The price of gold and silver may fluctuate over time. This creates price movements within the coin market as well. One such group of coins that seems to always hold its value relative to scrap coins and relative to other numismatic coins are the U.S. Trade Dollar coins. While there are of course never any guarantees that prices stay strong nor that they will rise further, some coin collectors have looked for coins that are at least somewhat insulated against wild price fluctuations.

Coin collectors are in an age numismatically where trophy coins have captured money that would otherwise be spent on stocks and bonds. So what’s the point of collecting any other types of coinage? Collectors Dashboard has been using the term trophy coin following its use by Heritage Auctions to describe coins that are extremely rare or unique and typically the only type known for the grade. The 1933 St. Gaudens Double Eagle 20 Dollar Gold is one such example.

Surviving examples are in the hundreds for each year The United States Trade Dollar was produced — between 1873 and 1885. We wanted to take a look as to what it is that makes Trade Dollar coins special for collectors and has allowed them to defy collecting trends other coins have suffered from.

Collectors Dashboard evaluates high-end collectibles as an alternative asset class. This means collectibles are attracting the same capital that could have been invested into stocks or bonds. Many coins now cost thousands of dollars (or much more). However collectors have struggled to find stability in common coins that are susceptible to fluctuations in composition value. Numismatists with a passion to own trophy coins for years frequently have to compete directly against investors whose only desire is to make a profit in the future. Coin collecting has the Trade Dollar which defies popularity and trends and just keeps value.

As silver prices fluctuated and coin interest stagnated we wanted to find a coin type that captured value and maintained it as other American Type coins became ‘junk silver’. The Trade Dollar has the same amount of silver composition as the Morgan Dollar but a worn Morgan by comparison can always be found for the value of its silver.

And for that fluctuating silver price, if a collector tries to sell one in “scrap” condition to a coin shop the coin shop still has to make money when buying it. The low populations as a whole make the Trade Dollar a coin that in its most circulated conditions is still listed on PCGS price guides as being valued at $210.00. That is quite different from scrap silver and silver rounds.

Here are recent sales of trade dollars at Heritage Auctions:

• 1873 AU55 NGC sold for $900.00 on March 14, 2022
• 1873-CC Rim Damaged Fine NGC sold for $576.00 on March 14, 2022
• 1873-S AU55 NGC sold for $990.00 on March 14, 2022
• 1874-CC Uncirculated NGC sold for $1,200.00 on March 14, 2022
• 1874-S AU NGC Chopmarked sold for $312.00 on March 14, 2022
• 1875-CC Uncirculated NGC Chopmarked sold for $1,320.00 on March 14, 2022
• 1876-CC VF NGC sold for $504.00 on March 14, 2022
• 1876-S MS63 NGC sold for $1,680.00 on March 14, 2022
• 1877 VF20 NGC sold for $280.00 on March 14, 2022

To show the price stability here are sales from 20+ years ago:

• 1874-S MS62 PCGS sold for $660.00 on January 6, 1993
• 1873 Uncirculated ANACS Environmental Damage sold for $345.00 on October 4, 2000
• 1874-S MS62 NGC sold for $448.00 on October 4, 2000
• 1877-S MS62 PCGS sold for $776.25 on June 4, 2006
• 1878-CC VG8 ANACS sold for $575.00 on June 5, 2006
• 1876-S Uncirculated Rim Filed Improperly Cleaned sold for $253.00 on June 11, 2006
• 1873 XF45 Details NGC Scratched Cleaned sold for $163.30 on January 15, 2008
• 1873 Uncirculated Details NGC Improperly Cleaned sold for $322.00 on January 15, 2008
• 1873-CC XF Details NCS Environmental Damage sold for $920.00 on January 15, 2008
• 1873-S Uncirculated Details NCS Improperly Cleaned sold for $431.25 on January 15, 2008

A damaged coin or one that has been obviously cleaned is the nail in the coffin so to speak of a coin that is now only worth silver value. Notice how nearly 30 years of coin sales have maintained their value… and assumed interest of collectors. The nicest examples have sold for thousands during this time, however many damaged or worn coins have been melted down in the same period of collecting. The United States Trade Dollar is the coin that saved coin collecting.