let's start some buzz on the coin thread!

[ToddsPoint]

I'm simply going to say, the professional appraiser who made the offer disagrees with your assessment, and if they were made by the Chinese, they buried them in Vermont, prior to 1962. Thanks for playing.

I’d run as fast as I could and get that $8,000. 🤣

 

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[l.cutler]

It may not look like much but this is one of my better coins. It is a 1787 Connecticut 33.28-Z.20 of which there are currently 8 known. I love trying to ID low grade coins, it can be very challenging but also occasionally very rewarding. I got this one as a buy it now on ebay unidentified.

 

[ARC]

Here’s one you may not have seen before.

After the late 16th Century, the ‘Spanish dollar’ (aka ‘Mexican dollar’ and ‘silver peso’) increasingly became the de facto currency for trade in the Far East, trusted in China especially for its reliable weight and silver fineness. China ultimately produced its own version as the silver yuan (‘dragon dollar’) which circulated alongside Spanish/Mexican coins in trade with its neighbours.

Following its defeat in the Opium Wars of 1839–1842 and 1856–1860, China was forced to open its ports to foreign trade. A general shortage of Spanish/Mexican coins resulted in a number of Western nations trading with China and other Far Eastern countries (for commodities such as tea, silk and porcelain) ultimately producing their own versions in equivalent weight and fineness. The coins were known as ‘trade dollars’.

In 1895, lobbying by the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce with support from the Straits Settlements (British territories in Asia) led to production of the ‘British Trade Dollar’ to alleviate the shortage. Like this one, from my collection (not dug).

View attachment 2183197
View attachment 2183198

The reverse has ‘One Dollar’ in Chinese script and ‘One Ringgit’ in Jawi Malay, with the Chinese symbol for longevity in the centre. Most were minted in India, but some in London, and mine has the ‘B’ mintmark for Bombay (now Mumbai) on the middle tine of Britannia’s trident:

View attachment 2183199

They were struck as 27.95g of .900 silver (a slightly lower standard than the silver peso, which circulated alongside it) and intended for wider circulation in British territories, but the adoption of the ‘Straits dollar’ in 1905 left Hong Kong as the only British colony using them and they ceased to be produced in 1935. The coin never circulated in Britain but had a fluctuating exchange value depending on the bullion price for silver.

Shame that it was cleaned at some point.

 

[Red-Coat]

Shame that it was cleaned at some point.

I'm sure it hasn't. It's virtually uncirculated apart from the bag marks and still has some original lustre. The lighting I used to reduce glare belies that.

 

[BigWaveDave]

Terry…. What the absolute fudge!
That 1795 dollar is giving me palpitations.
1803 not too shabby either….
You made my day posting those!
Thanks!!!