Chop Marks on US Fifty Cent Piece

I generally collect Ancients and usually post on the Ancient site but I discovered something interesting when going through my collection just today. I have owned this coin for several decades and in going through my collection today I put this coin under a magnifying glass and saw what I think are two Chinese chop marks on the reverse of an 1807 Bust 50 cent piece. On my admittedly poor quality photos (haven't quite got the hang of this, yet) there seem to be two, one, which is very dark (dirt inside?), taller than wider, above the 50 c. and to the right a much smaller one that looks like an asterisk. I am of course familiar with these marks on crown sized silver coins but I am not familiar with them on smaller coins like this 1807 half dollar. Assuming the coin is a genuine US half dollar with genuine chop marks, are such coins common and how might their value be compared to such coins unmarked?

 

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I think I posted my photos and explanation onto the World Coins thread instead of this US thread but have no idea how to move it. What I have there is a couple photos of an 1807 US fifty cent piece with what appear to be one large and one small chop mark on the reverse near the 50 c. and some questions on whether this is a rare or common happening. If you have any interest in this or want to view it could you go there and possibly answer my questions? Thanks.

 

What I do if someone wants to change threads, I "Report" your post and ask for it to be moved. Only the all powerful administrators can do that.

 

Thanks, I just did that.

 

Chop marks are common on 1800s coins, as they were used in trade and commerce, therefore they circulated through different countries. The chop mark was used to indicate authenticity and silver purity. Its kind of like the iodine pen we have today that marks up $20s and $50s.

 

Yes, I have seen them on many world crown size coins and on US Trade dollars but never seen them on a US fifty cent piece.

 

I already posted this answer on your other thread, but, yes the chop marks are common, and used when the U.S coins were in trade all around the world in the 1800s.

 

I guess it was also "authenticated" in a foreign country back in the 1800s, just like a dollar. And, since its a silver coin, it apparently still isn't safe from chop marks.

 

I'm having trouble posting a link, but there is a thread on Collectors Universe titled "Chop Mark Coin Mini-Summit. "
They mention seated halves, a few bust halves, and a scant amount of other minor coinage that has chops. I believe even the experts have difficulty authenticating chops (genuine vs added later) in some cases though.

 

I found the site by Googling, "Collector's summit chop mark coin summit". Apparently there are a few examples of chop marked capped US bust 50 cent pieces but they seem to be scarce items. The pictured is a coin of little wear and dated 1811. Mine is a well circulated 1807, first year of issue coin.

 

Thanks to member Longshot, if one Googles "Collector's Universe, Chop mark coin summit", there appears an excellent article on chop marked coins, with many pictures. Apparently there are a few such marked coins of US capped bust 50 cent pieces, the earliest shown being an AU 1811 coin. The one I own, from the photos, is a well worn 1807 , first year of issue piece.

 

This is true but coinage of less than dollar or crown size seldom traveled much in international trade so chop marks on lower denominations are much scarcer than on crown size coins. The Chinese wanted larger size coins and greater silver content. That is why they preferred the Spanish 8 reales and later Mexican version over the US dollar. US merchants often had to buy the Mexican coins at a premium for use in trade. (Hence the reason for the higher weight of the Trade dollar.) If the very small difference between those coins caused problems you can imagine the problems getting them to take half dollars.

 

Chop marks on minor coinage is generally scarce to rare. You have a good get there.

 

Thanks, I have started to wonder about that. I tried Googling such coins to get an idea of how much they go for but cannot find any listed for sale. My real interest is ancients and I know that market pretty well. The funny thing is that I have owned this coin for decades and only noticed these marks when I tried out a new lens a couple days ago.

 

I collect chop marked coins along with my specialties and am a member of the Chop Mark Collectors club. If I see a bargain I usually pick it up.

There is a book titled "Chopmarked Coins A History- The silver coins used in China 1600-1935. Colin James Gullberg is the author. He significantly updated the old Rose edition in 2014 and shipped 35 books to the ANA show held in Chicago in August 2014.

I saved postage as I was there and could pack it back home in my luggage. Colin is in the Department of English at Soochow University in Taiwan. A really great bloke and fun to talk with. Colin lists chopped Bust Halves as Scarce. He's been collecting for years and is president the CCC.

The club website/ info page is: http://www.chopmarks.com/info/chop_club.shtm. Scott Semans of Washington State is the US distributor of the book which is very reasonably priced and much cheaper than having it shipped from Taiwan. Just some handy info.
This is a two real that is scarce, the US trade dollar is listed as common. These days some folks try to get too much money for the common chopped coins.

It is a very historical series as the monetary history of China and silver imported coinage. I have a small collection of around 25 chopped coins from various countries. Have fun.

 

Thanks. I will go to that site and see what I can learn.

 

I was at the "chopmark summit" and saw some amazing things including the finest set of chopmarked trade dollars. One person had a number of coins frome Rose's collection including a chopmarked draped bust dollar. Capped bust coins with chopmarks are very scarce . The o.p. might want to message "Tleverage" or "OriginalDan" over at the pcgs forums as they specialize in these.

 

Thanks. I'll do that. Actually I would like to know its worth as I really don' t have much interest in this sort of coin. My interest is mostly ancients and I am not sure about where I got this coin (probably 30 some odd years ago when I did collect US) and had no idea those marks were chop marks or that they might be scarce as a capped bust fifty cent piece.

 

I registered this morning on that site and am awaiting approval before I can post there. I found an article on the chop marks on the scarcity of Capped Bust half dollars with those marks and hope they can give me some idea of their value. Thanks for that information.

 

Cool, let us know if you learn more.