I lack only the Trade dollar and Seated dollar With Motto to complete my "holey" 19th century Type set. This one was recently offered to me. I expressed an interest. Then the person who offered it to me said he didn't want to sell or swap it- he wanted to GIVE it to me! And he insisted, after I tried to refuse the outright gift and offer him a swap instead. Now, being given a Trade dollar- even a holed and scratched one- is cool enough. But look closer... this is an 1873-CC! With a mintage of only 124,500 pieces, making it the second-lowest mintage of all the Carson City Trade dollars, behind only the 1878-CC. Without the hole and scratches, this would be a $1K+ coin! Assuming, of course, that it's real. I personally see no reason to doubt it, though I'm not a T$ specialist. So I thought I'd ask. What do you think? Here is a picture of the Holey 19th Century Type Set from a year ago. Since this picture was taken, I have completed all but the Trade dollar and Seated dollar With Motto, as mentioned. And now it looks like I've got the Trade dollar, too.
It'll look fine n' dandy in my holey corkboard collection. Heck, even if it was fake. I could use it as a hole filler (no pun intended). The price is right, after all...
I think it looks pretty good. Of course the hole would knock the weight off, but I would weigh it to see where it was at. Trade dollars have been a favorite of mine for many years and I have owned several. This by no means makes me an expert, but I have seen a lot. Yours has the characteristics that I look for: uniform denticles, correct star details, foot and Liberty banner solid, etc. I have just never been fortunate to come across a CC yet.
She's been roughed up quite a bit which leads me to believe she's the genuine article. If the price is not offensive, and she fits the slot intended, you've nothing to loose.
Well, I dunno... what would you say about that price? $0.00 sounded pretty good to me. I'm not offended at all.
Half a dozen different flavors of Details (holed, gouged, rim damage, cleaned, scratched, graffiti...) but I see no reason to doubt authenticity. You might as well spin it on a hard surface and see if it rings like silver.
If that is a fake, it has been thoroughly abused. As for plating, try looking inside the gouge in the obverse field, and look inside the hole. See if you can find evidence of plating. The coloration on the high points is weird, but if it was jewelry it might just be wear/polishing
The 1873-CC Trade dollar has arrived, and it doesn't look bad for a holed piece that's been around the block a few times. It has a slightly polished and toned-over appearance to it, like it was a jewelry piece or on somebody's watch chain once upon a time. While I would certainly let it nowhere near my primary (slabbed) collection, it is a perfect fit for my "holey" collection. It is also the only Carson City coin in my present ownership. Luke M, who gifted it to me, is going to get a reciprocal holey coin gift in return. A while back he bought my holey Indian cent date set. I'm going to give him this 1864-L Indian from my type set, for his date set. He should be the one to have the better-date Indian. I'll just replace it in my type set with a more common date holey.
I'm late to the party, but it looks like the real deal to me. (to f/u on KBBPLL, it would be fun to see it in a slab with all its various indignities crammed onto the label)
