Q. David Bowers
Business Strikes:
Enabling legislation: Act of February 12, 1873 Designer: William Barber
Weight: 420 grains
Composition: .900 silver, .100 copper
Melt-down (silver value) in year minted: $1.022P Dies prepared: Obverse: Unknown; Reverse: Unknown
Business strike mintage: 396,900.
Delivery figures by month: July: 99,000; August: 94,000; September: 103,500; October: none; November: 16,400; December: 84,000.1
Additional business strike mintage data: Delivery figures by day:2 July 14: 40,000; July 18: 21,000; July 21: 11,000; July 23: 19,000; July 31: 8,000; August 8: 21,000; August 15: 12,000; August 18: 12,000; August 21: 13,000; August 27: 8,000; August 30: 19,000; September 2: 12,000; September 3: 16,000; September 11: 20,000; September 14: 20,000; September 18: 14,000; September 23: 9,500; November 4: 13,000; November 25: 3,400; December 9: 7,000; December 10: 13,000; December 16: 13,000; December 19: 15,000; December 20: 15,000; December 23: 15,000; December 26: 6,000.
Approximate population MS-65 or better: 10 to 15 (URS-5)
Approximate population MS-64: 50 to 100 (URS-7)
Approximate population MS-63: 60 to 100 (URS-7)
Approximate population MS-60 to 62: 150 to 250 (URS-9)
Approximate population VF-20 to AU-58: 1,250- 2,000 (URS-12)
Characteristics of striking: Many are well struck; however, some have light definition on Miss Liberty's head and on the eagle's sinister leg and talons. Some have slight lightness of striking near the bottom of the obverse-an unusual situation among trade dollars. The lustre on Mint State often is more of a satiny or "greasy" appearance than deeply frosty.
Known hoards of Mint State coins: None
Rarity with original Chinese chopmark(s): Common; more so than unchopmarked pieces.
Proofs:
Dies prepared: Obverse: At least 1; Reverse: At least 2 Proof mintage from Mint Report records: 600 (orb 865 or 500, see earlier text); Monthly mintage figures, believed to be incorrect, per the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint: January June: none; July: 200; August: 100; September: 100; October: 100; November: none; December: 100; The following figures are from Mint records now in the National Archives, the same source used by the Mint director in compiling the Annual Report:
Proof delivery figures by day: July 21: 100; July 31: 100; August 11: 100; September 19: 100; October 23: 100; December 12: 50; December 24: 50.
Proof mintage from other Mint records: Figures, believed to be correct, from other Mint records:" struck from July 1 to September 30: 600; struck from October 1 to December 31st: 265; total 865; unsold 1873 Proofs on hand January 1, 1874: 25, the disposition of which is unknown.
Approximate population Proof-65 or better: 18+/- (URS-6)
Approximate population Proof-64: 38+/- (URS-7)
Approximate population Proof-63: 77+/- (URS-8)
Approximate population Proof-60 to 62: 215+/- (URS-9)
Commentary
The first business strikes were released on July 14, 1873; nearly all were shipped to China; most business strikes known today are chopmarked.
The Beginning of Trade Dollar Coinage
The Annual Report of the Director of the Mint for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1873 told of the trade dollar, its status, and that coinage of the new denomination had not yet begun:
"The trade dollar of silver authorized by the coinage act is designed expressly for export, and has no fixed value as compared with gold. It is in no proper sense a monetary standard or unit of account, and is not included or referred to .when the silver coins for home use are spoken of; the latter being purposely overvalued, as before stated, to retain them in circulation. Having been made a legal tender in limited amounts, it may eventually, if the price of silver relative to gold falls sufficiently, to some extent enter into home circulation, but its export value will always be in excess of that of the subsidiary silver coin, its bullion value or quantity of pure metal being about 8-1/2% in excess.
"The issue of the trade dollar was not commenced until nearly a month after the close of the fiscal year. It has been shipped to some extent to China and Japan,(QDB note: In actuality, few were shipped to Japan. Most went to Chinese ports.)but we have not, as yet, received any account of its reception in those empires. It will no doubt require a year or two for its successful introduction there."