Trade Dollars

Collectors are warned that recently a large number of US trade dollars, of various quality have been made in China. Purchasing from known dealers or buying sealed and certified coins may be necessary to avoid these fakes.  Read below to get the history on Trade Dollars.  This will also help you know what to look for when you are adding to your collection.

Trade Dollars

Federal officials faced a dilemma in the years after the Civil War. The Comstock Lode and other Western mines were producing large quantities of silver, but the government could use only limited amounts of it in coinage. This seems puzzling in retrospect, for silver coins were few and far between in circulation (a lingering legacy of wartime hoarding), and Americans presumably would have welcomed major infusions of silver coins. But Mint officials feared that new silver coins would be subject to hoarding as well, since the marketplace was awash with paper money, including fractional currency born of wartime need. People would have been only too happy to exchange these notes, which brought less than full face value, for precious-metal coinage.

For a time, the miners found outlets for their silver, often in coinage form, in foreign markets. Canada, Latin America and Europe all absorbed significant quantities during the 1860s. But then, for various reasons these markets became glutted. In Europe, for example, Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck established a gold standard for Germany after unifying the country in 1871 and promptly dumped huge amounts of silver on the international market.

For the miners and their powerful allies in Washington these developments were doubly disturbing: Not only was it hard to sell their silver, but the market price was steadily declining. Initially, coinage did offer one escape valve: Under a long- standing law, silver could be deposited with the Mint for conversion into silver coins, for which it could then be exchanged. Having no other ready outlet, miners took advantage of this one. Invariably, they chose silver dollars, the one denomination that hadn't been changed when silver coins were reduced in weight (and precious-metal content) in 1853. As a direct result, silver dollar mintages soared above one million in both 1871 and 1872.

But with the Coinage Act of 1873, Congress closed this loophole by suspending further production of silver dollars. And that's where the trade dollar came in: Flexing their muscle, the mining interests won approval for this new silver coin-one that would, in theory at least, not only provide an outlet for the metal, but also open a whole new market for it in an area that was already receiving Congressional attention.



Mexican Trade Dollar

 The market in question was Asia, particularly China. Some U.S. silver had found its way to that region previously, but now a full-fledged offensive was planned. The Chinese had shown a decided preference for silver coins, and up to then the bulk of American trade with China had been carried out with Spanish and Mexican dollars. The trade dollar's architects set out to supplant those rivals by giving the new coin a higher silver content. They even had it inscribed on the coin: "420 GRAINS, 900 FINE."

At first glance, the trade dollar looks much like a regular silver dollar. It's the same diameter and about the same weight as its predecessor, the Seated Liberty dollar, and its portraiture is similar: a seated female figure representing Liberty on the obverse and a naturalistic eagle on the reverse-designs prepared by Mint Chief Engraver William Barber.


Mexican Trade Dollar



 In contrast to the new trade dollar, the regular U.S. silver dollar weighed just 412.5 grains, and the Mexican dollar weighed only 416. But the architects had miscalculated; though it weighed slightly less, the Mexican coin had a higher fineness and therefore contained slightly more pure silver. The astute Chinese recognized this and, in many provinces, gave the U.S. coin short shrift, favoring the Mexican coin.

That's not to say the trade dollar wasn't used. On the contrary, over 27 million went overseas and found their way into Asian commerce, many later being sent on to India in trade for opium. Numerous pieces show chop marks-distinctive Chinese symbols-placed on them by merchants to attest to their authenticity. But usage of the coins never approached Americans' expectations.

The trade dollar's biggest problems occurred not in China but at home. In a last-minute deal, Congress had made the coin a legal tender for domestic payments up to five dollars. In 1876, millions were dumped into circulation in the United States when silver prices plummeted, making them worth substantially more as money than as metal.

Congress quickly revoked their legal-tender status (the only time this has been done with any U.S. coin), but the seeds of serious trouble had been sown. In the late 1870s, employers bought up huge numbers of the coins at slightly more than bullion value (80 to 83 cents apiece) and then put them in pay envelopes at face value. Merchants and banks accepted them only at bullion value or rejected them altogether, so the workers effectively lost one-sixth to one-fifth of their pay at a time when that pay often amounted to less than $10 a week.

Spurned abroad and despised by many at home, the trade dollar soon faded into oblivion. After 1878, production was suspended except for proofs-and even those dwindled to just ten in 1884 and five in 1885.

Like many other "fantasy" coins before them, the 1884 and 1885 pieces were clandestinely struck for Mint crony William Idler and were unknown to the numismatic community until six pieces from Idler's estate were sold by dealer John Haseltine in 1908. Notwithstanding their questionable origin, these two dates are viewed as great rarities today.

In all, fewer than 36 million trade dollars were struck during the coin's 13-year lifespan, including about 11,000 proofs. Production took place at Philadelphia, Carson City and San Francisco. The rarest business strike is the 1878-CC with a mintage of 97,000, many of which appear to have been melted. All high-grade business strikes of the trade dollar are rare to non-existent, leaving proofs to fill most of the demand from type collectors.

The extraordinary beauty of originally-toned proofs entices many collectors to attempt complete proof runs (excluding the virtually unavailable 1884 and 1885, of course). Indeed, any trade dollar is highly prized and sought in pristine condition. Points to check for wear include Liberty's ear, left knee and breast and the eagle's head and left wing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States, A Complete Encyclopedia, Bowers and Merena, Wolfeboro, NH, 1993. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Willem, John M., The United States Trade Dollar, Whitman Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1965. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 48th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1994.  Taken from the article on the website http://www.coinresource.com/guide/photograde/pg_$1Trade.htm

So Called Dollars

This article is taken from the book So-Called Dollars by Harold E. Hibler and Charles V. Kappen.

For the last 85 years or more, coin collectors and dealers alike have used the term "so-called dollars" to designate metals of near-dollar size; at first of a commemorative or exposition nature, later of a monetary kind.  Extension of the term now includes certain kindred pieces not otherwise classified specifically.  Perhaps the first written use of the label was by Thomas Elder, New York coin dealer in his sale of Sept 27-28, 1912, in describing Lot 395, the Theodore Roosevelt medal of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis.  Such items long since have grown in popularity and importance to the extent that they have achieved an independent status and represent a separate and distinct series of their own.

Since the days of the Roman Empire, medals have been prized for their aesthetic value and for centuries artists have found an eternal challenge in this medium of expression.  Certainly in our country there have been numerous outstanding sculptors, known as such to connoisseurs of American art but identified by numismatists largely as coin designers or medalists.  The very freedom of thought and expression provided these artists has produced many so-called dollars of diverse and rare beauty.  Pursuit of such a collection, while sometimes difficult is most rewarding.

The Washington Quarter

 PNG's website highlights different coins each month.  This was the "coin of the month" back in October 2009 but this details the history of the Washington quarter design.

THE WASHINGTON QUARTER

Gary Adkins, PNG #352

 The original Washington quarter was first proposed in 1930, with plans to issue a circulating commemorative coin on the 200^th anniversary of Washington's birth. The intention was that the coin would be made only in 1932, but the law that was passed stipulated that the design could actually become a regular coin and replace the Liberty Standing quarter that by then had seen less than 25 years of service. Plans went forward to hold a design contest and select a model for the portrait, and a decision was made to use the image modeled from life by Jean Antonine Houdon. Within weeks, more than 100 artists were hard at work hoping to win the $1,500 prize that was offered for the winning design.

 

A special panel viewed the entries and chose a model that Secretary Andrew Mellon promptly rejected. He had already chosen another pair of models and insisted that the panel go with his choice. The panel had selected the work of Laura Gardin Fraser, while Secretary Mellon preferred the work of sculptor John Flanagan. Why Mellon was adamant in his decision is not known. Both designs were outstanding, and while the Flanagan design has stood the test of time, the Fraser bust of Washington remained all but forgotten until 1999 when it was resurrected and used on the $5 gold commemorative coin made that year in remembrance of the 200^th anniversary of his death.

Technical difficulties delayed production of the Washington quarters and they were not ready for release in February, but when the coins were released later in 1932, they were an immediate success, and the public seemingly could not get enough of them. So strong was the demand that people continued to ask for them the next year when no quarters were minted, and by 1934 a decision was made to continue manufacturing Washington quarters as a regular circulating coin. From that time on, quarters with the Washington head design have been made every year, and frequently at all three mints.

Over the years the Washington quarter has been a virtual workhorse coin that is used more frequently than any other denomination in circulation. It has also served the nation well through several changes in appearance. In 1965 the 90% silver alloy was abandoned. Thereafter, all quarters made for circulation were made of a clad material consisting of an inner core of pure copper bonded to outer layers of copper-nickel. In 1976 it was selected, along with the half-dollar and dollar, to honor the bicentennial of the American Revolution.

When the Mint's 50-State Quarter Program began in 1999 the obverse design was altered slightly to include some of the wording from the reverse, and allow more room for the state design, but essentially it is the same recognizable image of the beloved first president. The influx of so many new and interesting reverse designs has brought new life and interest to collecting not only quarters, but all kinds of United States coins. The Mint estimates that as many as 130 Americans save at least one example of each new design, and many try to assemble a full set of each of the 50 states. A secondary program was established to extended coinage through 2009 to recognize The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Assembling a complete set of date and mintmark Washington quarters is not difficult. Many of the old silver pieces are still available in Uncirculated condition at prices only slightly above their melt value. Once considered almost too common to save, many of these beautiful pieces have now gone into the melting pots, making those remaining for collectors possible future rarities.