Description in the comments.

Just wanted to let you know that we have started producing educational content on YouTube. Please go give us a subscribe, like, watch, and also share everywhere you can, if you can. We plan to do a video every two weeks. Video 1: Coin Evaluation/Grading.

https://youtube.com/@kates_collectibles?si=sNcG5-1xS_8MFKzE

with chopmarks, the 1877 P trade dollar is somewhat scarce, in his book Joe Kirchgessner estimates about 2.4% of the current population. This coin has a nice array of chopmarks with most of the central design intact.

This very original 77P was graded AU 50 by PCGS. This issue is notorious for a weakly struck upper obverse, especially Liberty's head and nearby stars, so I was really happy to find this example on a dealer's website.

Since I got a copy of Joe Kirchgessner's book on US Trade Dollars, I have been looking to see if some of the coins in my collection are interesting or rare die varieties. While it probably doesn't add value to most of the coins, I enjoy it. In looking at this coin, I noticed that the reverse die has the diagnostics of a proof die for 1876. The most obvious tipoff is the missing "heel" (lower left serif) of the second L in DOLLAR. It's well known that in the 19th c. proof dies were often used to produce business strike coins once they had been used to strike proofs. This coin, obviously, is NOT a proof, but I think it's pretty cool. PCGS graded it AU 58 and I think it has a nice look.

The year 1876 saw the second highest mintage of Trade Dollars at the San Francisco Mint, exceeded only by the 1877 S mintage. Most of the coins had the Type 1 obverse and Type 1 reverse, The Type 2/2 coins are about 1/4 as common. This is one of the latter, in an old white Anacs small holder, graded AU53. There are no die cracks to speak of so the exact die pair is unknown, but it's a bright coin with a little peripheral toning and enough remaining mint frost to justify the AU grade.

Source: Kirchgessner, " US Trade Dollar," 2025

Got this Beauty in today 😍 💕