#1 Trade Dollar Buyer Las Vegas & Henderson

History

The Trade silver dollar was minted from 1873 to 1885. As a result, this is a unique series in that it had a significant overlap with its successor the Morgan silver dollar. In fact, the Trade dollar continued to be minted for eight years after the Morgan silver dollar was introduced. It even overlapped one year, 1873, with its predecessor, the Liberty Seated silver dollar. Like each of these dollars, the coin was comprised of 90% silver and 10% copper. It also had the same diameter, 38.1 mm.
However, unlike these other silver dollars, the Trade dollar contained .7874 of an ounce of silver. The Trade dollar was also only minted in Philadelphia, Carson City and San Francisco.

The Trade silver dollar features an image of Liberty, on the obverse, seated on what appears to be bales of merchandise. Liberty holds an olive branch in her right hand and a scroll with the word LIBERTY in her left hand. IN GOD WE TRUST appears on a platform under the bales. The reverse of the coin has the familiar eagle clutching arrows in one talon and a branch in the other talon. Under the eagle is the weight, 420 grains and the fineness, .900 fine (silver). Displaying the weight and fineness of the coin was particularly important in overseas commerce. While the Trade silver dollar was legal tender in the United States, it was unique in that the coin was issued for circulation in Asia in order to compete with the other “dollar-sized” coins of other countries. As a result of their use in Asia, many coins that circulated there were counter stamped with oriental characters referred to as “chopmarks”. There are differing opinions regarding these chopmarks, but by and large they are viewed as damage and therefore diminish the value of the coin. Eventually the Trade dollar found its way back to American commercial channels, but caused frustration for those using them for payment as they were generally traded for less than one dollar. In fact they do not bear the denomination of “one dollar” on the coin, simply the term Trade dollar. As a result, the Trade dollar was officially demonetized in 1876. It continued to be minted through 1878, but was only minted as proof coins in small quantities from 1879 to 1885.

Value

The value for Trade dollars is somewhat consistent for the non-proof, or business strike coins, starting at about a hundred dollars at the low end and rising to the low thousand dollars for choice mint condition coins. There is a significant premium for those coins minted in Carson City, with the mint state examples being valued in the tens of thousands of dollars. Proof coins range from about a thousand dollars for medium condition examples to about three thousand dollars for high-end examples. The exception to this is the 1884 and 1885 coins. High-end examples of these dates in proof condition can reach up to one million and two million dollars respectively.

Interest in this coin is significant and fakes abound. You should be cautious when purchasing one of these coins. However if you have one and are interested in selling it, bring it to us for authentication. We will not only have our coin specialists determine its authenticity and value for you, but we will make you a competitive, no obligation offer for your coin.

We Buy Trade Silver Dollars

We will always offer a fair price for your coin that is highly competitive if not the best price in town. Our purchase price offer will be based on the condition, rarity, quality and collector demand understanding that the price must also take into consideration a wholesale factor noting that we must resell the coin in order to maintain business.