British Trade Dollar Year 1903 - 2 variants with interesting overdates

British trade dollar 1903 has 2 variants.

It is only minted from the bombay mint.

Therefore it has only the 1903B mint mark coins.

The other variant is the overdate of 1903/02

It recorded a total mintage of 3,955,647.

This makes this coin a scarcer coin

Variant 1 : British Trade Dollar 1903 B

This coin is puporsely chosen for display. The usual B mint mark at the prong.
However the mirror like surface with a normal luster is not usual.
This is a cleaned coin -- where the luster is lost
But the high grade details are preserved but it just not natural.
My camera has difficulty focus it sharp due to the reflection

The reverse

Variant 2: The Overdate 1903 over 02 B

Some 1903 can easily mistaken as overdates.
The trick to is to look for the long body of 2 underneath the 3.

Tradedollar.blogspot.com with pictures updated

Many coin collectors have their own blogs and they have been doing this for years. Two of my best friends has advised me to shrink the pictures for faster page view time. He also advised and recommended me on taking better pictures in terms of the lighting.

Therefore, an endeavor has undertaken to update the pages i previously uploaded.

Updated posts with new pictures are:
British Trade Dollar 1895
British Trade Dollar 1896
British Trade Dollar 1897
British Trade Dollar 1898
British Trade Dollar 1899
British Trade Dollar 1900
British Trade Dollar 1901
British Trade Dollar 1902

You are invited to visit back these pages for new pictures and caption descriptions.

Future posts will also be posted in such a way that it is more readers friendly.

The pictures used in this blog, unless otherwise stated are of my own collections.

British Trade Dollar Year 1902 - One unique Retooled Date is extremely rare

British trade dollar year 1902 has 3 varieties
It is produced in India Bombay mint with a B mint mark and Calcutta Mint with a C mint mark.

The recorded mintage are 30,404,499 for 1902 B and 1,266,618 for 1902C.
The 30 million plus 1902 B makes this one of the commonest BTD in the market

However 1902C is a rare variety.
The C mint mark is only present for 3 years namely 1900C,1901C and 1902C

The third variety is essentially a retooled die.
It is graded by NGC as 1902/2B
This variety if found is rare and beginner collectors usually not aware of its existence

Variety 1: British Trade Dollar 1902 B
This is the commonest variety

The usual 1902 B.
Purposely selected some irregularly toned coin for display.
This is due to mishandling. Most likely captured vapour in coin flip.
This stresses the importance of proper handling and care for coins

The reverse

Variety 2: British Trade Dollar 1902 C
This is rare variant
This coin is high grade coins which showed the C mint mark clearly.

The flat prong area and C mint mark.
This is high valued coin at its high grade.

Variety 3: British Trade Dollar 1902 /2 B 
This is a retooled die.
Looking closer at the date section, you will see the "2" has been repaired and the old shadows of 2 is hidden next to the printed digit on the die.

This is a retooled die. Very rare variants.
the 1902 is practically double shadowed.
However NGC grade this coin as 1902/2 in the census

British Trade Dollar Year 1901 (Unique overdate)

British trade dollar 1901 also has 3 varieties.
It recorded a total mintage of 25,684,791 from Bombay mint,
While 1901 C from calcutta mint recorded 1,513,685

The 1901 B is the common type
The 1901 C is the rare type with fewer mintage.
The third type is 1901 B over 1900 which has unknown mintage, this is also rare

Variety 1: British Trade Dollar 1901 B
This is the common type from Bombay Mint
The B can be seen at the center of the prong
This is commonly seen in the market

The NGC Au details 1901 B coin.

Variety 2: British Trade Dollar 1901 C
This is rare type, but still able to be found in open market
It fetches a higher price.
The C is located at the side of the Britannia and the shield

A high grade 1901C. C mint mark can be seen clearly

Variety 3: Over date 1901 B over 1900
This is the rare type.
It is harder to find in the market, but still relatively easier to find if compared to other overdates coin.

shadow of old 0 on the 1 (4th digit)

Frence Indo China Piastre Trade Dollar from a collector point of view.

French Trade Dollar is also minted to smooth trading process of French colonies in IndoChina in particular. It shares the common weights of 0.900 silver as other trade dollars.

The seated lady liberty on the observe of the coins makes this coin beautiful and unique.

The mintage tables are as the top page bar

These French Trade Dollars are difficult to find in high quality specimen.

NGC graded AU Details even high points shown some worn off effects

The reverse

The high points especially on the observe made this coin easily worn out even in mild circulation. The reverse of the coin is less susceptible to abrasions. This toned coins showed the high points extremely clearly.

Abrasions esp at the face, thorax, both forearms, the thigh, leg and feet.
Compare with the above coin, you can see these areas are actually bulges forward

the reverse are less susceptible. The high points are the flower ring.

A mildly circulated coins will showed these high points are worn off as in this coin

NGC graded XF details. Mildly circulated coins.

The sad things about this coin is the face is quite easily worn off. This cause significant defiguring of the coin. The lady liberty looks funny at times, some turned into bird face.

Therefore, the high grade coins of any french trade dollar usually fetch a very high auction price. Especially those with beautiful face preserved.

British Trade Dollar Year 1899 (A high mintage common date)

British Trade Dollar Year 1899 is one of the commonest issue for this coin
It recorded the second highest mintage of 30,743,159
Please click here to see the full mintage table for British Trade Dollar

It has only one variety, i.e. 1899 (B)
It is produced from Bombay Mint in India.

The B inscription can be seen on the center of the trident prong.

As with the 1898 coin, this coin also comes from the safe box.
This coin is a lot better than the 1898. It has less scratched hairlines and better details

British Trade Dollar Year 1898 (Getting Scarce)

British Trade Dollar 1898 is a forth year issue.
This is a common date coin with a rather big mintage.

It recorded a total mintage of 21,545,564
This year British Trade Dollar has 2 varieties
Variety one: 1898 B from Bombay Mint
This is a commoner type of the 2.
B mint mark can be seen at the prong.
Compared to earlier years of 1895, 1896 and 1897.
The "B" can be seen more clearly for the subsequent year coins from 1898.
It also not as easily worn off (disappear).

This coin is came from a safety box that was cut open.
These coins is believed to be in the safe for decades.
The green spots are the old safe box paint.
The relative uncirculated nature of the coin shows the glorious luster.

Variety two: 1898 no mint mark
This variety is scarcer
It is minted from Calcutta Mint
The prong area is clean and flat.

Prong area is flat, no B

For British Trade Dollar year 1895, 1897, 1898; despite minted by Calcutta mint, there is no "C" mark on the side of the Brittania. The "C" mint mark only appears on british trade dollar minted on 1900, 1901 and 1902.

This type of no mint mark on prong variety is also seen on year 1925, 1929 and 1930 British Trade Dollar. However, for these 3 years, these no mint mark British Trade Dollars were minted by London Mint and not Calcutta Mint.

The most unique of all is 1900 no C, no B variety which is very rare.