1876 trade dollar

OK, first of all, no dealer in his/her right mind is going to sell a genuine trade dollar for melt unless it is so banged up that it's hardly recognizable.

Second, by polishing the coin, you altered it. Once you alter a coin, the dealer is under no obligation to refund your money. That is a very basic rule of coin buying.

 

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he is not a dealer. he bought the coin from soemone else as junk silver. He sai if you have to take a sample of the coin to see if it is indeed silver to do so. He already said if its not silver he will refund the money. Polishing it a little bit improved the look of the coin and is much less invasive than taking a chunk out of it to test for silver.

 

I'm a little confused here. First you said, "if its not silver I am pretty sure he would not want it back." Now you say, "He already said if its not silver he will refund the money."

At any rate, polishing a coin ALWAYS reduces its value by ruining its surfaces. It might make the coin look better to a novice, but to an advanced collector it makes the coin look unnatural and unattractive.

 

so you are saying you liked how it looked in the first pics? If so than our tastes are different. Like I said before I know polishing a coin is a no no but this coin looked so terrible before it was actually an improvement. I have lots of better coins than this one that do not get handled improperly, rubbed, polished etc. I did not post this so everybody could bash me around and call me a novice. This was a cheap coin that I was unsure was silver by the hideous color it was. I am sure there are trade dollar gurus on here that might be more qualified to comment on its authenticity. It is no big deal if its real or not. If its real and worth more than 18.50 than great. If its not silver and is a cast fake the seller said he would like it back to learn how to tell a real from fake one in the future. It is worth the gamble to me to find out. If I was a trade dollar collector I would not buy a raw coin like this one for a lot of money. Everyone on here is so skeptical though. Does not encourage someone to post when they are belittled

 

I am not trying to bash you around, but you certainly do sound like a novice. That's not a bad word. But you don't seem to understand what I have been trying to say--

Never polish a coin. You bought it raw, you say you know a dealer who used to work for PCGS who could authenticate it, yet you took the coin instead to jewelers who polished it. It doesn't matter whether or not their polishing "improved" its appearance in your eyes; what you did was alter its surface after you bought it, and no dealer is obliged to make a refund on a coin if that happens.

Also, you seemed to think that you could get a trade dollar for melt, from some guy who paid melt for it. Yet anyone who knows what they're doing in this business is not going to sell a genuine, reasonably good condition trade dollar for melt. That should send off alarm bells right there. People here are skeptical, because nearly all of them have gotten burned with fakes during their collecting lives, and your coin looked fishy from the get-go.

Once again, I'm not trying to bash you-- just trying to convey two basics about coin collecting-- Never polish a coin, and if the price seems too good to be true, then it would be wise to be skeptical.

 

There are right and wrong ways to clean a coin . 1st and most important is knowing when a coin needs it , if your coin was real which I don't think it is , it falls into the better cleaned category . One way to clean a coin is to dip it in a acid thioureac dip for about 3 seconds . Polishing a coin will only ruin a coin with scratches and a loss of any luster if there was any to begin with . Also your coin has a Type 2 reverse where the one Collector1966 showed you is a Type 1 so there will be some differences . But if you compare the details you can notice how even his fields are and how porous yours are . These are typical of a coin made by casting , also notice the lack of detail in your coin compared to his .

 

I'm a silver dollar guy myself and I have a few "genuine" Trade Dollars in my collection. It's my personal opinion by judging the images and comments within this thread that this coin is "Non-Genuine"... Nice cast replica though.

Collector1966, you're correct again! "Cast Copy" very mushy fields...probably one of those good China made casts...lol.. I'm beginning to enjoy your knowledge Collector1966, I hope we run into one another frequently here on CT. :thumb:

 

Wow! Less than $20! Those days are long, long gone. Any collector, even a novice should know that you cannot pick up a Trade Dollar for $20, and if you can, and the coin is genuine, please give us some tips. I would be more than happy to pay you for those tips and I'm sure a few other CT members would as well.

I urge you to please look out for yourself when purchasing coins. Get to know a person or a dealer well before you make a purchase and, I also sometimes suggest a second opinion before the transaction is complete. Anyhow, I wish you the best with your future purchases and happy collecting!

 

Yep, I must admit there's a lot of skepticism here on CT. I started collecting in 1952 and still consider myself a novice, because I never took the hobby too seriously, so it doesn't bother me in the least. I must have read "never clean a coin" over a thousand times in these forums. Some members get upset if any coin is mistreated according to their standards. I don't buy into it, and could care less if anyone attempts to belittle me. That being said, I still would have taken this coin to an expert prior to cleaning it... only because trade dollars have numismatic value far exceeding melt value. Either way, it's a personal decision... so don't let it bother you too much. Let us know the final results.

 

It's worth at least $90 in that condition in the blue book, so I don't know why he didn't sell it for that price if it's real. That would be the buy price for coin shops, so you got it at a much lower price than normal.

 

My son bought a trade dollar last summer that had this type of toning/dirt. If you watch the youtube videos on how they make the fakes in China it shows some weird paint they slap on them. I am fairly certain this is a fake. If you compare the reverse to a real trade dollar you will see the leaves in the eagles claw are a little different. The arrow heads are a bit sloppy as well.

 

OP, not trying to pile on, but I agree with others on this thread. Do not EVER have anyone "clean up" a coin. I don't care if this was a junk morgan dollar. By polishing it you just removed money out of your pocket. Also, by "polishing it up" you just abrogated the sellers obligation to refund your money. It doesn't MATTER why you bought the coin, you just DESTROYED it if in fact it had been a real coin.

At this point, consider yourself lucky if the seller refunds your money. Yes, I believe its a fake, however by allowing it to be polished you just destroyed that item. By doing so, you have technically let the seller off the hook.

Let's ignore the fact this most likely is a fake. Lets say you bought two junk morgans, and polished one up. I GUARANTEE you that:

1. The polished coin is now of no interest to any collector
2. You just lost money because now your polished POS is worth LESS than melt
3. The seller will not EVER accept a return on a coin you have destroyed.

Again, not picking on you OP. I am reiterating this so everyone else reading this will not follow your example.

BOTTOM LINE: If you allow anyone to "polish up" a coin, ANY COIN, ANY TIME, for ANY REASON, you just destroyed that coin. DESTROYED IT. No coin is "better" polished than not. NONE. EVER.

Some of us do know how to properly conserve a coin, but you don't, and definitely the retards at that jewelry store don't. If that coin had been real, it should be a criminal act what they did. If it had been real, they would have cost you HUNDREDS of dollars in destroyed value. If you are ever in doubt what to do with a coin, LEAVE IT ALONE!

 

I have to agree!!!! I to am not a Expert but do recall a lot of coin things.
I still recall going to a coin shop in 1956 were you could buy copy's or"Filler coins" that were the same metal as real coin. but Not marked copy til 1972.this could be one of them???
Franklin Mint also made a 1876 1c thru Traded Dollar set but I know that one was marked FM/9.25 on rim.

 

I wish I never would have posted the second set of pics. You say not piling on but it sure feels that way. The way this coin was handled was not my norm and I was not trying to conserve it. I had questions about the color of the metal. Never seen a silver coin tone that color before. People sure like to post their two cents though about this matter. Makes them feel smart I guess. That coin passed through people that knew what it was. I do not think they would have sold it to me for 18 bucks if it was potentially worth hundreds. As far as returning it if its fake I might keep it now. And if it is fake it looks way better than it used to. There were 9 Morgans that were toned badly that I did nothing to. This ought to satisfy some of the angry tribe out there.

 

LCS owner felt 80% sure it was real but condition of coin with rim damage,environmental issues. He thought the coin may either have been in the ground or in a fire. Damage around rims suggested maybe being in a belt buckle.

 

I did not mean it that way sir, please do not take it that way. I wanted to post a no-nonsense, do not ever do it, post. Please remember there are like 100 people who read these boards more than who participate.

I simply wanted everyone in the world to know to NEVER let anyone polish a coin for any reason. What if you bought a morgan for its silver value. You look at the date and it says 1893 S. You think its a fake, so you have your friendly jewelry store "polish it" for you. Guess what? You might have just lost $10,000 or more if the coin is real.

Rare coins are sold accidentally for cheap on occasion. Always treat a coin with respect and as if its real.

That was my point sir. I honestly was not trying to call you out specifically, just using this as an example. We all make mistakes. We learn from them and move on.

Chris

 

If it's real it's worth 165 dollars.

 

and normally I don't touch the coins. This one had serious issues before and polishing took off the abnormal coloring. When I asked him how to be 100% sure instead of 80 he said you would have to send it to a TPG. With the damage to the coin he did not think that logical. He thought the coin had VF details but with the problems would net grade to maybe AG.

 

that's from the dealer that was a PCGS grader ?

 

yes it was