PCGS graded this (XF40), considers chop marks a variety, and CAC stickered it. So... why does NGC call it "details"
Because of the chop marks. The US mint made the coin but not the chop marks. We know they are, chop marks, but we also know that chop marks are a form of damage.
Chop marks are a part of the way we traded and circulated money across the world. I have no problem with Chopped coins. I would have loved to handle those bags, watched them to assayed. There is a pillar dollar that is covered and in a display at one of the dealer's shops. I would love to have that Dollar one of these days.
I think chop marks are interesting, and maybe make a coin more desirable. But when a TPG says "that's not damage", to me, it makes the entire concept of third-party grading seem ludicrous.
TPG's 'Detail' submissions for numerous reasons. When it comes to Trade Dollars, personally, I wouldn't be averse to buying a chop marked, Details slabbed specimen. Now if the reason for the Trade Dollar being 'Detailed' was due to cleaning, holed, graffiti (love coin type), I'd stay away. But that's just me. I like the history of the chopped Trade Dollars. It tells a story. Gives it the working coin 'attribution'. YMMV
It is an evolving situation. Chopped coins were considered to be damaged. They are. Over time they have become popular. In the 90's no TPGS slabbed the chopped coins except PCI which put them in a red label (problem) slab as "Chopped" or "Chop Marked." Gradually, many services straight graded them. I was unaware NGC still considered them to be damaged coins - which they are.
PCGS graded it xf40, and CAC stickered it. What do you think it would grade without the chop marks? I'm in the "chop marks are interesting and just a sign of circulation" camp - but then, I own the coin. Especially on a trade dollar, the chop marks seem to me as just part of the function of the coin, at the time.
I guess I'll start "chop marking" my change and put it back in circulation. Maybe in a century or so, after I'm pushing up daisies, the TPGs of the day will start considering them not damaged.
Nah, I think the contemporary equivalent "sign of circulation" would be scrapes from roll wrappers. Or maybe pock marks from being run over in a parking lot. Maybe I'll send a few moderns to PCGS with a note to that effect, and if they bite, try it with CAC.
Chop marks on trade dollars are considered a special type of damage that PCGS allows to be present on a coin given a "problem free" grade, presumably due to the market treating them as not as undesirable as the other damage, or even a light cleaning. They have registry sets specifically for chop marked coins, and they have a different coin number from the unchopped coins, meaning you can't use a chopped coin in a normal registry set. If they "details" graded a chop marked coin, with the way their registry works the coin would only get one point for being in a set, regardless of the details grade.
Okay, that makes sense. I still don't like several of the premises of registry scoring and inclusion, but given those, this is the obvious conclusion.
As long as there's a numeric grade along with a "chop marks" language, I don't really care if it's considered a damaged coin or not. But forgive my ignorance. Is there any way to tell when the chop marks were made?
I'm sure there are folks who have studied these marks for decades. I don't know them; however, I have been looking inside them using high magnification and there are clues. One thing I will say is that it is easy to tell if the chop was put directly into the coin or transferred on to a copy by the area at the edges of the mark, the surrounding surface, and sometimes even the coin's other side.
