1874 Bickford's International Pattern Coin

American Numismatic Society - This past week I have been working on my presentation for the upcoming International Numismatic Congress, which concerns U.S. Trade dollars, the ill-fated silver coin issued in the 1870s for trans-Pacific commerce.

Although the Trade dollar was the only one struck for international circulation, there were some interesting patterns dating to this period of expanding global commerce, perhaps most notably the 1874 'Bickford' $10 coin. Pattern coins are produced for evaluative purposes, but are not approved for circulation. They are usually minted in small quantities to model proposed designs for the mint and government officials. This particular $10 pattern coin was suggested by the seemingly indefatigable Dana Bickford (1834-1909), a businessman and inventor who had the ear of Henry R. Linderman, the superintendent of the United States Mint.



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