New Trend of Collection habits among Collectors.

A bit of deviatrion form the trade dollars to discuss on market place...

NGC and PCGS coin grading have been around for decades. In the old days, usually only better grades and rarer coins are being slabbed for authentification purpose and also for preservation.I would say it all started with the mania on China Silver coins in the past 2-3  years, where authentification is the prime concern at that time. Many sellers have problems letting go their unslabbed coins and have to settle for a lower dealing price for such coins. From there, the demand for slabbing service picks up locally.

As a result of that a few dealers have started having runners sending coins for slabbing to Singapore (Mavin or Monetorium) or Hong Kong (PCGS) for grading service and a new chapter of events unfolds.

An overview of a grading process can be read at my friend and sifu blog post at: Slabbing Coins with NGC

The new chapter of events unfolding locally are:

For new generation of collectors who are more affluent, they prefer these slabbed coins.  They are less burdened by preserving the coins and they are willing to pay a price for the authentification process. It is in opinion that these coins are easier to sell later on, be it over the coin dealers or internet base platform like ebay, facebook etc.

For more senior coin collectors who have been collecting for many many years, they started to realized that these coins may deteriorate, and over the years some of their collections have become scarce. As such, slabbing these coin is cost effective and a reasonable thing to do. For example, they may have bought some coins for RM 80. But now the price has risen say to RM 600 in the catalogue. By slabbing the coin, it may added a cost of RM200 per coin in the process; but they will be able to sell it easier at the catalogue price of RM600. There will be a lot of argument if these coins are not slabbed, and they may only be able to sell it around RM 400-500 after bargaining process.

A walk in Times Square KL yesterday, I also find lots of new dealers coming into the market. A simple chat with them also revealed their preference for dealing with slabbed coins. To them, it save them the hassles of arguing the grading process with the prospective customers. In addition, the beautifully high grade slabbed coins also added prestige to their newly started shops - be it in presence, or virtually on the internet.

These sellers are extremely friendly and helpful, do visit them if you drop by in Kuala Lumpur. However, over weekends, they are still stationed in Amcorp Mall.

As for you and I...
Are we going to send our coins for slabbing?
Are we going to buy these slabbed coins at higher price?
Are you going to be like some collectors who are only after MS 65-67 coins or you wound settle for MS 62-64 like most seasoned collectors??
What are you going to do with the AU details, UNC details coins - sell them as fast as possible like the MS maniacs, or have the comfort of saying "they are genuine coins, so it is fine" ??

What are you saying on this???

My take it...
We must have the knowledge to deal with these scenarios and coin.
It is the knowledge that will prevent us from buying an overpriced coin.

The old saying from a property investor still hold true... if you are buying for investment
"You make the profit at the point of buying, not when you sell"

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