PCGS 1929B British Trade Dollar MS 64

This particular coin closed from, ebay open bidding at USD 462

Nice coin, light tone, great luster.
(click on image for larger view)

PCGS British Trade Dollar Graded MS64+

This coin is closed at USD565 from ebay open bidding.

This coin was toned rather significantly.
However it still received a very high grade from PCGS.

The price justify the grading, but i feel it is not justified for eye appeal.

Nevertheless, after seeing the price closed at sales and the grading....
.... ARE YOU GOING TO CLEAN YOUR COIN?

Recent PCGS graded British Trade Dollar Prices in Ebay.

During the past 1 month, there were a number of slabbed British Trade Dollars on  EBAY.
These coins are graded by PCGS and given a very high grades of MS 64 - MS65.

The pricing of these coins are summarized in the table below:

1. PCGS 1908 B British Trade Dollar MS64+, closed at USD 565 from open bidding.
2. PCGS 1929 B British Trade Dollar MS64 , closed at USD 462 from open bidding.
3. PCGS 1930 B British TRade Dollar MS64, closed at USD 376 from open bidding.
4. PCGS 1900 B British Trade Dollar MS64, closed at USD 710 from open bidding
5. PCGS 1897 B British Trade Dollar MS 64, closed at USD 710 from open bidding
6. PCGS 1925  British Trade Dollar MS64, closed at USD 488 from open bidding.
7. PCGS 1899 B British Trade Dollar MS 64, closed at USD 482 from open bidding

There were two PCGS graded MS 65 British trade dollar sold as well:

1. PCGS 1930 B British Trade Dollar MS 65, sold at buy it now USD 990.
2. PCGS 1929 B British Trade Dollar MS 65, sold at buy it now USD 990.

A piece of super nice, one of the highest graded PCGS Britis Trade Dollar

1. PCGS 1929 B British trade dollar graded MS65 +, closed at USD 1452.00 from open bidding

A piece of rare over dates

1. PCGS 1929/1 MS63+, closed at USD 1175.00 from open bidding

I shall create link for all these coins pictures shortly.

Disclaimer: The pictures were taken from ebay and for sharing purpose only. If the respectful owner feels impropriate to share, pls drop me a comment line.

Key points that i learned from studing the price pattern is as follows:

1. Never clean your coin! PCGS and NGC likes natural coins, some of these coins are toned quite significantly but yet given a superb gradings. Once cleaned, you will only get UNC details which worth significantly lesser.
2. The denote + sign from PCGS also translate into more higher price for that particular coin.
3. From MS 64 to MS 65 grades, the price is almost double for the 1 grade higher coin.
4. The overdate coins rarely given a numerical MS grading. they usually get the details grading. Hence the 1929/1 is a rare coins.

British Trade dollar Year 1908 ( 3 variants exists)

There are 3 variants for British Trade Dollar year 1908

Variant 1: British trade dollar 1908 Bombay mint

This is the commoner type from Bombay Mint
Recorded mintage of  6,870,741 makes this coin a common year coin

A good coin with fairly nice details.
However, the B on the prong is not a clear B.
Some quarters has over the years argued that the unclear B coin
raises the suspicion that this is a restruck coin by Chinese using 0.900 silver over the same period
Real Great Britain Bombay Mint trade dollar has a perfect B inscription.

Variant 2: 1908 over 07 Overdates British Trade Dollar
The overdate variant is of unknown quantity.
This is a scarcer dates to find

It is not that difficult to spot the overdate as the tail of 7 will stand out below the 8 circle.

Variant 3: British Trade Dollar 1908 over 03 Over date
Another piece of scarce overdate.

This overdate is more difficult to spot as the crafted 8 on 3 matches considerably.
I personally have problem identify the overdates for this coin.

The 8 and 3 can matches considerably

This is from another piece, i wondered if this is an overdate

Straits Settlements Dollar Year 1904 (4 Die Variety at the Year Inscription)

This blog post was created out of my curiosity.
Recently a  prominent retailer put up a whole lots of 1904 Straits Settlements Dollar on internet site. (a total of >10 coins) and i made the survey to see through if i can find the date variety as stated in catalogue.

Year 1904 Straits Settlements Dollar has total mintage of over 20 millions copies.
4 varieties in the date inscription is known to date.

The Observe are all the same

This is my amateur attempt to describe the difference via pictorial.
(i apologize for the slight rotated pics as the initial loaded pics were rotated as well.)

Variety One: Close 4 in date variety

1. The gap between <0 and 4> is closer than <9 and 0>
2. The height of 4 is parallel with 0

Variety Two: Close high 4 in date variety

1. The gap is closer as the first variety example
2. The height of 4 is higher than 0

Variety Three : Very close 4 in date variety

The gap between the <0 and 4> is even smaller if compared with close 4 varieties above

Variety Four: Wide High 4 in date variety

1. The <0 and 4> gap is wider compared to the above 3 varieties. (almost same space like the <9 and 0> gap)
2. The 4 is higher than the 0

As i stated in the mintage table, not many collectors take note of the varieties here.
However if you have a huge collections for 1904 Straits Dollars, why not search and see if you have all those in your collections.

A High Grade MS65 British Trade Dollar Year 1902 !!??!!

This listing was found on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com.my/itm/1902-UK-trade-dollar-NGC-MS65-/321135919346?pt=US_World_Coins&hash=item4ac53140f2&_uhb=1#ht_500wt_923 (when link broken means listing has ended)

It is a NGC graded MS65 British trade dollar.
It is verifyable at NGC coin verification site.

The price quote is standard price for a MS65 coins.
Though NGC must have their reasons for giving a MS65 grade.
Would you be buying this coin??

It may be a MS65 coins, but personally i think the coin is lacking the eye appeals.
I would rather keep a nice lusters coin then this "superbly toned coin."
Nevertheless, i admit that I do have personal liking to a coloured and rainbow toned coin, but not of this type.
This remains a personal opinion.

What you think??

British Trade Dollars as ornamental belt

Have you ever wondered how come there is a little hook attached to some of these silver coins ?

They are mostly for ornamental purpose.

In the land of Borneo Island, the traditional tribes there likes to use these big silver coins as belt. It is used in their traditional dance.

A fine example is like this:

Note of thanks to Mr BK Lau for use of this image.

In the example above, the hook is at the sides --> joined into a belt.

In the example below, the hook is attached at 12 o clock; this type is usually attached to a chain for use as pendent.

And... How about this piece:  An original nice pendent.

Special thanks to Mr Bk Lau (used with consent)
http://www.ebay.com.my/itm/British-Trade-Dollar-Pendant-/251288156020?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_207&hash=item3a81f0f774&_uhb=1#ht_500wt_1156