Q. David Bowers
Numismatic Information
Circulated grades: In worn grades the 1873 trade dollar is quite scarce. It is estimated that only about 1,250 to 2,000 exist, making it second only to the 1875 among Philadelphia Mint coins at this grade level.
Mint State grades: Nearly all business strikes were shipped to China. At the time there was virtually no numismatic interest in business strikes of either Philadelphia Mint or branch mint issues, as nearly all collectors acquired pieces by date sequence only. It was not until the publication of Mint Marks in 1893, by Augustus G. Heaton, that the collecting of mintmarks became popular, and even then it did not extend to the trade dollar denomination. Business strike trade dollars were not widely collected until well into the twentieth century.
Until relatively recent times-the decade of the 1970s-business strikes of Philadelphia Mint coins were ignored in favor of Proofs, which were considered to be a better quality. Today, the Proof finish is rightly viewed as a different quality; a different method of finish. To give credit where credit is due, the New Netherlands Coin Company in its catalogues of the 1950s and 1960s, and Walter H. Breen in his various writings, are responsible for the increase in awareness of the desirability and rarity of business strike Philadelphia Mint coins.
The survival of Mint State coins at or near the time of issue was strictly a matter of chance. As was the case with the 1840 Liberty Seated silver, there was no "first year of issue saving syndrome" with the 1873 trade dollar.
Probably fewer than 150 to 250 MS-60 to 62 coins exist. There seems to be a concentration of somewhere between 50 and 100 each at the MS-63 and MS-64 levels, after which the population drops off precipitously to perhaps 10 to 15 MS-65 coins. Some specimens show lightness of striking at the top of the obverse or the bottom of the obverse and/or on the eagle's sinister leg.
Proof mintage records ambiguous: Proofs were struck for collectors beginning in July 1873, at which time 200 were produced. More followed each month through December, except for November. The Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, 1887, which gave monthly production figures for all trade dollars-Proofs and business strikes-from 1873 through 1883, stated that 600 were produced as follows: July: 200; August: 100; September: 100; October: 100; November: none; December: 100. I believe this to be the correct figure, based upon the number of surviving specimens today.
However, numismatic researcher Harry X Boosel located internal Mint records which were not specific by months but which indicated that Proofs were made as follows: Struck from July 1 to September 30: 600; struck from October 1 to December 31st: 265; total 865. According to the same account, 25 unsold 1873-dated Proof trade dollars were on hand January 1, 1874. The disposition of these is unknown. I believe that there is an inaccuracy in this account, but offer no explanation, except perhaps to suggest that some of the coins were Proof patterns.
Another possibility (less likely) is that just 500 Proofs were struck. This figure would result in an even number of 397,000 business strikes plus 500 Proofs for the year, for a total production (per Mint records) of 397,500. The correct answer to the Proof mintage of 1873 may never be known.
Walter H. Breen suggests that about 200 Proofs of this date were sold to souvenir hunters (rather than numismatists); perhaps most of these were later spent. (Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of us. and Colonial Proof Coins, p. 146.)This would account for the existence today of low-grade Proofs. Among Proofs seen in numismatic circles, many have been cleaned and/or are lightly struck in areas.
Proofs not popular in 1873: Numismatic tradition holds that Proof trade dollars at the time of their initial issue were unpopular with numismatists. Proofs were sold as part of silver sets, and separately at $1.75 each in paper money or exchange draft; $1.50 in silver coins. It is my opinion that most Proof 1873 trade dollars-probably more than half of them-were spent. The same comment applies more or less to all other Proof trade dollars through and including the year 1877, with the earlier dates being the rarer ones. At some times during the late nineteenth century when the government would not redeem them at par, Proof trade dollars were held in such low esteem that coin dealers were willing to sell them for less than face value.
Proofs rare today; an explanation: Today, this situation affects the numismatist who owns one in that Proofs of the 1873-1877 years, once unwanted, are very difficult to locate in any state of preserva-tion, and are especially so in Proof-64 or Proof-65. However, market values have not reflected this rarity, for the later-date Proof trade dollars, 1878-1883, are rarer as dates, because no related business strike mintages were produced. Thus, in the early 1990s the typical coin buyer entering the market would find a "rare" Proof 1880 trade dollar, of which 1,987 were struck, to be ostensibly more attractive to buy than a hard to find Proof 1873, with a Proof mintage of 600 (or 865?) coins, for 1873 trade dollars also exist in large numbers in business strike form.
Today, the 1873 is the rarest Proof date of the regular 1873-1883 issues.
Open 3 note: All 1873 trade dollars from all three mints have Open 3 in the date.