John Daggett

John Daggett served as the 16th Lieutenant Governor of California from 1883 to 1887. The site known as Calico Junction just south of the mining town of Calico, California, was renamed Daggett, California, in 1883 for Lieutenant Governor John Daggett.

On May 18, 1893 he was nominated by President Grover Cleveland to serve as Superintendent of the United States Mint at San Francisco, a position he held until 1897.

John is associated with the rare 1894-S_Barber_dime. One version of the story indicates that the 24 coins were struck June 9, 1894 to provide a balance of two dollars and forty cents needed to close a bullion account at the Mint June 30, 1894. It was anticipated that more dimes would be struck that year, albeit two or three pieces were obtained by Mint employees eager to have a new dime (with two or three going to Chief Coiner Charles Gorham). The balance were placed in coin bags, destined for circulation.

Another story goes that John had 24 dimes struck as a special request for some visiting bankers. According to daughter Hallie as recounted much later, her father presented three coins each to seven people, with the remaining three given to her with instructions to save them until she was as old as he was, at which time she would be able to sell them for a good price. Apparently she spent one coin on ice cream on the way home; this now well-worn coin is said to have sold for $2.40 in Gimbel's department store in New York City in 1957 and it sold for $34,100 at auction in 1981. Much later Hallie sold the remaining two dimes to California dealer Earl Parker, with one selling in 2007 for $1.9M.

1894-S BARBER DIME