Picked up a 1879 US Trade Dolar Coin while overseas

Hey Guys,

While I was overseas I picked up an 1879 US Trade Dollar. I've never seen one before and it was only $4 so I bought it. I didn't think it would be worth much. Do you guys think its counterfeit? On the side with the eagle above "Trade Dollar" is an 'S'. I guess this means it was minted in San Diego California after looking at Wikipedia. I saw one wikianswer that said a Trade Dollar from 1879 with mint S is obviously a fake. Is this true?

 

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Sorry but it's true. The US mint did not make an 1879-S. You have a copy.

 

Meh...

Thanks. Its was worth the $4 just because it was interesting. It was piled with some Chinese coins of the same size, so I should have known.:whistle:

 

Huh??????????

 

Well the S mint mark on coins in the US are minted San Fransico. Can you get a picture - I just wonder if yours has any silver in it.

 

I think the S means "Shanghai" in this instance.

 

Another example of the accuracy of Wikipedia. :whistle:

 

I see that starting in 1879 all Trade dollars were made proof. Did the proofs have any mint marks ?

 

Not until 1968, well after the Trade Dollar's demise.

 

That's a good one

 

The price alone should of told you something. If you don't know the actual cost of a real specimen, don't buy it. Especially Trade dollars, the most counterfeit coin coming from China today, along with Morgans.

 

This isn't strictly true. There exist a few scattered Branch Mint proofs of a few coins, although branch mint proofs were by no means the norm and there were no branch mint proof sets. Both the New Orleans Mint and the Carson City Mint were known to make the occasional proof Morgan, and both the 1838-O half and the 1894-S dime were proof only issues.

The quality of the branch mint proofs was not on a par with Philadelphia proofs. The branch mints didn't really know the process of manufacturing a proof coin, so they pretty much made things up as they went along. However, I've seen a couple of very nice branch mint proofs, such as http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=1121&Lot_No=5084, a truly impressive coin in hand that is not likely to be mistaken for a circulation strike any time soon.

Of course, getting back to the OP's question -- a 1879-S Trade Dollar coming out of China has about as much chance of being authentic as I have of getting a date with Jessica Biel tonight.

 

I will agree with your statement that my post isn't strictly true. I hope the OP reads the full description you provided. The proof like dollar you cite met 3 of the 4 criteria for a proof struck coin, so it received a passing grade? All in all the coin you cite was struck with production dies that had been polished in an attempt to simulate a proof struck coin. The mint did not report any proof strikes other than those at Philadelphia.

Too bad about your date with Jessica tonight. :smile

 

Jessica called.


Guess what:
She is busy.

Please call again.

[yeah, right.]