Hello everyone! I was just looking around when I saw this beautiful trade dollar. Everything looks nice with great details. But a friend of mine pointed out that the denticles on the coin look a little weak, especailly on the obverse near the bottom? Why would that be? Thanks!
Imperfection in strike, perhaps ? If the dies weren't perfectly aligned (i.e. flat fields perfectly parallel), one portion of the coin would be softer struck. I would think that commonly affects both obverse and reverse, but maybe not; maybe the side on the stationary lower (anvil ?) die would be more even than the side struck by the moving upper die, which would take the brunt of the imperfect strike. Is the reverse die usually on the bottom ? Overall, the coin doesn't look counterfeit but these Trade $1s are the worst. Be very careful.
Nice looking Trade Dollar , how does the 3rd side look , rim ? The week denticles could just be a week strike , But check everything you can weight , diam. should be 1.5" . rzage
Trade Dollars were created to make trading easier with countries in the Far East like China in the 1800's. They had a similar weight of 90% silver as coins that were used in china at that time.
I believe it is an artifact of scanning. Note that the dentils look a bit faint both at 12 and 6. I have seen it many times on scanned images of these. I can't explain why it happens, but it does. I don't see anything about this coin that screams "fake!" and if genuine it is high grade and very likely MS. Nonetheless, all the usual caveats about buying TD's apply: research seller, email them and extract ironclad guarantee of authenticity,etc.
The eagles on the Trade dollars and Twenty cent piece are amazing in their similarity , I know William Barber designed both pieces wonder why he didn't use the exact same eagle on each . rzage
That is a VERY nice trade dollar. For a series known for ugly, unoriginal examples, that coin is anything but. If I didn't already have one, I'd jump all over it....Mike
p.s. I think the denitcles being weak is just a problem with the scan, and nothing more worrisome than that.
Hey Rusty, your TD has a "micro-s" mintmark, not the same as this one at all. I just looked in Breen, he lists yours as "Type-II rev, Minute S, very rare." Breen 5795. Now, Breen generally has to be taken with a grain of salt, but your coin is not your average 1875-s TD by any means. (I just bought an average one myself, has some cool chopmarks).
Thanks Doc. so I guess it's not a fake after all , kool , thanks for all your research , what book is the best in your opinion for Trade dollars ? rzage:smile
