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TRADE DOLLARS [1873-1885] The coin above is a mint state example of the US trade coin. This piece was minted, not for domestic use, but rather, as an aid to American merchants doing business with China. When it came to doing business with Westerners, the Chinese preferred payment in a known and respected silver coinage – the Mexican peso, or 8 reale coin. The new US dollar trade coin was intended to compete with the Mexican coin, thus saving American traders the premium they had been paying for the silver pesos. Although heavier than the Mexican peso, the coin never really caught on. |  |
CHINESE MERCHANT CHOPMARK as it appears on the front side of a US trade coin. Merchants receiving silver in commerce would punch their mark of approval – a chopmark – onto the surface of coins passing through their hands. Some of these coins, along with Mexican pesos, have been found covered with these marks, which were not regarded in the Orient as defacement, but as enhancements that encouraged acceptance and circulation of these coins. |  |
TRADE DOLLAR PROOF coins like this 1876 specimen were struck for collectors rather than circulation. Like all proof coins they display the coin’s design to its greatest advantage. Every detail of the coin is razor sharp. The fields, the large open areas of space surrounding the principal design elements, are mirror-like in their reflectivity. Proof examples of these coins were never struck in large quantities. From 1879 thru 1885, the final years of production, only proofs were coined. |
