Trade Dollar Dansco Album (long with lots of pics)

lermish · January 10, 2026 7:47AM

I have hit a bit of a roadblock with my Chopmarked trade dollar set. Any remaining empty spots or desired upgrades are so difficult as to be nearly impossible. Still looking but I expect newps to be few and far between. However, I'm still in love with trade dollars so I decided to embark on a non-chopped, circulated trade dollar album.

My goal for this album was to focus on varieties or coins with unique or interesting attributes. A few of the early dates don't have many options for that mandate but I'm very happy with how it turned out. Apologies for the pictures, the nice ones are mostly TVs and sellers' images; the cruddy ones are mine.

73-P (ex-PCGS AU53)
Bought at GC, this is just a really nice coin.

73-CC (ex-PCGS XF45)
A really tough date; the one spot where I maybe should have waited for a variety but the date is hard to find nice so I got this one.

73-S (ex-NGC XF40)
Purchased at 2026 FUN. A surprisingly tough date.

74-P
Plain jane wholesome coin purchased from @InGodWeTrustCoins (A great source for trade dollars with a new website - highly recommended!)

74-CC
Shipwreck coin from the SS Japan (a US mail steamer that went down in the Sea of Japan with a load of 74-S and 74-CC T$s). This is one of the better ones I've seen.

74-S
Purchased raw at 2026 FUN. Business strike trade dollars rarely come with color and almost never vibrant color and pretty much never on 74-S because of how the planchets were treated. This one is a delight. (not sure if the two obverse green streaks are PVC or not but will probably roll an acetone q-tip over them just to be sure.)

75-P (ex-PCGS XF Cleaned)
Just a tough, tough date. I wasn't willing to pay even more for the rare type 1/1.

75-CC
A very nicely done potty dollar on a coin with type 2 reverse, which is a fairly scarce hub combination.

75-S
Cherrypicked raw on eBay. The album does not have a slot for the popular s/cc overmintmark so I was able to use this one in my 75-S slot (which is how it should be IMO; it's a variety, not a separate date).

76-P
Lovely engraving and holed to be a necklace. My wife refuses to wear it so I put it in here.

76-CC (ex-PCGS AU50)
The Doubled Die Reverse, one of the most severely doubled coins in all of American numismatics. This example is hammered and has fantastic color under light.

76-S (ex-NGC XF45)
The type 2/2 with large S mintmark is an extremely difficult variety, second only to the DDO for the date. As many may have read (or heard me gush incessantly about at FUN) I also picked up that very DDO but that coins belongs in a holder.

77-P (ex-ANACS VF25)
A little known RPD, I like the honest wear on this one.

77-CC
A 90% silver counterfeit! It's 3g light and the circumference is a touch too small. The type 1 reverse is a dead giveaway but, other than the porosity, I think it's a pretty good fake.

77-S (ex-PCGS VF20)
Broken arrows variety; this is an easy one to spot. I also picked up the extraordinarily difficult FS-801 but I want that one in a holder.

78-S
I love the contemporary engraving on this coin. It's also the DDR.

And that's it. The album has two pages of eight slots each with no 78-CC because no one would be stupid enough to put a raw 78-CC in an album...

So I made a slot on a third page.

78-CC
Purchased raw at FUN 2026 after I was underbidder twice on two VF examples in the November SB auctions. Pretty decent coin which might grade on a good day. I bought it really well as the Greysheet is a touch behind in T$ pricing IMO.

DoubleEagle59 · January 10, 2026 7:57AM

Very nice!

I so much prefer an album over a group of slabbed coins.

Cougar1978 · January 10, 2026 8:06AM

Really impressive / nice coins.

ChopmarkedTrades · January 10, 2026 10:58AM

Nice. What are these impossible holes in the chopmarked Trade Dollar set? Couldn't be a 75-P could it?

Davidk7 · January 10, 2026 12:50PM

Glad I was able to see this in person, it’s an awesome set!

Higashiyama · January 10, 2026 12:53PM

Wow, that’s an amazing set. Talk about the history embedded in coins - the commerce and culture underlying this set is spectacular.

P0CKETCHANGE · January 10, 2026 1:06PM

Neat! That is a nicely assembled group of Trades. They look great in the album.

RedRocket · January 10, 2026 1:27PM

THIS is coin collecting.
Way to go.

MilkmanDan · January 10, 2026 1:49PM

I love what you've done with this set, as Danscos on their own can be a little boring. You've got just about everything covered, with a hold/engraved coin, potty dollar, color, varieties of all sorts, shipwreck and even a counterfeit. Maybe you can find a picture frame / box dollar at some point. Really neat set, thanks for sharing.

lermish · January 10, 2026 2:22PM

@MilkmanDan said:
I love what you've done with this set, as Danscos on their own can be a little boring. You've got just about everything covered, with a hold/engraved coin, potty dollar, color, varieties of all sorts, shipwreck and even a counterfeit. Maybe you can find a picture frame / box dollar at some point. Really neat set, thanks for sharing.

Thanks:) I do have a box dollar but putting it under the plastic slides takes away some of the fun of opening and closing it. And then, I wouldn't have anything to keep in my ashtray

MilkmanDan · January 10, 2026 2:24PM

@lermish said:

@MilkmanDan said:
I love what you've done with this set, as Danscos on their own can be a little boring. You've got just about everything covered, with a hold/engraved coin, potty dollar, color, varieties of all sorts, shipwreck and even a counterfeit. Maybe you can find a picture frame / box dollar at some point. Really neat set, thanks for sharing.

Thanks:) I do have a box dollar but putting it under the plastic slides takes away some of the fun of opening and closing it. And then, I wouldn't have anything to keep in my ashtray

Bravo, you've got it all covered.

yosclimber · January 10, 2026 2:52PM

@lermish said:
...
78-S
I love the contemporary engraving on this coin. It's also the DDR.

...

I found a Sarah Jacobs Cohen - born England, 1825, died Philadelphia, November 19 1879.
She and her husband had 14 children.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104913334/sarah-cohen
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/9WB6-B5J

The_Dinosaur_Man · January 10, 2026 3:00PM

Awesome set! Looks great in the Dansco!

IkesT · January 10, 2026 4:06PM

Very cool!

World67 · January 10, 2026 4:14PM

Nice! I like the engraved coin. Good job @yosclimber looking up the history.

DDR · January 10, 2026 6:19PM

Wonderful collection!!!

Sorry I missed you at FUN this year.

Copperindian · January 11, 2026 8:35AM

Totally enjoyed this thread (as well as your other T$1 posts). I still know virtually nothing about these, but I’ll keep paying attention.
Too bad we didn’t meet @FUN, but I’m sure we will @ a future show!