1877 T$1 Trade Silver Dollar, PCGS MS63 (CAC), Ex. Biddle Collection

This is a dramatic type coin from the collection of Daniel D. Biddle, who developed a renowned collection of U.S. Trade dollars. That series was produced from 1873-1878 in mint state and proof, while proofs only were minted from 1879-1883. Until 1876, they were legal tender in the United States. However, their sole purpose and intent was for commerce in China and throughout East Asia--and not to be circulated in the United States. That is why many circulated examples of Trade dollars feature chop marks upon them. The vast majority of Trade dollars produced at the Philadelphia mint, including those of 1877, were put on ships bound for the Orient. Those coins were used in commerce, and were still being found there in the 1940s, however the vast majority of them were eventually melted in China and India.

The Trade dollar was designed by U.S. Mint chief engraver William Barber. Numismatic art critic and scholar Cornelius Vermeule writes of it, "The design is a kind of glorification of all neo-Roman symbolism popular on U.S. coins in the 19th century." He quotes a "no-nonsense" report from 1873 that describes the obverse: "A female figure [is] seated on bales of merchandise, holding in her left hand a scroll bearing the word 'Liberty.' At her back is a sheaf of wheat, expressing, with the bales of goods, the commercial character of the coin: her right hand extended holds the olive branch." Vermeule continues his critique: "Peace and commerce are dispatched from the United States over the seas, for this Juno sits on a grassy plinth, inscribed with IN GOD WE TRUST and set beside the waves. A particularly satisfying eagle graces the reverse, small yet bold and a happy compromise between heraldry and concessions to feathery nature. The plethora of titles, mottoes, and inscribed statistics somehow does not seem out of place on either obverse or reverse."