Q. David Bowers
Proofs
Because Proofs were meant to save, not to spend, substantial percentages of the original production quantities for many issues still survive, mainly in private collections, dealers' inventories, investment portfolios, estates, and a few museums. Estimating the number known, while it cannot be done with scientific precision, is a much easier task than evaluating the surviving population of business strikes.
Business Strikes
Business strike trade dollars were made for circulation in the Orient, and the vast majority went to China, although in the first few years some circulated domestically. Many exported coins were chopmarked in China, as described earlier. Other coins in the Orient were stored in banks and by major commercial houses, did not pass hand to hand as frequently, and were not chopmarked.
In the 1930s countless thousands of trade dollars were imported back into the United States from China, for reasons not clear today. Large numbers remained in Chinese banking circles throughout the end of the decade. John Willem has written that in Hong Kong as late as 1951, U.S. trade dollars were trading "at 90% of the value of the standard silver dollar although its intrinsic value is greater. ... By late 1955 collector demand for the trade dollar had sent its value, regardless of condition or date, to 16 Hong Kong dollars, or $2.56 U.S. funds at the official rate of exchange."
Willem also told of two Chinese people who wereseized upon their entry to the United States in 1936. Each carried over 1,000 United States trade dollars. As there was no legal reason to seize the trade dollars (no duty was payable on them and there were no regulations against their importation), the two unfortunate immigrants were released. Apparently, they were unable to find a better market for their coins than a local bank, which paid 50 cents each for them}
Echoing what Willem had to say, Hans M.F.Schulman, well known New York dealer in coins of the world, told me that United States trade dollars were available in seemingly unlimited quantities from the Orient during the 1940s. Others also have told of large numbers in Hong Kong in the late 1940s and 1950s.
It was Schulman who related that after World War II there was not much of a market in the United States for circulated trade dollars, and common coins in grades such as Extremely Fine went begging in dealers' stocks. However, there was a better market for trade dollars that had been chopmarked, as these had a "story" to go with them and were more appealing to advanced collectors of world coins. Hans Schulman would buy trade dollars from dealers in New York City and mark them with his own chopmark punches, thus increasing their value!
The Experience of James F. Ruddy
On a trip to Hong Kong in 1960 to buy coins, James F. Ruddy- sought to buy as many trade dollars as possible. Arriving in the city, he spent two days visiting coin dealers, many of whose names were furnished by Chen Cho-Wei, a local numismatist. The typical dealer conducted his business from his room or other lodgings, or as part of a pawnshop or money exchange. Nearly all had a reasonably current copy of the Guide Book of United States Coins and were knowledgeable on the subject of trade dollars, scarce dates, etc. None was a coin dealer exclusively, but conducted his trade in connection with some other endeavor.
While chopmarked coins existed in quantity in the hands of these dealers, relatively few pieces were unmarked. Jim Ruddy recalled that one would have to inspect 10 to 20 coins or more to find a single unchopmarked specimen. This was a tedious affair,scarce dates, etc. None was a coin dealer exclusively, but conducted his trade in connection with some other endeavor.
While chopmarked coins existed in quantity in the hands of these dealers, relatively few pieces were unmarked. Jim Ruddy recalled that one would have to inspect 10 to 20 coins or more to find a single unchopmarked specimen. This was a tedious affair, and a couple of days later he had succeeded in buying three coins here, eight coins there, a single coin somewhere else, and perhaps a dozen or so in another location. It became clear that Hong Kong was not to be a coin dealer's dream come true. Of course, the numerous chopmarked coins were inexpensive, but at the time there was relatively little market for these back home in the United States.
After visiting numerous coin dealers, Jim had another idea. He contacted the concierge of the hotel where he was staying, the Miramar, and asked for an English-speaking guide. Soon, David Kwan, a fine, knowledgeable gentleman, was at Jim's side, and took him to jewelry stores and other potential sources of trade dollars outside of the coin-dealing community. As luck would have it, they went to the King Fook jewelry store, one of the largest and most elegant in Hong Kong. It turned out that the owners had been saving American trade dollars for years, with no particular purpose in mind. While the vast majority of these were chopmarked, nearly 1,000 weren't, and it was these that Jim was able to buy for the equivalent of $3 to $5 each in United States funds. Jim gave David Kwan a nice tip, and Mr. Kwan responded by taking him to a fine dinner aboard a boat in the Aberdeen district of Hong Kong.
As might be expected from their mintage figures, such trade dollar issues as 1874-S, 1875-S, 1876-S, 1877, 1877-S, and 1878-S predominated among those James F. Ruddy purchased, although there were some of the scarcer Carson City coins as well.
The Experience of Robert Johnson
In an interview, long-time San Francisco rare coin dealer Robert Johnson told of purchasing quantities of trade dollars in the 1950s: (Interview with the author, March 13, 1992. Robert Johnson, together with Arnold Rosing, John Skubis, Earl Parker, and Leo A. Young, was one of the most active professional numismatists in the San Francisco area in the 1950s.)
In the course of looking through many bank bags of circulated Morgan dollars I never came across even a single trade dollar. However, I remember that Earl Parker-you remember Earl-and I found a source for trade dollars from overseas. Dave, you know we used to buy these for less than a dollar each. I remember one hoard of 450 pieces we bought at 76 cents apiece. This would have been around 1954. They came from the Orient. Some had chopmarks 'on them and others didn't, probably about in a ratio of 60 with chops for 40 without. Some of them were lightly chopped, maybe with just one mark, and others were very heavily chopped. The dates were mixed.
We sold them for $1.00, $1.25, or $1.50 each for most coins, depending on the quality. We always sorted out the dates, and when I found CCs, these were a bit better. I naturally made sure that I either got a little bit more for them or put them aside. However, the coins were basically S-mint material with a small smattering of Philadelphia Mint coins and very few CCs. I think that between Earl Parker and me, we must have handled at least a couple thousand trade dollars in the 1950s.