My Trade Dollars Begin To Arrive

[Mokiechan]

And I have taken the first small steps in my collection of Trade Dollars

 

Friends, I have just received the pictures of my latest submissions to NGC and I would like you to see the Beautiful Straits Settlement Dollar. Per the Encyclopedia Britannica, The Straits Settlements were a former British crown colony on the Strait of Malacca, consisting of Penang, Singapore, Malacca, and Labuan. As you may already know, most of my Trade Dollars, including my U.S. Trade Dollar have chop marks. The chop marks on this Trade Dollar appear on the reverse but more often than not, the chop marks are applied to the obverse. Please enjoy.

 

See more journals by Beaw

[9sec93lx-migration]

I have a few questions regarding chopmarks maybe someone can help me with.

What was their purpose?

Why did they stamp the coins with them?

Did everyone have their own distinct chopmark?

Does anyone collect a set(s) by amassing all the different chopmarks?

Thanks for any input.

[Mokiechan]

The chop marks were placed by merchants to test the fineness of and/or the authenticity of the coin that was tendered for payment. By stamping the coins with their particular

mark, they would also advertise, in essence, that the coins authenticity had been verified.

 

I guess the Chinese had lots of counterfeits even then. I have know idea if anyone

specializes in specific chop marks. I do know that the chopmarks common in China

are quite different than the types of marks used in the Philippines, for instance. I have

examples of both types of chopmarks and will be adding to my set with 6 more submissions shortly.

 

Thanks for your interest

[9sec93lx-migration]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm unsure how stamping them tests the authenticity or fineness of a coin. Is it like ringing a coin against the desktop to hear the noise it makes when you strike it with the punch? Or was it more of a next time I see this coin (with my chopmark on it) I would know it had already been verified by me the last time I saw it???

[Mokiechan]

From what I understand, just the appearance of the metal, when chopped and the amount

of metal dispalced when you hammer the mark into the coins surface tells the merchant the coin is authentic. There is also the opportunity to remove a small amount of silver at that time, kind of like sweating coins, that would certainly add up over tiem.

 

Yes, next time the coin is seen, the merchant sees his chop and does not have to reverify, also other merchants recognize each others chops and that is also helpful in establishing

authenticity.

[1913]

This is such a great idea for a collection. I'm looking forward to seeing more. Thanks for sharing!

[Chris1976]

Kind of funny if you think about it, they placed Chop marks on the coins to verify the metal it was made of to guard against couterfiting. And yet, what do they do alot of to US coins and other items? Anyhow, heres a little web page I found that had some information on it about the chop marks and what they were intended for.

 

http://www.coinsandcoincollecting.com/chinese-coins.html

[9sec93lx-migration]

Many thanks to all for the information.

[chopmarked-migration]

If anyone is interested, I am the editor of the Chopmark News, the newsletter of the Chopmark Collectors Club [CCC]. We are a group of collectors whose specialty is chopmarks and we're always looking for new members. Membership is free as is the e-edition of the newsletter.

 

Just email me at chopmarknews 'at' gmail.com ['at' = @]

 

Hope to hear from some new members soon.

[coinsbygary]

As a person who loves discovering a coins pedigree, chopmarks, if identified can tell the history and travels of a coin. I find this thread and topic fascinating and I may take you up your offer of the free newsletter. I never stop learning something new about this fascinating hobby of ours.

Gary

[mkman123]

beautiful coin! I however don't like chop marks for some reason. shrug