Prooflike Trade Dollar?

Shadow, I think the color of the holder it is in is really messing with your white balance. It is making the coin look gold, and making it difficult to accentuate what you are seeing.

I'm struggling to see wear on the coin, but it could be hidden by the color as well. An AU coin is probably around the $300 mark. In MS it jumps considerably.

I didn't see any past auctions on Teletrade listing anything as prooflike, but that's not to say it's not possible for that coin. I would assume those designations are accross the board for any sample from any denomination.

Hi Shadow,

There doesn't seem to be any obvious wear but I would guess the haze in the obverse field is the result of friction. So, I'm thinking about AU-58 details.

The photos make the coin look unnaturally shiny IMO. I would be concerned that this coin has been shined up somehow. If true, whatever process was used to shine it may also have generated the prooflike fields.

Are you confident this is a genuine coin? If it is genuine (and if the surfaces are original) PCGS will slab it, even with the chop marks. A PCGS slab would make me much more comfortable about buying a coin like this.

I bought this as an AU a long time ago from a reputable dealer, so I'm fairly sure it's genuine. In the second picture, I can't really see any haze, but maybe I'm not looking closely enough....that one is a more natural photograph with natural lighting. I actually thought that the flatness in the hair would signify very light wear.

Are there ways to create a prooflike surface artificially? There are intermittent nicks but I cannot see ANY hairlines or signs of cleaning under high magnification. Really nice coin though since the chopmarks are so minor, but eventually I'd like to own an UNC with no chopmarks.