Mystery of the Lesher dollars

It's no secret that Victor and Cripple Creek produced millions in gold from mines dug on the back side of Pikes Peak.

Starting with Bob Womack's discovery in Poverty Gulch in 1890, the Cripple Creek district exploded into a world-famous mining camp. Even today, mining goes on in Victor - using a cyanide drip to extract gold. But some say there is another fortune to be had.
Silver.

Not buried raw metal awaiting prospectors with picks and shovels.

Silver, as in hundreds of coins minted in 1900-01, distributed mostly in Victor and said by some to be missing ever since. Coins, known as Lesher dollars, which could be worth hundreds of thousands to the lucky person who discovers the stash. And it may be as easy to find as looking in an old coffee can or shoe box.

Treasure hunter W.C. Jameson wrote about the stash in his book, "Colorado Treasure Tales."

Parts of Jameson's theory are easily proved. Other parts, well, it depends on who you believe.
Here's what is known.

Pioneer miner Joseph Lesher, a native of Ohio, came to Colorado after the Civil War and mined around Georgetown, Leadville and in the San Juan Mountains, according to histories written by coin experts Farran Zerbe and Adna Wilde.
Eventually, Lesher owned a silver mine near Central City, but he saw his business suffer when the federal government demonetized silver in 1873 and caused a crisis in the silver industry.

Lesher followed the rush to Cripple Creek after Womack's discovery of gold in 1890, and he amassed wealth by investing in real estate.

Lesher remained an advocate of silver and, though its value had crashed, he decided to try to spark interest in it by launching production in 1900 of his own silver coins, which became known as Lesher dollars.

Lesher called his coins "referendum souvenir" medals and gave them eight sides to distinguish them from round U.S. currency. Since legal coins were scarce in the mountain West, merchants were glad to have any sort of valuable token customers could trade. So several in Victor agreed to accept them as money.

But Lesher dollars were not legal, and his initial 100 coins caught the attention of federal authorities, who deemed them counterfeit and confiscated his dies.

Lesher redesigned his tokens after consulting with the U.S. Attorney's office to avoid further legal trouble. On the new version, he stamped the name of A.B. Bumstead, a Victor grocer who agreed to redeem them for merchandise.

In the next months, Lesher produced five types of "dollars" in 12 varieties with the names of grocers, jewelers and liquor stores in Victor, Cripple Creek, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Salida, Denver and Grand Junction, and even a merchant in Holdrege, Neb. He also produced one unique coin that he submitted for a trademark.

Lesher told Zerbe in 1914, in an interview at his Victor home, that his Denver mint produced 3,500 of the octagonal pieces, each made of an ounce of pure silver.

To encourage merchants to buy them and accept them in lieu of U.S. currency, Lesher backed his $1 tokens by offering to redeem them for $1.25. Adding the names of businesses was a way to convince people of their value.

But Lesher told Zerbe he lost interest in his silver scheme and quit production in 1901.
A century later, experts such as Wilde could account for only about 1,800 of the silver coins. Before he died on Nov. 16, Wilde said his decades of research and collecting of Lesher dollars led him to believe Lesher exaggerated when he claimed he produced 3,500 coins.

"I can't confirm anywhere near that," Wilde said, noting that fewer than 500 have been found.

But Jameson, the fortune hunter, says he believes Lesher was telling the truth.
In fact, he believes hundreds of Lesher dollars, each worth anywhere from $1,300 to $50,000, are out there, waiting to be found.
In his book, which describes lost treasures throughout the Rockies, Jameson says Lesher's silver coins were hoarded by Victor businessman Zach Hutton.

"Hutton did not quite understand the purpose and the intended temporary nature of the coins," Jameson wrote in his book. "Hutton believed the Lesher dollars were actually produced by the United States government and he perceived them as real money."

Jameson said Hutton kept the coins in two large coffee cans.
"By the end of 1901, Hutton completely filled the cans with the dollars," Jameson wrote. "Concerned someone might want to steal his collection of Lesher dollars, estimated to be several hundred by now, Hutton hid them someplace on his property."
In January 1902, Hutton died of pneumonia.

Jameson and his looters ransacked Hutton's business and home in Victor in search of the stash. They pulled up floorboards and ripped open the walls hunting for the coins.

They were never found.

In an interview from his Texas home, Jameson said he came upon journal notes and a diary that described Hutton and his stash of Lesher dollars.

"I lived in Woodland Park about six years, and I spent time around Victor working on that story," he said. "I chased down some things, looking for historical connections, interviewing people. I was in possession of that story a good long time before I wrote it."
Wilde said he'd never heard of Hutton or the stash in the coffee cans as Jameson described. Another coin expert with his own impressive collection of Lesher dollars said it's possible there are hidden coins awaiting discovery.
"There definitely is a discrepancy between the number Lesher said he made and the number that have been verified," said Chris Marchase, president of Colorado Tokens Co. of Denver.

Marchase is the grandson of former Colorado Springs mayor William "Bill" Henderson, who also founded Pikes Peak National Bank and was a key player in bringing the Air Force Academy and the American Numismatic Association headquarters to the Springs.

After the ANA moved here, Henderson became interested in coins and amassed perhaps the most complete collection of Lesher dollars anywhere. He had 20 of the 21 varieties, including the one-of-a-kind trademark coin that Marchase said is worth perhaps $50,000.

Marchase inherited his love of coins - and the Lesher collection - from his grandfather and has researched the topic. He took his closely guarded collection and visited Wilde in a Springs hospital just days before Wilde's death to talk about the coins and their history.

"Experts like Farran Zerbe and Adna believe there were only 1,800," Marchase said. "But I don't dismiss the possibility there are more. It's feasible."

One reason Marchase said he believes there are more floating around is because a new type of Lesher dollar was discovered in 1998.

"It was in a shoe box," Marchase said. "There was a $10 silver dollar in the box and a Lesher piece worth $15,000."
Marchase said most experts say they believe the missing Lesher dollars were melted down for their silver or were never stamped to begin with.

But Marchase said some experts say they believe Lesher dollars might be discovered in places outside Victor. He notes a 1903 advertisement that encouraged people to use the "famous Victor referendum silver dollars" and listed five "exclusive agents" who would exchange them for merchandise or cash.

The list included agents C.W. Thomas of Florence, D.W. Klein of Pueblo, Boyd Park of Denver, J.W. Slusher of Cripple Creek and Sam Cohen of Victor.

"Who knows what is out there?" Marchase said. "Personally, I believe there is a hoard in Florence. There is evidence that Lesher sent 100 to C.W. Thomas in Florence. They are probably scattered all around the state and in Nebraska, where Lesher had supporters."

As for Jameson's story about Hutton and his coffee can stash of hundreds of coins, Marchase is skeptical.
"Theoretically, it could be out there," Marchase said. "Collectors are always waiting for them to be found. But when they are, it's usually in groups of 10 to 15. Not hundreds. It's possible, but not likely. Who knows?
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contact the writer: 636-0193 or bill.vogrin@gazette.com