Mint State Chopmarked Trade Dollars

mansco

I just noticed that Trade Dollars can now be certified with chopmarks. Can some one explain to me how a chopmarked Trade Dollar can receive a grade above AU59????

I thought MS60 and above meant uncirculated. How can a coin be uncirculated and have a chopmark??

What am I missing here???

Mansco

mansco

I'm not sure I would agree that that's "uncirculated", but for argument sake let's agree on that definition. A chopmark is a foreign object coming into contact with the coin and essentially "defacing" it.

If the coin is still uncirculated, then one should be able to buy MS70 dollars, put a nail dent in them, make sure no high points are rubbed and then it should still be uncirculated.....NOT.

tradedollarnut

What Baseball said.

PCGS made the decision to slab chopmarked trade dollars because of their historical significance. You can check out the Registry here. Chopmarked Registry

If you have any doubt about the quality of MS chopmarked trade dollars, check out the picture of the 1874CC!

tjkillian

One must remember the definition of uncirculated: No wear dectected by an expert. Just because a coin has changed hands a few hundred times does not mean circulated, and just because a coin has had no change of hands in its entire life, does not mean it cannot grade a PO-01.

Tom