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 Replies: 24 / Views: 2,362 |
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Valued Member
United States
67 Posts |
Hi I'm new to the forum, and I don't quite know my way around yet, so if this is the wrong place to be asking the question, I apologize. I own an 1874S Trade dollar which appears to be uncirculated. It has some light contact marks, but no sign of wear as far as I can see. However, it has two small and two very tiny dark spots that look like tarnish near the rim on the obverse. I wonder how they affect the grade of the coin. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
Pictures please. Pictures do tell 1000 more words than you can possibly describe. A warning though, that a fair amount of counterfeit Trade dollars do exist. I hope yours isn't one of those. |
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Valued Member
United States
254 Posts |
Welcome to the site, Diane!  I don't have a good answer to your question, but I'm sure someone here will be able to help you out. Regards, ~neuron |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
I have to tell you the Trade dollar is one of the most counterfited coins on the market right now (not saying yours is just making a statement)if you could take some pictures of the coin it would allow us to see the size of the spots that sound like they could be PVC damage. If the spots are big enough or if they are in a distracting enough place they could bring the grade down but without pictures it is impossible to say if either f these are the case. If it is PVC acetone may be able to remove it if it hasnt eaten into the coin but again we would need pictures to know that also |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
604 Posts |
Here is a question was it struck or poured
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Valued Member
 United States
67 Posts |
I scanned the 1874S Trade dollar obverse and include it here. It seemed as if the image is not nearly so bright as the actual coin. It also seems that the dark spots on the coin don't show up as dark on the image as they really are. I am strictly an amateur at all of this, as you may be able to tell.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
604 Posts |
Its a fake it looks to good to be a real one. I'm sorry Diane but It is a very nice counterfiet
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7123 Posts |
Hi Diane
Any chance of getting both sides of the coin ?
I dont see anything that jumps out at me that would make me think it is a fake .
Rick
Rick
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
I don't either and that is a big assumption you made there BuffaloBoy5 without seeing the reverse to look for a bad die marriage (If you arent sure what you are looking for just do not say anything because some coins are very valuable and for someone to tell you that your prized possession that you paid a good bit for is a fake can be heart breaking even if they dont know what they are talking about, and its just not how we operate here on this forum).There is definately nothing on the obverse that tells me its a fake, it looks like it could be a good coin. And about the spots, is it the two spots near the knee of Liberty? if thats the spots it looks like it could be a start of PVC. What do you store these coins in? if it is a 2x2 throw that away because its not doing its job, if its a flip do the same thing for the same reason. All of this is just speculating that the spots werent there when you aquired the coin yourself
Edited by Bryan1315
06/26/2006 4:02 pm
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Valued Member
United States
67 Posts |
OK, here is the reverse, which I scanned before I ripped the coin out of the holder it was in. (It was a doubled cardboard with some kind of transparent film covering the hole on both sides, glued shut I think and then stapled four times. It took me a while to get it out, using gloves that were too thick for the job, but I didn't want to touch the coin. (I'll have to get some thin cotton gloves right away.) I've had the coin for a long time, but I hadn't looked at it recently. I don't know what condition it was in when my father bought it. Now that I'm looking into what I have, I wish I had paid more attention when he was into the intricacies. (I was a kid and just liked the coins because they were so pretty.) My father had annotated this coin BU (which I guess isn't used any more). It certainly is brilliant, though I can't swear to the uncirculated. I wrapped the coin back up in a piece of acid free paper. I wonder what kind of holder I should get for it and the other good coins that are now in those folders that I guess are bad. I hadn't noticed the spots at the knee before I scanned the coin and looked at the blown-up image. The spots I was referring to are not very visible in the scan, but they are all near or right in the edge on the obverse. The biggest one is under the 4 in the date, and it's about the size of the 4. There's one above the cap and slightly to the right, in the decorative rim. There's one by the lowest star on the left, and I forget where the 4th one is, as I can't see it in the scan, and I'm sort of afraid to unwrap the coin again until I get something proper to put it back into. But the spots appear much darker on the coin than they do in the scan, and the surface of the coin looks much shinier.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1703 Posts |
Diane, Welcome to the CC forum. I'm by no means an expert on Trade dollars but I cannot see anything on your coin that would raise a red flag. Others on this board are much more qualified than me on this subject. As far as protecting the coin,I would purchase an airtite for it. They are inexpensive and would give exellent protection. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Hi Diane, scanned pictures of coins do not show the true luster of the coin. Scanning usually results in a dull grey appearance for silver. In regards to the dark spots, do you see any pitting or green goo around them? They could possibly just be toning on the silver.
PVC, aka polyvinyl chloride or #3 plastic, is a type of plastic that some coin flips used to be made of. Plasticizers in the PVC material sometimes leech out and cause a chemical reaction with the silver in coins. This usually results in greenish "goo" followed by pitting in the metal itself, irreversibly damaging the coin.
Natural oxidation of silver (toning) can occur on uncirculated coins such as yours. The color can range from a dark grey/black to rainbow colors in rare cases.
Edited by biokemist6
06/26/2006 4:45 pm
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Valued Member
United States
458 Posts |
Hi Diane!! First of all Welcome to our forum!! Right off the bat I'll tell ya that I am not an expert on these great coins. So I'll post some info for you & a little history. This coin was issued for circulation in the Orient to compete with dollar-sized coins of other countries. Many peices that circulated in the orient were counter-stamped with Oriental characters, known as "chop marks". They were legal tender in the U.S., but when silver prices declined, Congress repealed the provision and authorized the treasury to limit coinage to export demand. In 1887, the Treasury redeemed ALL Trade dollars that were not mutilated. The law authorizing Trade dollars was repealed in 1887. Some modifications were done to them when minted a few follows. Reverse#1: Berry under eagle's left talon; arrowhead ends over over 0. Used on all coins from all mints in 1873 & 1874, and occasionally in 1875 & 1876. Reverse#2: Without extra berry under talon; arrowhead ends over 2. Obverse#1: Ends of scroll point to left; extended hand has only three fingers. Obverse#2: Ends of scroll point downward; hand has four fingers. Since you received this beauty from your dad, I would be willing to bet it is legit. It certainly looks legit but hard to say cause scanners is not best way to take a picture. As for its grade I'll post what the Red Book says to wit: AU-50--Slight trace of wear on Liberty's left breast & left knee & on hair above ear, as well as eagles head, knee & wing tips. MS-60--No trace of wear. Light blemishes. Soo, IMHO, I would venture to say using your picture now, I would venture that the coins IS a AU (About Circulated) coin. Your pics show some wear on the left breast and left knee, so therefore, it cannot be Unc. As for its approx value, I would guess mind ya about $250.00 for AU-50. A quick search on ebay shows from a low of $122 in AU-50 to a high that was actually won @ $445 for an AU-55 specimen. Finally, there were 2,549,000 of these beauts minted. I hope this little info helps-- O yea, besides using the hard plastic, I use an item called SAFLIP, they are inert double pocket coin flips for which you can purchase I believe about 50 of them for reasonble price. Also storage is key to preserve coins, and a nice dry, dark place helps preserve them. One more thing I forgot to add, Weight 27.22 grams; composition .900 silver, .100 copper; diameter 38.1mm; reeded edge; mints; Philly, Carson City & San Francisco. CiscO Edited by CiScO
06/26/2006 5:34 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
986 Posts |
First of all, Welcome! Make sure that the 2x2 it's stored in has a mylar opening, not PVC. If you want to be sure of it's authenticity, I would recommend you send it to PCGS, NGC, or ANACS. Your local coin dealer can send the coins to PCGS and NGC for you. If you want to send it to ANACS, you can do so without going through your dealer. Hope this helps! Edit: Here are the links to the three grading services: www.anacs.comwww.pcgs.comwww.ngccoin.comEdited by fengk
06/26/2006 5:58 pm
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
O_O Now, that's making a proper forum entrance. Welcome, Diane. All appearances point to a real Trade dollar, but the visual clues, as you might have realized by now, are not always enough. Given that, if uncirculated, your coin could be worth $1000+, I'd suggest getting it to some sort of verification service. I'm emailing you. Edited by SsuperDdave
06/26/2006 6:29 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
Now that is a different story - it DOES seem like a genuine coin, which is a great relief to the coin community Congradulations to you Diane! Apologizes to my rude post in the beginning - I have seen too many counterfeit coins and have lost trust over "generic" enquires on such coins. But I guess it is once in a blue moon which makes everyone's day on the coin forums |
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Replies: 24 / Views: 2,362 |
Posted 06/26/2006 10:35 am
