I am very interested in the chopmarks on this coin and would really love to know where this coins travels were b4 reaching my pocket. Does anyone recognize any of these? Or is it even possibe to put a location with a chopmark? For some reason i was thinking a chopmark was sort of like a makers mark. Any info would be greatly appreciated!
You're unlikely to find out more than it circulated in the orient. They were used as a tradesmans mark to accept them back at par this guaranteeing them genuine.
Usually the Southern Chinese ports use chopmarks , I'll try to do a little research to tell where . Isn't there a website of chops ?
If there is a site, that would be really cool. This is my 1st chop coin and i could see myself buying more of these, especially if i could reference the marks.
Oh and if anyone could throw a FMV out there please do so. I tried checking ebay and a guy was asking $260 for the same date and i believe it was similiar in grade/chops Is that way too high? I traded a coin i paid $28 for and a 10 spot for this
I meant what you paid for yours not the 260usd too high.i love to trade+ green and do it when I can-both leave the deal smiling....
Seems that every one of these i run across (non-chopped) is always >$100 and has been cleaned somehow.... I wasnt sure if chopmarks added to the value lowered it or nil.
When you look for a specific coin on ebay you will always see some sellers asking very high prices, much more than the coin is worth, most buyers ignore those sellers. I guess these sellers are trying to hook a sucker.
I think you paid a great price for the coin. I have the exact one, but year 1799. I paid around 40$ for it a few years ago. I can see why he is asking asking this much, It's easy to get caught up in such a neat coin. The one i purchased was the first one i had ever seen, and was instantly fixated on it, and no matter what, I was going to purchase it. I was lucky that i was not caught up in a bidding war, I definitely would have spent more than i should to purchase it. The chop mark's definitely increase the value in my opinion. Nobody in my family collects coin's, but this is the only one people want to see when the subject is brought up. Especially my niece, and nephews, who like to look at it and think about were it's traveled, and who has held it over the last 215 years. I think seeing a old coin; you know it's old, but the chop mark's give it some kind of identity, like you know it's been place's, foreign ports, it's definitely crossed the ocean back when it was only wind power to do so.. Also, i was on another forum were a member posted a picture, and asked pretty much the same thing. It was the same coin, different date or so, but one guy was telling the op if he wanted to sale it, he was interested in buying it. You could tell the guy was caught up with the coin, and never seen one like it, several times thru the thread he was like, "seriously if you want to sale it, I want to buy it".. Ha, didn't mean to rant, and i don't think i helped the OP out at all, but i think you did a great trade for it..Definitely would have did the same..
I like the chop marks, I think they add character to a coin. Same thing with the shipwreck coins, I had to have one (slabbed). And also holed silver coins that were used as pocket watch fobs. I just started collecting Sterling Silver Victorian era Albert pocket watch chains from the UK and many of them used silver coins as fobs.
Colin Gullberg (sp) he's the man who did chop mark coin news and has published a book. My display pic is my chopped British trade dollar. I've just got myself this Japanese occupation chopped coin !
Charlietodd, thanks for chiming in, like you, I had to have this coin. I had never seen a chopped 8 reales b4. Mark24 that is a very interesting coin as well, ive never seen a chopped copper b4......now im wondering if there is a (post your) chopmark thread so i can look at other examples.
The 8 reale was commonly used in the orient because it had a trusted silver to weight ratio. Much like the Maria Theresa in Aden. The colonial powers (and the U.S.) trading to the orient started to mint their own trade dollars to use there too when the 8r became scarce. As for he copper this one is a Japanese Occupation piece shou Zheng (sp) which translates to something like for collection. So that it couldn't or wouldn't be confiscated by the Japanese because they said they were hoarding them for their copper or silver content.
It wasn't that the 8 real got scarce as they were the most plentiful coin at the time , just that the Chinese trusted in them so much , and would pay more for them . The US developed our Trade dollar to try to grab that #1 spot from the Spanish real , as they were paying a premium for them . A great book on the 8 real and the Trade dollar is "The United States Trade Dollar , America's Only Unwanted Coin ." By John M. Willem . Though out of print you can still find it from used book sellers .
I'm sure I had previously read that they were so debased by forgeries and the lack of them being minted in the colonies etc that the powers tried to push their own coins. Anyhow, I've just took pics of my two... As far as I'm concerned chops don't add or detract the value but it depends totally on what you're willing to pay !
