1876 S Trade Dollar Polished to death or what?

jesbroken

I happened across this 1876 S Trade Dollar on ebay. Wow is this polished or what. Maybe a ding or partial clip at the top of the obverse. Shame such a nice coin was ruined. Assuming it is an original Trade$.
Jim

GaCoinGuy

I am by no means an expert, but asides from the heavy polish, it looks fake; the surfaces are grainy like from a sand mold or something.

jesbroken

I don't have the diagnostics for Trade$'s so I'm not familiar enough with this series to make a statement as to it's authenticity or not. I thought the surface looked somewhat porous but with the heavy polishing wasn't sure. Ugly coin regardless.
Jim

PerryHall

@GaCoinGuy said:
I am by no means an expert, but asides from the heavy polish, it looks fake; the surfaces are grainy like from a sand mold or something.

Agree. The polishing was done to smooth the rough surfaces from the casting process to hide this coin's origins.

moursund

@PerryHall said:

@GaCoinGuy said:
I am by no means an expert, but asides from the heavy polish, it looks fake; the surfaces are grainy like from a sand mold or something.

Agree. The polishing was done to smooth the rough surfaces from the casting process to hide this coin's origins.

Ahhhhhhh, that makes sense

Project Numismatics

A very poor fake…

jesbroken

I sent the seller a message that they might want to better investigate this coin's originality. I've dealt with them before and they have always been square to me, so hopefully it is just a mistake.
Jim

crazyhounddog

Looks like it’s seen a buffing wheel. Not good. In fact I’d say it’s bad, really bad.

Crypto

I can’t rule the coin fake or real, I would want to see a weight. 50/50 to these eyes but garbage either way

kaz

With all the reflections on the highly polished surfaces it's hard to be definitive, but I lean fake. But fugly for sure.

gumby1234

The denticles don't look right to me and highly polished no matter what. Pass on this

Steven59

The poor gal got one heck of a deformed foot and the longest forefinger on her left hand I've ever seen............ Guessing they were trying to copy the Type 1 obverse design

ricko

Fake Trade dollar and severely polished to hide the cast details. Cheers, RickO

jesbroken

I spoke with the seller and was informed that yes the coin was polished, but was purchased from Stacks-Bowers Auction and was assured it to be original.
Jim

asheland

Even if it was real, I can't imagine wanting that... At any price

gumby1234

@jesbroken said:
I spoke with the seller and was informed that yes the coin was polished, but was purchased from Stacks-Bowers Auction and was assured it to be original.
Jim

I have never seen such a hideous coin for sale at a Stacks-Bowers auction.

Jim

jesbroken

I have never seen a coin that bad at any major auction house other than PO1 or PO2 that have a market for them, but then that's what the seller claims. I'll not name them, so as not to try to discredit them. I truly could not claim it is a fake, as I do not know the series at all, nor have books available to help.
Jim