By Jack D. Young
The U.S. Mint manufactured trade dollars to promote silver mines in America and to compete with large silver coins used in trade in Asia.
The diameter of these dollars is 38.1 mm (1.5 in) 90% silver, 10% copper weighing 27.2 grams with a reeded edge, produced between 1873-85.
They are so much in demand, especially in higher grades bringing hundreds and thousands of dollars, that China–which originally inspired the manufacturing of this coin–exports thousands of fakes to America.
The first image here is of one of the bad not-PCGS slabbed examples from my collection; both the coin and the slab are fakes. The second shows the common reverse I nicknamed the “dotted N.”
Counterfeit coin and fake “PCGS” slab; image courtesy author
The obverse had several marks I noted in white circles and was used early on but seemed to be abandoned for a different die going forward.
eBay listing example
Some of the obvious features are the “die chip” over the “N” of UNITED, the long “spaghetti hair,” a dent at the top of the “A” of TRADE, a common “CC” not attributable to a genuine example, and a couple others that may or may not show in all of the images.
And a simple attribution note about the reverse type for a particular date Trade dollar, I use this image as reference:
This common “dotted N” reverse is Type 1 and should NOT be seen on any coins dated 1877 and later.
In my regular eBay coin listing review I found the next example:
Reviewing the images I found this common reverse; I notified the seller, and he pulled the listing. After more discussion, he alerted me to this follow-up listing, which I “won”:
eBay listings of this 1875 “dotted N” reverse Trade Dollar
Having this example in hand afforded the opportunity to take some higher resolution images of the main counterfeit attribution points.
”Dotted N” image of author’s 1875-CC example
”Dented A” image of author’s 1875-CC example
Another of what I term “family counterfeits” is included here with images of other dates I have documented so far–including a bizarre “1791”!
As I often do during the research phase of an article, I post in several forums I frequent for other hobbyist’s opinions.
The following image was a response to my post in PCGS’ CU forum; The poster stated the image goes back to February 2023. It appears to be the same (common) reverse.
Image (used by permission) from the PCGS CU Forum OP
The next group of images are for other dates that would have genuine examples with the Type 1 reverse, but of course not this one!
And a date that should only have the type 2 reverse:
eBay listed 1877-CC “Dotted N” example
Interestingly, I do not have images of an 1878 dated example.
But the counterfeiters continue to create improbable examples like this “P” (no mint mark) 1877 with the otherwise common reverse:
eBay listed “Dotted N” non-CC mintmark example
Continuing with their improbable “numismatic creations” is this “1791” Trade with the “dotted N” reverse! The image isn’t great, but the dotted feature is plain enough.
eBay listed 1791 “Dotted N” counterfeit Trade Dollar
We have documented several different “families” of current counterfeits based on reuse of the same reverse die with different dated obverses. They continue to use these, often creating improbable die varieties that collectors experienced with the series can flush out.
But that takes experience and learning over time. Articles like this are intended to alert collectors about the current counterfeit threat of these coveted, historical coins.
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