Trade dollar

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Trade Dollars were coins issued by various countries for use in foreign trade.

1 United States
2 Japan
3 United Kingdom
4 References
5 External links

[edit] United States

Main article: Trade Dollar (United States coin)

This 1875-S US Trade Dollar was graded as an MS-60 by the PCGS grading service.

The United States Trade Dollar is a silver dollar coin that was issued by the United States Mint and minted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Carson City, and San Francisco from 1873 to 1885. Business strikes ended in 1878. The coin was designed by William Barber, the mint's chief engraver. More trade dollars were minted in San Francisco than Carson City and Philadelphia combined. San Francisco was closest both to the source of the silver as well as the ultimate destination of the coins, China. Many Trade Dollars have what are called "chop marks" on them. The Chinese merchants would stamp the coins as a way to check their authenticity and to add their advertising logo. Congress authorized the mint to create a trade dollar to improve trade with the orient, China in particular. Prior to that, the Mexican peso had been the primary silver coin used in trading with China. The US trade dollar was minted of 420 grains (27 g) of silver with a fineness of 900 (90 %), about 8 grains (520 mg) more than the domestic silver dollar of the time.

Collectors are warned that recently a large number of perfect copies of trade dollars have been made in China. Purchasing from known dealers or buying sealed and certified coins may be necessary to avoid these fakes.

[edit] Japan

The Japanese Trade Dollar was a dollar coin, issued from 1875 to 1877. It was minted of 27.22 grams of silver with a fineness of 900 (90 %). The Yen coin had 26.96 grams of silver at that time.

[edit] United Kingdom

The British Trade Dollar was minted from 1895, with the last being produced in 1935. Those with the mint mark "B" were produced at the Bombay mint; others, marked "C", were struck in Calcutta. The mint mark "C" can be found in the ground between the left foot of Britannia and the base of the shield, while the mint mark "B" is located in the centre prong of the trident. The 1921-B dollar was struck but never released for circulation, and only a limited number of 1934-B and 1935-B coins were released. Certain dates are found with a new date being over-struck on another; these include 1897-B over 1896-B, 1900-B over 1894-B, 1901-B over 1900-B, 1909-B over 1908-B, 1904-B over 1898-B, 1903-B over 1902-B, 1908-B over 1903-B, 1904-B over 1903-B, 1929-B over 1901-B, 1908-B over 1907-B, and 1910-B over 1900-B. The British Trade Dollar was demonetized on August 1, 1937. * See Britischer Handelsdollar on the German Wikipedia.