Which One, Which One?

Thanks for the lead. One of my cohorts mentioned http://www.collectorscorner.com/

It's time to take my ebay blinders off!

collectorscorner is okay, but I think they are a search engine with links to the vendors

slabbed w/details!

I am going to have to say just keep trying, and I wouldn't buy a lesser coin that I want nor would I want a problem coin with details. Also raw Trade dollars can be very scary but if you know the person selling "knows what they are doing" and knows what to look for you can get some raw examples and be happy with them, but everyone makes mistakes and you have to remember that some of these fakes of this coin circulated right along side of the real thing so they are pretty convincing and even made of the same material (some even have more silver than the originals), so it takes someone that knows the series to be able to tell with confidence and that is why we try to suggest a graded example of this series to members

Yes it is.

My recommendation would be a coin show, but that may not work for you. I do like the idea of expanding your search to include other online venues. It seems you have a good start with finding places to check.

Coindog, sounds like the "looking for a job" scenerio; it's easier to find one when you have one, than it is if you don't have one.

I'm surprised nobody just said, "bid higher."

Hang in there, keep trying, perhaps take a 3-4 week break from the Trade dollar hunt. Every auction you don't win is a coin you didn't overpay for. I understand your frustration though. I think I came in second in over 50 auctions when I was looking for a Twenty Cent Piece. Took over 6 months but I finally have one (I overpaid according to the market, but not me) and it's one of my favorite coins in the 7070. Every time I look at, I now fondly recall the journey of frustration it took to acquire it.

At those price levels, you don't want your spending to get out of control.
Put some money aside, so you can be prepared, when an opportunity that appeals to you, presents itself.
There will always be top coins around, if you are prepared to throw enough money at them, but I don't that is a discerning enough approach.
Hasten slowly, and satisfy the mild frustration with another lower priced top coin in the meantime.

A lot of the more desirable and pricey coins in my collection have come from a regular postal auction I have been subscribing to for the last 15 years. My approach is to bid on what appeals to me, rather than going high on an item I am looking for.