What would you grade this 1878 S Trade Dollar as? The details are sharp, and the reverse has nicer luster in select areas - not the best eye appeal. I'm wondering if the front is some sort of brownish patina or something else altogether such as staining. Thanks in advance!
Maybe it'll get a "Questionable Color" label, like on this one below? http://coins.ha.com/itm/trade-dolla...-mintage-4-16/a/131522-21325.s?type=NGC131522
I can't say but so much from the photos. It is not uncommon for the obv. of trade dollars to be cleaned, dulling the luster, and then retoned. The uncleaned rev. as in this case has plenty of luster remaining. If I saw it up close my opinion might change. The details look AU, in anycase.
My snap judgement is it's a dip gone wrong. The reverse was more heavily encrusted than the obverse, and failed to come completely clean at the point where the person dipping it dared dip no more. The splotchy appearance is absolutely unnatural. It may be that the obverse die was "weaker" than the reverse die, and the outside limit for the reverse was too much for the obverse. The obverse ended up overdipped and washed out, and the miscreant then artificially toned it - maybe it's smoked, it has that hue - to hide the damage.
Ditto. I haven't handled a lot of Trade Dollars, so I'll be interested to hear the opinions of those that have more experience. This is just my opinion, based on my knowledge from other series. I don't like the toning on the reverse at all. Very unappealing to my eye, but it does seem to have remaining luster. The obverse looks dull as dish water from the photos. The brown toning is even, but it does seem to have been cleaned in the past. Look at the fields on the left and the right and compare them to the small field below the date. They are definitely different.
What is this coin worth? $200, judging by HA's average population grade for a "similar" details condition slabbed PCGS coin above? If I paid $250, then is that "fair" or higher than average? I do think that the reverse has some original luster, minus the negative eye appeal, so that's got to add some value compared to the PCGS one referenced above, right? https://www.ngccoin.com/auction-cen...1878-s-t1-ms-fgrade-50-tgrade-50-coinid-17048
Au details. Cleaned or altered surfaces I see hairlines from cleaning to the left of her face on the obverse. Add to the terrible color and the spotty reverse. Was likely scrubbed in a couple spots then dipped and not properly rinsed. Overall I'd call it an au-55 from a wear standpoint. I'd say worth in the $200 range and completely devoid of eye appeal. This is one of the rare times I'd recommend dipping it white and putting it in a paper envelope to retone
I don't know much about dipping - and choose to stay ignorant about the matter. Maybe it can be flipped as-is as an AU-Details coin for $300 (?). It's got good details and I'm sure that some budget-constrained collectors would settle on it.
Everyone here knows I'm a huge proponent of original surfaces on a coin. This one almost has to have something done to it to be salable. 78-s trades are as common as dirt to begin with for the series. Nearly all the trade dollars I see at shows are 76-8-s or 77p in xf-au and no exceptional eye appeal. And their hard to sell unless extremely cheap. I love trade dollars myself and always have a few nice ones in my cases. But their a very slow seller
I passed on a raw 78-s in xf 45 with nice crusty original skin at $175 a couple months ago just cause I didn't need another 78-s I have 3 now I can't sell I could use an exceptional one with toning in the ms 64-5 range for my own collection tho
Oh I wasn't antagonizing lol. I meant that I don't know much about dipped coins, as you can tell, so dipping's not an option for me as I'm not sure it'll mean much to me. But, maybe I should learn to dip and try it on some pocket change to better learn through experience, and make more sound purchases in the future.
I think unless dirt cheap a good one to stay away. It's a common date and if it was me I'd pay a little more and buy one with better surfaces or eye appeal. Now if it was a 78-cc id say a different story
Yeah I would definitely wait for a nicer one. (I just spotted one in AU55 for sale on the pcgs BST, was going to recommend it but it's already sold!)
