Q. David Bowers
Obverse Type I and Type II
During 1876, William Barber redesigned the obverse master hub of the trade dollar, and sent new working dies to the coiners of all three mints. The coiners at the Philadelphia and San Francisco mints received at least one Type II obverse dated 1876; the Carson City Mint, apparently only Type II dies for 1877 and 1878. If the Type II obverse is one of the two new hubs for fiscal year 1877, mentioned in a Mint report of July 7, 1877 cited by R.W. Julian, then it must date to after July 1, 1876, excluding the possibility that 1875-dated coins exist of Type II/I or II/ II.
John W. McCloskey, Ph.D.,For many years Dr. McCloskey, of Kettering, Ohio, has been publisher of The Gobrecht Journal and, probably more than any other person, has advanced the cause of collecting Liberty Seated silver coins by die varieties.) in an article, "Obverse Varieties of the 'U.S. Trade Dollar," in The Gobrecht Journal, July 1978, first described in print the two obverse types:
1. The Type I obverse has both ribbon tails (the ribbon on which LIBERTY is imprinted) pointing sharply to the left. Three fingers on Miss Liberty's right hand are below the olive branch (her index finger is missing). Both RT of LIBERTY and ST of TRUST touch.
2. The Type II obverse displays open ribbon ends, the right tail pointing down between the words WE and TRUST. Four fingers on Miss Liberty's right hand are below the olive branch. Both RT and ST are apart.
John McCloskey suggested that the proper nomenclature to distinguish the obverse and reverse would be as follows:
Roman numerals I/I signify a coin with the Type I obverse and Type I reverse. A coin described as I/II has the old obverse with the new reverse. One described as II/I would have the new obverse with the old reverse (no such coins exist, so far as is known). One described as II/II has the new obverse and the new reverse. Dr. McCloskey went on to say that all 1873-4 trade dollars he had examined were of the I/I combination, and all those dated 1877 and later were of the II/II combination.
Throughout the descriptions of individual years and mintmarks I render the type descriptions as I/I, I/II, and II/II.
Trade dollars of 1875 and 1876 are a mixture:
1875 business strikes: I/I and I/II. Proofs: I/I and I/II.
1875-CC I/I and I/II 1875-S I/I and I/II.
1875-S/CC I/I.
1876 business strikes: I/I, I/II, and II/II. Proofs: I/I, I/II, and II/II.
1876-CC I/I and I/II.
1876-S I/I, I/II, and II/II.
As of the time of his study, Dr. McCloskey had not discovered any such thing as a II/I variety, and correctly concluded that the new reverse must have been introduced prior to the new obverse. He said that the varieties of I/II for 1875-S, 1876, 1876-S, and 1876-CC did not seem to be particularly rare. The II/II variety "seems to be difficult to locate before 1877," he noted.
The same writer told of the appeal of the denomination: "With hub varieties on both obverse and reverse, mintmark variation in size and placement, common dates and rare Proof-only issues, patterns and chopmarked pieces, there is truly something for everyone in the trade dollar series."
The type combinations of 1875 and 1876 need additional study, especially concerning relative rarity of the various issues. Very little has appeared in print since Dr. McCloskey's effort, and Walter H. Breen's Encyclopedia contains only sketchy information concerning issues that exist with Type I and II obverses (although information is given concerning reverse types). The information given in the present book represents much new research (primarily conducted by the author and Mark Borckardt) and in some entries is different from that given by McCloskey and Breen.
Reverse II Sub-Types<
In a study of hundreds of Type II reverse coins conducted in 1992, I noticed certain subvarieties in addition to the regular Type II. These are hardly new discoveries, for David Proskey knew of certain of them by January 1928. I observed the following; more varieties probably exist:
Type II: Regular type, with comma after GRAINS; rightmost leaf tip in branch is blunt. Seen on the following: 1875 I/II, 1876 II/II, 1877, 1877- CC, 1877-S, 1878-CC, and 1878-S.
Type IIa: Anomalous type, with large period after GRAINS (much larger than the comma on IIa); rightmost leaf tip is pointed. Seen on the following: 1876-S II/II and 1877-CC.
Type IIb: Anomalous type, with large period after GRAINS, with a tiny, almost subliminal tail to the bottom of the period (not quite giving it the appearance of a comma); right most leaf is blunt. Seen on the following: 1876-S I/II.
Type IIc: Anomalous type, with comma after GRAINS; leaf tip pointed. Seen on the following: 1875-CC I/II.
The preceding anomalies, IIa, b, and c, do not represent an alteration of the basic design, as all of the letters, inscriptions, designs, etc., are in the same spatial relationship to each other and to the border denticles. They probably represent alterations to working hubs or dies. Type IIa is very distinctive; Types IIb and IIc are less so. Perhaps additional sub-types exist.