Lot 992
1877-S. NGC graded MS-65. Lightly toned on both sides. A radiant gem of the kind of quality one likes to describe for bidders of this actively collected design. Trade Dollars were minted for only 21 years, 1873 to 1883 to be exact. The business strikes vary from being satin-like to somewhat prooflike. This well struck specimen has some cartwheel spin to the luster which blends effortlessly with pale neutral gray toned highlights on the frosted surfaces. Struck with systematic care throughout including all stars, Liberty’s hair and coronet, the drapery folds and sheaf of wheat on which her arm rests (wouldn’t that itch something awful?); while on the reverse, the eagle gives a nice account of itself. There are full claws, full chest plumage, and crisply defined wing and neck feathers. 1870s San Francisco Mint production at its finest!
Read what America's premier 20th century coin curmudgeon, Walter Breen, had to say in his opening remarks about the Trade Dollar invading the lives of an unsuspecting public:
"The issue of this coin was an expensive mistake -- its motivation mere greed, its design a triumph of dullness, its domestic circulation and legal-tender status a disastrous provision of law leading only to ghastly abuses, its repudiation a source of hardship for Pennsylvania coal miners and other laborers held in virtual peonage by company stores, its recall a long overdue but very mixed blessing, and its collection a source of decades of frustration."
Now, one may argue Breen's point about the Trade Dollar design being a triumph of dullness. William Barber, the coin’s designer, produced a very concise and respectable depiction of Lady Liberty. His eagle, unembellished with the standard (some might say silly) Union shield, he used a second time when the bonehead 20 Cent piece was authorized by the same fine cigar-puffing Congresscritters two years after the Trade Dollar premiered. Compare the Trade Dollar’s so-called dullness to our lovely Susan B. Anthony and Ike Dollars, or some of the nondescript Commemorative coins whose artists must have been trying to out-compete their predecessor’s level of banality. That said, does not such an opening Breen paragraph whet your appetite to learn more about the United States Trade Dollar's remarkable story? We haven't the space to fill in the details further here, but if this has piqued your curiosity, why not pick up a copy of his mammoth Encyclopedia of US and Colonial Coins and read it through. He has much more to say about these utilitarian coins. Pop 28; 6 finer, 4 in 66, 1 in 66 Star, 1 in 67.
Estimated Value $8,000 - 8,500.
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