Howdy folks, I just bought this trade dollar and want some more opinions. I am fairly confident that it is the real deal but would love some better eyes to look at it. Pictures do not do it justice. It has graffiti and looks like it was cleaned, but it is starting to tone a nice light blue on the obverse edge. I paid $215. What are your thoughts? It passes the ring test beautifully. My scale bounces between 27.1 and 27.2 grams.
To me, saying harshly cleaned might be an understatement. There is zero luster in any of those pics and still enough crud on the reverse to show the dirt that was there in a few places. I can't speak to the authenticity of the coin, I don't know trade dollars well at all, but that cleaning would have had me passing at any price.
I get that, that’s why I know so little about them… the price. For me personally I’d rather have a nice circ cam even in a low grade though. When I get one I also think I want chop marks on it. There’s something about a coin that put in its work. Mainly though, ask yourself one question. Am I happy with my purchase? If the answer is yes you’ve done well. Remember, your collection is your collection. You get to decide what goes in it.
I plan to put it aside for a few years and see if some toning helps it out. I really like the details on this coin despite its abuse.
Well Josh, I think you did fine. I was not impressed with your first pic (of the reverse), but the second one looked much better. And the edge & obverse look like a very decent coin, albeit, the graffiti & cleaning are problematic for some (not for me ). While I have very many Morgans & Peace Dollars, (I have to have them; it's a disease ), I've never forced the opportunity to obtain a trade dollar specimen, but if I ever do, I will probably do the same as you did. If I had your coin, I would probably not put it aside, but carry it as a pocket piece until it returns to a "more natural state". (If you delve into more trade dollars, you would probably be more discerning, but I like this one. I know how pics on a computer screen generally do not do justice to a coin.) It's your coin & your collection...enjoy!
Here are couple of Trade Dollar in Mint State and then Proof. This one is an MS-63. This is a Proof-64. Heritage did a better job with the pictures than I did. Buying raw Trade Dollars is a real crap shoot unless you know what you are doing. There were counterfeits made in the 19th century and probably more made any where from a few days to a few years ago.
I appreciate your responses. I bought it online under terrible pictures, but enough that I knew it was cleaned. I know Trade dollars are counterfeited left and right, but I like watching them sell. They are my favorite American coin. I sold mine over ten years ago and have regretted it ever since. I considered carrying it as a pocket piece for a while, but I think the graffiti already hurts any chance for improvement. Here are a few more pictures in different lighting.
yeah the graffiti is not going to go away, carrying it around will help dull the surfaces and it may pick up some toning. I think I have a 77s with the kind of look that I like, let me see..... This has the broken arrows rev, kind of scarce, mainly of interest to us TD nerds.
I agree with @cwart. I don't know about the authenticity, but the graffiti and polishing would have made me steer well clear of it. But since you went into the deal knowing it was cleaned, and knowing that Trade dollars are frequently counterfeited, I imagine you got it for a low price. And now I see a couple of folks here have pronounced it genuine, so that's good. Since we're posting them, I'll share mine. I bought it for the CircCam contrast.
