RWB

Might be from improper polishing of the die to repair a minor surface crack of other damage. However, you'll need two or more to establish it as a die variety and not an incidental defect to this coin. Same for the obverse.

There's additional info in Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908.

Nope. Classified as "damaged."

That eagle should be wearing a heavy coat -- or at least a blanket. And where are the icicles?

Please post the results. Thanks.

This is an 1888 recalculation of 1804 coinage. This was made in partial response to frequent requests for mintage of 1804 dollars by people claiming to have one. It is also one of the few mentions of pieces reserved for the Assayer and thus destroyed in testing.

Common date/mint/moneyer. VF condition, cleaned, no chop marks. Barely worth the cost of authentication/postage, etc. FMV about $150....Just an opinion.

AU, fake toning. Please, OP go run...hide behind a shrubbery until this seller is gone. Weak details especially on the reverse. As Just Bob noted, might be a strike through...field looks odd at top and in MM area.

Was this the original suspension bridge token design....?

You Florida folks need a little chill or ice -- at least enough to make harvesting iguanas easy. They make good chili!

Well, at least that's a nice, round number -- easy to remember when telling stories to the great grandkiddies.

The June Whitman coin show in Baltimore has been canceled. They plan to enlarge the November show.

Maybe a big Texas star with icicles hanging from it, and the whole star wrapped in an unplugged electric blanket...?

...It could have a burst water pipe on the reverse -- or possibly a family shivering the the dark. Just thinking about "pop-up" commemoratives as a new category for the Mint to try.

The only previous distinction for 1908 DE was long ray and short ray. Breen publicized this, but failed to look beyond the obvious and didn't identify the three distinctly different hub pairings. Few seemed to have paid attention to long vs short rays, so the chances are good of finding a "no motto" coin with long rays at a favorable price, as Cat Bath mentioned.

Sure. They are surface contamination of the same class as PVC, spit and anything else stuck to the coin. I cannot predict what a TPG would do...but I would simply return your coin and money, less postage, along with a brief note...But that's just an opinion.

These were brought back to the USA by American soldiers stationed in Germany. Lots of low value European pocket change brought to the US in the 50s and 60s.

Was Don Thoms 9 years old when he made these?

I will add this little paragraph to the article information: "The Annual Assay Commission records include Trade dollars through 1878 after which they were discontinued. The Commission never examined medals, so none of the "medal" proof Trade dollars appear in their records. One consequence is that "medal" proof Trade dollars might have been made using normal standard silver dollar planchets, not legitimate heavier Trade dollar planchets. I've seen no uniform data from the TPGs regarding measured weights." Also, I'm not sure if any of the major TPGs perform routine physical measurements on coins they receive - even ones on the rarity of 1884 and 1885 Trade dollars.

Many old-time collectors liked to assemble one coin from the reign of each of the first 12 Caesars. The preference was for a silver denarius. Another option was to pair emperor with his wife: Augustus Octavian) and Livia. Tuberius and Vipsania or Julia, etc. For a novice, look for independently authenticated coins and/or pieces sold by respected ancient coin dealers and auction houses. Ebay is not the place to look. Also, check out several of the standard references such as "Identifying Roman Coins" and Sear's "Roman coins and their Values" to start.

A book binder will do whatever the customer asks - including preserving all of the original within a new binding. I priced this for a couple of my books as possible issues for collectors - prices for good goat leather was about $250+ each including cover gold stamping. Decided not to do it because of the cost of having just 10 copies not bound by the printer, then all the handling, and the "hope" of selling them all.

"Top 100" refers to a specific list of Morgan varieties grouped under that title. It has limited relation to popularity, value, availability or general interest. "1887/6" refers to the overdate and VAM-2 is the specific variety. Here's the description copied from VAMWorld: 1887-P VAM-2 7/6 Overdate Discovered by Ted Clark, November 1971. This coin is a Top 100 Morgan VAM. 2 III2 2 C3a (7/6) (189) I-5 R-4 Obverse III2 2 - 7 repunched over 6 in date. The bottom loop of the 6 shows as a long curved line starting up slightly from the lower right bottom of the 7 and extending upwards one-third the digit height. On the left side of the stem, a short spike slants upwards at a point one-third the way up on the stem height. A short vertical spike shows at the very top of the 7 crossbar in the middle. A short spike also slants upwards from the middle right side of the crossbar. Comments: 1. 1887 VAM-2 7/6 overdate. This variety is one of the Morgan VAMs recognized and priced in the Red Book, crossing over into many mainstream collections. If you examine the last digit of the date, a 7, the remnants of a 6 can be seen to the lower right. 2. Horizontal scratch in front of the eye as a Pick Up Point from Vampicker. See additional photos below

Thank you! A couple of minor typos crept in...next time I'll use a better "fly swatter."

What are the others you have?

Titled "Proof Trade Dollars Continued After Coinage Was Discontinued," the article explores the continued manufacture of proof Trade dollars after commercial production was halted. This might be of interest to Trade dollar collectors and something of an "insider" view of how things worked in the Treasury Department and Mint Bureau. The article is based on continuing research into restriking and sale of pattern and circulation coins from about 1836 to 1885.