Lot 3128
1882 Trade Dollar. NGC graded Proof 65 Ultra Cameo. Blazing white gem. Pop 3; 12 finer in Proof Ultra Cameo. The surfaces seem to dance from side to side with boiling silvery color, and quite lustrous. The combination of mirror surface plus frosted devices provide a nice, strong cameo effect on this Gem Proof. Sometimes on this issue, as in 1880 and 1881, the devices that were left by the dies are short of the required precision due to weak die pressure, but we find the opposite to be the case here, everything is finely detailed, including the centers, with only a few of the top stars needing attention as not quite up to snuff.
For the fifth year in a row, the only trade dollars minted at Philadelphia were Proofs. The mintage figure of 1,097 Proofs was nearly equal to the number (1,100) of silver Proof sets made of other denominations from the dime to the Morgan dollar. Earlier-dated trade dollars continued to flow into the United States from foreign countries, particularly Europe, causing laborers great stress and loss of purchasing power but enriching speculators who could buy up the demonetized circulated trade dollars at 80 to 85 cents apiece and sell them to companies for a nice profit. The companies forced their workers to take the coins in their pay envelopes. The workers then had to spend them at a discount below face value in stores (where they weren't wanted), suffering a measurable loss!
Back to the rare Proofs, by year's end of 1882, 1,097 Proofs had been struck, the third highest Proof mintage in the series, and one of just three Proof production quantities to break the 1,000 mark. Demand for them seems to have been heaviest earlier in the year.
Estimated Value $8,000 - 9,000.
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