1877 Trade dollar, is this what is meant by weak strike?

steve_richardson

So I was reading the PCGS CoinFacts about trade dollars. There’s lots of interesting history there, and this bit jumped out: “the 1877 is almost always weakly struck around the obverse stars and head.” The only trade dollar I have is an 1877, so I dug it out to see what they are talking about.

In the past I had assumed that the lack of detail in the high points was just circulation wear. But now when I look at it, it does seem consistent with a weak strike. My apologies that these photos aren’t better, but do you think am I interpreting this correctly? That a big contributing factor in the high-point flatness is the weak strike?

Also, I have a side question about the luster. It just seems really flat on this coin, without any cartwheel effect that I’m used to. I’ve tried to get a photo with the angle just right to show what I mean. If I saw, say, a Peace dollar that was flat like this, I’d assume that it had been polished at some point. Would it be fair to say that this coin was polished at some point? Or is the luster on trade dollars typically much more flat like this?

At some angles the surface looks like it could almost be reflective it’s so flat.

Goldbully

I'm thinking she's been 'rubbed' quite a bit in her lifetime.

MFeld

While the coin might be weakly struck, it’s obviously circulated and worn (as well as likely cleaned). As such, I wouldn’t expect it to exhibit the cartwheel luster you asked about.

Edited to add: I have seen more than a few uncirculated semi-prooflike and prooflike examples of that date.

lermish

Your coin has a little strike weakness near the top of the obverse but the wear is mostly consistent. I think it's predominantly wear rather than a poor strike.

If you compare the stars near the top of Liberty's head to Stars 1-3 & 11-13 you'll notice the difference in strike quality.

There are some very extreme examples out there. This coin (not mine) is a 63:

As for the luster, trade dollars can be very lustrous but your coin is a VF and should not have any luster. However the surfaces have been messed with.

lermish

@MFeld said:

Edited to add: I have seen more than a few uncirculated semi-prooflike and prooflike examples of that date.

Agreed, It's not uncommon to see the 77-P in semi-PL or PL condition.

steve_richardson

Thanks for the feedback!

@lermish said:

If you compare the stars near the top of Liberty's head to Stars 1-3 & 11-13 you'll notice the difference in strike quality.

There are some very extreme examples out there. This coin (not mine) is a 63:

These examples are quite helpful. That second one does make it especially obvious. It’s kinda amazing how flat the head and stars are given the nice surfaces and detail on the rest of the coin.

kaz

The coin in the op looks about vf35 dipped and maybe cleaned so I would only expect to see mint luster in protected areas.
I do have one with a decent strike: