Art Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 An interesting article about this appears in the November Trends magazine that comes with CoinWorld. It's an area that I have never really considered but I like the coins very much. In fact I saw a British Trade dollar in one of the threads here and commented on how much I like it. Then this morning I started to read through the Trends and BINGO! there's this article about Trade Dollars by type. According to the article there are quite a few issues but to do a type set, not many coins are required. 1) US Trade Dollar 2) British Trade Dollar 3) Mexico 8 Real pre-revolution 4) Mexico post revolution 5) French Piastre 6) Japan Trade Dollar These were all issued for trade in the Asian Markets. So I have a few questions. 1) Does anyone collect Trade Dollars by type? If so do you have any words-of-wisdom for us? 2) What about non-Asian oriented Trade Dollars? The Maria Theresa Thaler comes to mind but are there others? Anyone have anything they'd like to share on these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Nice topic Art. I feel the article is rather generic as it can get more complicated. For example, Mexican coinages were imported to Australia but were counterstamped or rather made into holey-dump coinage, which makes it quite interesting. There are also many countries in Latin America that made use of the Spanish coinage and counterstamped / overstruck them which can make it quite difficult. Question is if you do consider it as "trade dollars" On the list there, I find the Japanese trade dollar to be the hardest to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted September 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Nice topic Art. ... holey-dump coinage, ... Not familiar at all with this term. Jewelry? Holed for carrying on a chain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Art, hopefully these links might help: http://www.coinmagazine.net/Mag_august_2003.htm http://www.atmitchell.com/journeys/history.../macq_coins.cfm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holey_dollar Essentially, it's a counterstamp of Mexican coinage and then making coinages from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 I have a Mexican 8 Reales from 1782 that obviously saw long service in China or the Orient. It has at least 20 chopmarks of varying description. Back when I bought it, it was considered a damaged piece because of the chopmarks, and I think I bought it for $5.00. I saw it at the bank the other day and lament that I did not take it out for a imaging session. I think I also have a British Trade Dollar lying about somewhere, but not sure where. I would like a Japanese Trade Dollar, I just like the design, but I also like them because they are from Japan and Japan had a fairly progressive monetary policy in the late 19th century. The French Piastre is also a very nice design, but I don't see those too often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 On the list there, I find the Japanese trade dollar to be the hardest to find. The hardest to find an authentic example that is, there are lots and lots of fakes of those these days. Not noticed in N. America, but in Asia they are all over the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Scottishmoney, I wouldn't be too surprised. A damaged example of a Japanese trade dollar will still go over the high 500+USD. I never seen many gone any lower than 1000USD. Example: http://page18.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w6995016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted September 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Art, hopefully these links might help: http://www.coinmagazine.net/Mag_august_2003.htm http://www.atmitchell.com/journeys/history.../macq_coins.cfm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holey_dollar Essentially, it's a counterstamp of Mexican coinage and then making coinages from it. Thank you. This is very interesting. Now that I've read about it, I remember hearing something about these a long time ago - it just didn't register in the old mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Scottishmoney, I wouldn't be too surprised. A damaged example of a Japanese trade dollar will still go over the high 500+USD. I never seen many gone any lower than 1000USD. Example: http://page18.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w6995016 160000 Yen($1500) is a bit high for a piece I would not even be sure of authenticity on. Back in the late 1980's it was possible to get these at an affordable price. I wonder how much Japanese collectors affect the price of this, and how much is affected by collectors elsewhere in Asia driving demand for it? I mention this because I have the impression anyway that there is not a whole lot of collecting interest in Japan, and coin prices there seem rather lowish given the comparative rarity of many earlier Japanese coins. I love Japanese coins, especially the early stuff. They are unique in designs, rather scarce, and very underrated by collectors. It is my dream to buy one of the trade dollars sometime, but more especially one of the Kobans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken_3567 Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Dumb question. Would the Austrian Thaler be part of this type set? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Dumb question. Would the Austrian Thaler be part of this type set? It isn't a dumb question, but rather an intelligent addition to the set. Yes, it was the primary trade coin available in E. Africa, and in Arabia during the 19th - 20th centuries. I remember when I worked for the oil co that a co-worker that traveled to Yemen for the company said that they were still using the trade dollars in the markets there during the 1980's because some of the people really did not trust paper money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graikos Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Oh, good luck collecting the Maria Theresia Taler. There are so many varieties... it can drive you nuts. You can have a look here for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted September 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Oh, good luck collecting the Maria Theresia Taler. There are so many varieties... it can drive you nuts. You can have a look here for example. You could spend a lot of time and money putting together a Maria Theresa Taler set. I do think they are beautiful coins. I have a fairly well worn example and a proof -- both restrikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graikos Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 The son of our collecting professor has fallen into the Maria Theresia trap. He is cursing the moment he bought his first one, but he is hooked... badly. The interesting thing is that apparently these were used over and over. So you get Arabic coins, with Arabic writing and you realize that they are either reworked Taler or trying to pretend they are Taler. The plurality of this coin type is both overwhelming and interesting as hell. But these are only second hand knowledge sound bites. Wish I knew more about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.