If the silver trade dollar you have in your possession is specifically dated 1870, whether it is in poor, good, very good or even mint condition it does not really matter, as unfortunately what you have is a counterfeit coin, which will have no monetary value whatsoever. Silver trade dollars were only minted between the years 1873 and 1885, so as you can see there was no 1870 silver trade dollar. The majority of the trade dollar coins that were produced by the mint were sent to China in direct competition to the Mexican peso, and were made to counter the advantage that the peso and other countries had over the dollar in terms of the amount of silver contained within the coins.
Counterfeit coins are fairly common and in April 2011 customs and border protection agents seized over 350 fake U.S trade dollars from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. The package, which had been intercepted from China, contained coins dated between 1873 and 1878, which had they been genuine would see collectors happily parting with up to $2000 per coin. The intention was that the coins were going to be sold on the world-famous auction website Ebay as authentic silver trade dollars.
Out of all the silver trade dollars and possibly even all coins in the world, the rarest is the 1885 silver trade dollar. Only five proofs were made of this particular coin and in back in January 2006 one instance of the 1885 silver trade dollar, previously owned by the legendary banker Louis E Eliasberg Sr. Was sold in Dallas, Texas. Composed of 90 per cent silver and 10 per cent copper the coin went for an astronomical $3.3 m dollars at auction.
Counterfeit coins are fairly common and in April 2011 customs and border protection agents seized over 350 fake U.S trade dollars from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. The package, which had been intercepted from China, contained coins dated between 1873 and 1878, which had they been genuine would see collectors happily parting with up to $2000 per coin. The intention was that the coins were going to be sold on the world-famous auction website Ebay as authentic silver trade dollars.
Out of all the silver trade dollars and possibly even all coins in the world, the rarest is the 1885 silver trade dollar. Only five proofs were made of this particular coin and in back in January 2006 one instance of the 1885 silver trade dollar, previously owned by the legendary banker Louis E Eliasberg Sr. Was sold in Dallas, Texas. Composed of 90 per cent silver and 10 per cent copper the coin went for an astronomical $3.3 m dollars at auction.
