I recently taught another round of the Coin Collecting merit badge for some Boy Scouts, and one of the Scout's mothers had these images of a trade dollar on her phone. Apparently it is owned by a relative of hers. She did not know what it was and asked me; of course I know what a trade dollar is; however, I'm unable to determine why the obverse has the textured background. Were there varieties with this textured surface in the fields, or was this one "decorated" with chop marks by some eastern merchant? Please tell me what you can.
