1878 S Trade Dollar Help

The technical details of the coin are accurate-enough for it to be given serious consideration of authenticity. However, it's been heavily polished, which pretty much kills its' value. It looks as if it may never have seen circulation, so what could have been a $1500 coin is now a $250 coin at best.

It's a crying shame.

If it's genuine, yes, I'd call it a decent deal. It's the most common Trade dollar, but that's a relative term with Trade dollars, and they don't exactly grow on trees with as much detail as yours shows. Even worse, the polishing was so hard that it likely removed details itself, so the technical grade of the original coin might even have been higher.

Either way, that coin has changed hands from someone (some past owner, not necessarily the one who sold it to you) who had so little knowledge and respect that they wrecked a valuable coin in the interest of making it "pretty," into the hands of someone who can appreciate and respect it. This is a win.

From what I've read around here (no personal experience), it could not hurt to have a TPG look at it and slab it.

I may be wrong in this case though.