Are there any surviving 1964-D Peace dollars?

Price guides don’t appear to agree on the value of individual coins, and what’s more, many times dealers are asking prices that disagree even further. Is it really that difficult to put a value on a coin?

We like to, what a coin dealer recently called “commoditize”, the value of individual coins. Eye appeal is perhaps the most challenging part of grading and pricing a coin, but understand each coin needs to stand on its own regardless of how we may categorize it. Just because the flash on a specific coin mesmerizes someone, it doesn’t mean someone else will feel the same way.

Are there any surviving 1964-D Peace dollars?

It is unusual, but no example of this coin was added to the National Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Denver Mint Superintendent Fern Miller followed a tradition of allowing mint employees to purchase the new coin at face value, however, since the coins were to be melted she recalled all the purchased examples—we think!

When did Trade dollars cease to circulate in the United States?

Technically Trade dollars were no longer legal tender after 1876. Large companies, however, began paying their employees in Trade dollars in order to give themselves a 25% discount in employee wages due to the intrinsic value of the coins. Trade dollars were still accepted at their company stores, but only at company prices. Remember the line of a well-known song: “I owe my soul to the company store.”

Did merchants other than company stores continue to accept Trade dollars?

Numismatist Walter Breen estimated that more than 8.6 million Trade dollars were still in circulation in the Eastern United States during 1877 and 1878, but the coins were only accepted at company stores.

I recently acquired a Bryan dollar so-called dollar that is made of some ‘white’ metal rather than silver. Are there counterfeit Bryan dollars?

Bryan money so-called dollars were struck in silver; however, they were also cast in several metals including aluminum, lead, tin, and zinc. Since certain Bryan money issues were heavily counterfeited you may want to get yours examined by a reliable third party authentication service.

Is there some way I can detect a counterfeit Bryan dollar myself?

Since some of these medals were cast it is challenging. First, learn if the example you have was meant to be struck rather than cast. Second, check the weight. As an example, it is indicated on HK-780, the so-called ‘Wagon Wheel’ medal, that it should weigh 412.5 grains. Ensure it really does!

Is it true that there are more counterfeit Indian $2.50 quarter eagle coins than any other U.S. gold coin?

The most current information I could find was the April 13, 2009 statement from Professional Coin Grading Service that said the series at that time represented 40% of all counterfeit gold received by that service.