I recently got back into the hobby after decades of my Whitman albums collecting dust and decided to got the type route and fill a Dansco 7070. I've been eyeing Trade Dollars for quite a while and love the history of ones with chop marks. I bid, and won, the one below but after reading the long Trade Dollar Fakes forum thread, I'm still not sure if it's legit. I know it's been cleaned, and I'm fine with that, but thoughts on authenticity? Also, there appears to be a weird "ST" in the brick below the liberty banner. I don't have the coin in hand yet, but can post more pics in a few days. (The seller does accept returns, so that's good!) So, hate to be yet another "Is it real" post, but really appreciate the expertise on here!
Looks good to me. If the seller knew that they were selling a fake I would expect that he would NOT accept returns. This seller accepting returns is a good sign.
Type I obverse and reverse, as expected. Dentils look weak in spots on the reverse, but that could just be the photography. I'd dismiss the ST as pareidolia, but that's pretty darn distinct. I'm no Trade Dollar expert, so I might be missing something obvious. Here's a good old thread on authentication...
Here... But Like -jeffB, I'm thinking it's just my brain playing tricks. I'll be curious to see it in person.
If it were mine, I would weigh it. I think this one looks legitimate. The major details look right. I have seen fakes with chop-marks, but I would comfortably add this to my collection.
You mean liking the chop marks? I get why someone would want a pristine version of the coin, but the history of the Trade Dollars is so fascinating and the thought of a Chinese merchant in 1876 weighing this and smacking his mark into it just tells such a great story to me. (And, look at that thing, whoever they were, they weren't playing around when they marked it - they nearly went through the dang coin!)
There's something to the right of the olive branch that looks too straight to be a die crack. And from that spot going south to 9 or 8 o' clock there are raise bumps on the rim.
I think it'd absolutely real. I will second the old cleaning. A common date. Especially chopped. As a lot of the type 1 trades were shipped overseas should weigh 27.2 grams. Possibly slightly under due to wear but only a gra m or 2x
Yeah what I expected. I thought real. I have no doubt now. Not a date a fake. Contemporary or modern would be that good of. 74-s would likely be a quality Contemporary counterfeit or a low grade transfer die Chinese fake I can spot a mile away And they're never right weight as they're not proper metal
Yes it’s the real thing. Trade Dollars circulated in the Asian countries to compete with similar coins from other countries. Different merchants in the Far East didn’t trust other merchants chip marks so you can find coins with numerous and different chop marks. The one you showed in your opening post has at least 3 different chop marks that I can see, maybe four.
