1901 Silver Lesher Dollar HK-791a, Imprint Type, No Serial Number

Coin Details

Description

HK-791a is a Lesher Referendum Dollar from the series struck in Victor, Colorado, between 1900 and 1901 by mining man Joseph Lesher (1838-1918). The merchants who accepted and counterstamped Lesher's dollars came from five Colorado towns plus one in Nebraska: J.M. Slusher, a Cripple Creek grocer (260 pieces); Sam Cohen, a Victor jeweler who later became a prominent New York attorney and authored 'Gold Rush De Luxe' in 1940 (50 pieces); D.W. Klein & Co., a Pueblo liquor dealer (100 pieces); George Mullen, a Victor shoemaker (100 pieces); Boyd Park, a Denver jeweler (150 pieces); W.C. Alexander, a Salida jeweler (50 pieces); and several others including Goodspeeds & Co. of Colorado Springs and J.E. Nelson & Co. of Holdrege, Nebraska. Lesher's private coinage operated in a legal gray area regarding the federal government's monopoly on currency issuance. According to his 1914 interview with Farran Zerbe (1871-1949), the legendary ANA figure, government agents seized the dies used for the initial and Bumstead types. However, the American Numismatic Society collection, donated by Zerbe himself (including 2 obverse dies, 1 reverse die, 2 punches, and 3 bed plates), complicates the seizure narrative. Zerbe published his account in the American Journal of Numismatics in 1917, and Lesher estimated his total production at 3,000 to 3,500 pieces. So-called dollars acquired their name because they are not true dollar coins but rather privately issued medals that approximate the size and weight of U.S. silver dollars. The collecting specialty emerged in the early 20th century and was formalized by the Hibler-Kappen catalog, which organized hundreds of diverse pieces — from exposition medals to political tokens to private monetary experiments — into a coherent collecting framework.

Rarity Notes

Lesher Referendum Dollars are rare across all varieties, with total mintage estimated at only a few hundred pieces per type. The J.M. Slusher (no serial number) variety is among the more frequently encountered Lesher varieties, though still genuinely rare. Die variants and alternative compositions tend to be rarer than the standard types. These pieces are highly prized by collectors of both so-called dollars and Western Americana.

Cross References

HK-791a; PCGS #643507