initially Linderman's property and was probably struck to his order.

A rare coin apparently created through unofficial Mint activity later belonged to a man who became Director of the Mint itself.

After his death, Emily Linderman stated that her husband had told her he purchased the 1804 dollar from a dealer and paid for it in installments.

Her sworn statement accompanied the coin when the Linderman collection was cataloged.

The coin's physical characteristics, Mint connections and provenance have led specialists to suspect that Linderman obtained it much closer to the source.

When the Linderman collection was prepared for sale after his death, federal authorities became concerned about the legality of certain pieces.

The 1804 Dollar Eventually Sold in 1888

J.W. Scott sold the Linderman specimen for $470.

The price reflects how famous and desirable the 1804 dollar had already become.

The coin entered the collection of prominent numismatist James Ten Eyck.

The Ten Eyck collection sale brought the Linderman dollar to another generation of collectors.

It eventually entered the collection of Lammot du Pont and then Willis H. du Pont.

His holdings included some of the most celebrated American and world rarities.

One was the Linderman Class III specimen.

The other was the Cohen Class I specimen.

Armed robbers invaded the du Pont home in Coconut Grove, Florida.

The thieves forced access to the coin collection.

They took rare United States coins, world coins and Russian numismatic treasures.

The Linderman and Cohen specimens were among the stolen pieces.

The robbery was not simply a theft of expensive collectibles.

It removed nationally important numismatic objects.

Contemporary accounts describe suitcases filled with stolen material.

The most valuable coins were also the hardest to sell.

Only a tiny number exist.

Each major specimen has a documented pedigree and distinctive physical characteristics.

A common stolen coin can disappear into commerce.

A famous rarity carries its identity with it.

Specialists know which specimens are in museums, which are in collections and which have been stolen.

A person trying to sell a legendary coin often needs an expert to confirm it.

The expert may also confirm that it belongs to someone else.

The robbery occurred in 1967.

The coin did not return until 1982.

In 1980, American Numismatic Association authenticator Tom DeLorey received a call from a man in Las Vegas.

He suggested that the coin might be one of the stolen du Pont specimens.

No rational buyer would pay serious money for an alleged 1804 dollar without expert confirmation.

The proposed seller did not appear.

The trail seemed to end.

Later, an 1804 dollar was brought to ANACS in Colorado Springs for authentication.

The American Numismatic Association Certification Service was then an important authentication operation.

Its specialists examined coins for genuineness at a time when sophisticated counterfeits and altered rarities posed major problems.

He determined that the coin appeared genuine.

Then he compared it with photographs and records of known 1804 dollars.

What had arrived as an authentication question became a stolen-property investigation.

ANACS personnel alerted federal authorities.

The Coin Stayed Put

Instead of disappearing back into the market, the rarity entered a controlled recovery process.

The key was not merely knowing what a genuine 1804 dollar looked like.

It was knowing which genuine 1804 dollar this one was.

Genuine does not mean legally marketable.

A coin can be authentic and stolen at the same time.

For high-value rarities, ownership history matters almost as much as authenticity.

On March 16, 1982, the Linderman specimen was returned to Willis H. du Pont through his family's attorney in a federal office in Denver.

Contemporary reporting documented the transfer.

One of the collection's greatest treasures was finally back under lawful control.

The Cohen Class I specimen had not returned.

The Cohen dollar surfaced in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1993.

Linderman: recovered in 1982.

Cohen: recovered in 1993.

Accounts of the du Pont robbery sometimes compress the two recoveries into one story.

They should remain separate.

After its recovery, du Pont allowed the rarity to be displayed through the American Numismatic Association.

Collectors could see a piece that had spent fourteen years missing.

In 1994, the Linderman specimen entered the National Numismatic Collection.

The coin that once passed through private collections, survived armed robbery and triggered an FBI-assisted recovery now belongs to the nation.

Its institutional home also allows its complicated origin story to be told openly.

The Smithsonian notes that it shares the weak central strike characteristic seen on other Class III dollars.

Die state, strike, marks and surface characteristics can distinguish one famous specimen from another.

Ownership records trace the coin through time.

That chain gives the specimen historical identity far beyond its date and denomination.

Collectors routinely identify famous rarities by specimen names.

A King of Siam specimen, Linderman specimen and Cohen specimen are all 1804 dollars, but their individual histories are radically different.

At the highest level of numismatics, provenance becomes biography.

Understanding the Linderman coin requires understanding the broader family.

These were struck in the 1830s in connection with presentation sets and related official needs.

The unique Class II survives in the Smithsonian and was struck over an earlier Swiss shooting thaler.

These were created later, associated with unofficial Mint activity, and received edge lettering separately.

Its rarity is not diminished by that status.

Its strange origin is one reason collectors find it fascinating.

No merchant in 1804 received it in change.

No bank paid it out that year.

Yet It Is a Genuine U.S. Mint Product

That tension is central to the 1804 dollar's mystique.

The date and manufacture year do not match.

Some specimens arose from legitimate diplomatic needs.

Others arose from questionable later Mint activity.

Rare coins can emerge not only from legislation and planned production but from administrative mistakes, insider access and collector demand.

By the late nineteenth century, collectors already regarded it as one of America's greatest rarities.

Value increased incentives for counterfeiting, theft and deception.

The same publicity that made the coin worth stealing made it difficult to sell anonymously.

The Linderman dollar was missing for fourteen years.

But once it entered expert hands, its identity could not easily be disguised.

A seller needed authentication because the coin was so valuable.

Authentication exposed its provenance because it was so famous.

Today PCGS, NGC and specialist dealers routinely examine high-value rarities.

Stolen-coin databases and digital images make provenance checking even more powerful.

Someone has to recognize that a coin does not merely look genuine—it looks familiar.

The recovery depended on numismatic knowledge intersecting with law enforcement.

Numismatists supplied the specialized identification.

Federal authorities supplied legal recovery power.

Dealers, authenticators, auction houses and researchers can make famous stolen coins difficult to monetize.

A market in stolen rarities undermines trust in provenance and ownership.

Other stolen coins from the collection surfaced over later decades and were identified by knowledgeable numismatists.

Its appearance in Switzerland eventually led to its return.

Other celebrated du Pont rarities—including unique or extremely rare 1866 No Motto pieces—also resurfaced after long absences.

But their pedigrees wait for them.

Catalog descriptions, photographs, weights, die states and ownership records accumulate.

For a coin like an 1804 dollar, anonymity is almost impossible once experts examine it.

Its biography connects:

• nineteenth-century Mint politics,
• the creation of clandestine restrikes,
• legendary private collections,
• one of America's most famous coin robberies,
• ANACS authentication,
• the FBI, and
• the Smithsonian Institution.

The coin has been part of the Mint, private collecting, criminal history, authentication history and museum history.

The date created the legend.

The later history created the biography.

The 1804 dollar is not America's rarest coin in a simple numerical sense.

Its reputation comes from a combination of scarcity, mystery, historical importance and long-standing collector fascination.

Generations of collectors knew the 1804 dollar as an almost mythical object.

Every Specimen Became a Celebrity

That is why the Linderman coin could be recognized decades after disappearing.

They could hide the physical coin.

They could not erase its identity.

Without photographs, pedigrees and specialist scholarship, a genuine stolen rarity might be much harder to prove.

Cataloging die varieties and pedigrees is not merely academic.

It can establish ownership and recover stolen property.

The National Numismatic Collection preserves the coin for research and public education.

Its controversial Mint origins, theft and recovery are now part of the public record.

Private owners naturally emphasize rarity and value.

A national museum can place the object inside broader histories of money, government and collecting.

It invites questions immediately.

No.

Yes.

No. It is Class III.

Yes, in 1967.

Yes, in 1982.

It belongs to the Smithsonian's National Numismatic Collection.

And every answer leads to another layer of American numismatic history.

The master workbook preserves four separate “Also on This Day” entries.

None has been promoted over the user-selected 1804 dollar recovery story.

On March 31, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved legislation authorizing up to 15,000 Cincinnati Music Center commemorative half dollars.

The coins were produced at Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco in roughly 5,000-piece quantities from each facility.

Constance Ortmayer designed the issue.

The reverse features a kneeling female figure holding a lyre.

Later numismatic historians have criticized the program as one of the more speculative commemorative promotions of the 1930s.

On March 31, 1971, Mint Director Mary Brooks and Treasury Assistant Secretary Eugene Rossides started production of the first silver-clad Eisenhower dollars at the San Francisco Assay Office.

The Mint's contemporary release explicitly celebrated that milestone.

The collector coins used a special silver-clad construction with an overall composition of 40 percent silver.

Philadelphia and Denver produced copper-nickel clad dollars for ordinary circulation.

Dwight D. Eisenhower appears on the obverse.

The reverse adapts the Apollo 11 mission insignia with an eagle landing on the Moon.

March 31, 1988 also changed the institutional map of the U.S. Mint.

The West Point Bullion Depository officially became the West Point Mint.

The same law restored San Francisco, which had operated as an assay office since 1962, to official Mint status.

The facility had produced cents, commemoratives and bullion pieces before receiving formal branch-mint status.

On March 31, 1995, the Mint released the Civil War Battlefield commemorative program.

Three Denominations

The program included a clad half dollar, silver dollar and $5 gold coin.

Surcharges supported the Civil War Battlefield Foundation and the preservation of historically significant battlefields.

The Mint's historical sales figures list 893,468 coins across the program.

Any of them could support a substantial article of its own.

The Linderman recovery remains March 31's primary CoinCrafters story because it combines one of America's most famous coins with robbery, authentication, FBI involvement and eventual museum preservation.

Research now indicates that the master workbook should ultimately be reconsidered if exact-date fidelity is the goal.

Multiple specialist pedigrees and contemporary Coin World reporting identify March 16, 1982 as the date the Linderman specimen was returned.

Unlike some calendar dates, March 31 is not short of well-documented numismatic events.

The Cincinnati authorization, Eisenhower first strike, West Point/San Francisco status law and Civil War Battlefield release all have locked exact-date documentation.

If the repository later requires every primary article to correspond to an exact event occurring on its displayed date, March 31 should be reviewed rather than leaving the recovery attached to an unsupported day.

The story remains here.

The factual correction remains visible.

The Linderman dollar's return demonstrates that rare coins carry identities.

It has a die state.

It has marks.

It has photographs.

It has a pedigree.

It has a history.

The record waited fourteen years for the coin to reappear.

That recognition turned authentication into recovery.

And eventually it went somewhere even more permanent: the Smithsonian Institution.

In March 1982, the Linderman specimen of the 1804 silver dollar was recovered after fourteen years missing from the collection of Willis H. du Pont. Stolen with another 1804 dollar and numerous other rarities during an armed 1967 robbery, the Class III Linderman coin resurfaced through ANACS, where authenticator Tom DeLorey recognized that the genuine rarity might be one of the missing du Pont pieces. The FBI became involved, and the coin was returned to du Pont on March 16, 1982. The audited CoinCrafters master currently assigns the recovery to March 31, but the stronger documentary record supports March 16 as the actual return date. Du Pont later donated the Linderman dollar to the Smithsonian, where its remarkable history—from questionable nineteenth-century Mint restrike to famous collection, armed robbery, expert recovery and national museum—can now be studied by the public.

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ALSO ON THIS DAY

1936 — Cincinnati Music Center Half Dollar — Congress authorized the Cincinnati Music Center commemorative half dollar

1971 — Eisenhower Dollar: 40% Silver — San Francisco began production of the 40% silver-clad Eisenhower Dollar

Related Coin History

• The U.S. Mint Recreates the Legendary 1804 Silver Dollar in Gold and Silver
• Armed Robbers Steal One of America’s Greatest Coin Collections
• Thieves Rob the Philadelphia Mint's Coin Cabinet
• The First Eisenhower Dollar Trial Strikes Are Made in Philadelphia