The Happy Coin Blog

We recently purchased Proof Trade Dollars from 1879 and 1882, graded by NGC and PCGS respectively. There has already been a lot of interest with these coins and we would like to take a moment to shed some light on why exactly proof trade dollars are so interesting! The Trade Dollar has one of the most unusual backstories in U.S. coins. First struck in 1873 under the Coinage Act of 1873 and designed by William Barber, it was never meant to be used in American pockets. Instead, it was created to c …