Two Rare “Hard Times” Dollars

Sale: CNG 75, Lot: 1342. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 23 May 2007.  Sold For $850. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

UNITED STATES, Maryland. Baltimore. Houck’s Panacea. 1834-1844. AR “Dollar”. “Hard Times” issue. HOUCK’S/PANACEA/BALTIMORE in arched incuse countermarked on obverse of a 5 Francs of the French Directoire, dated L’AN 6A (KM 639.1). Rulau HT144. Coin Fair, countermark VF, toned. Extremely rare on this host coin and unknown with this date.

Born in Frederick, MD, Jacob Houck moved to Baltimore in 1828, where he opened a dry goods store at 121 W. Baltimore St. In 1834 he began marketing his panacea, unique in the world of patent medicines, because it claimed to be made solely of vegetable matter (unlike those composed largely of alcohol and opiates), and from 1835 to 1842 is listed as its manufacturer in the Baltimore City directories. An active entrepreneur, he counterstamped a number of different US and foreign issues circulating at the time to promote his product.