Notoriously, the only reason that the U.S. 1879-1880 $4 "Stella" gold coin exists is that when the Treasury Department was seriously considering minting it, a couple hundred copies of a sample design were made and given to each of the U.S. Senators at the time for their approval. The final decision was to not make the $4 coin. But the Senators were not asked to return the sample coins, and shortly afterwards Washington D.C.'s higher-class brothels started reporting that they had gotten lots of funny-looking $4 gold coins and were they real? Coin collectors snapped them up, and they still exist.
Notoriously, the only reason that the U.S. 1879-1880 $4 "Stella" gold coin exists is that when the Treasury Department was seriously considering minting it, a couple hundred copies of a sample design were made and given to each of the U.S. Senators at the time for their approval. The final decision was to not make the $4 coin. But the Senators were not asked to return the sample coins, and shortly afterwards Washington D.C.'s higher-class brothels started reporting that they had gotten lots of funny-looking $4 gold coins and were they real? Coin collectors snapped them up, and they still exist.
Fred Patten