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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Vess1, post: 714053, member: 13650&quot;]I didn&#039;t know there was so much hype?</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; I halfway agree though.&nbsp; There are supposedly more fake Trade dollars out there now than real ones.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;The Liberty Seated is just a classic design of U.S coinage that was around for a long time and served the nation well.&nbsp;&nbsp; Some people like it some dont.&nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p>I never really cared for Trade dollars myself.&nbsp; After I learned more about them in a book, I liked them even less. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; A little history that I bet you didnt know....</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; FWIW, they were never intended to circulate in this country, but they were legal tender here to start.</p><p>&nbsp; They circulated mainly out west and in the northeast. After the value of silver declined severely, merchants would rip off their poor immigrant workers by paying them in Trade dollars.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; The situation got messy as people wanted to pay their workers with them but the treasury would only pay out bullion value for them and nobody wanted to accept them in transactions for purchases. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Refusal of Trade dollars for pay could lead to dismissal.&nbsp; While if stores declined them, it was bad for business.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; The treasury finally stopped making them and demonetized them in 1878, hoping they would go away. But they remained a nuisance for another decade.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; It got to be such a hassle that the U.S. government eventually offered to buy them back in 1887 at face value over a 6 month period (at a loss to the government), just to get them out of circulation!</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; Speculators found out in advance, bought all they could for bullion value and hoarded them.&nbsp;&nbsp; Then stood in line to cash them in to the treasury at face value for a nice profit. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;All that were turned in were melted down to be used in fractional silver coins.&nbsp; Ironically a lot of our Liberty Seated coinage you&#039;ve complained about here, were once Trade dollars.&nbsp; &nbsp; Now do you hate them twice as much?&nbsp; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; Yeah, the Trade dollars served their purpose but weren&#039;t really a shining moment in U.S. history.&nbsp;&nbsp; More like an unwanted step-child.&nbsp; The design doesn&#039;t do anything for me.&nbsp; Never cared for the reverse and A LOT of fakes.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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