1878-S T$1 U.S. Trade Silver Dollar San Francisco Mint.
Q. David Bowers and Mike Sherman write that the Trade dollar was first minted in 1873 in response to the need for a coin to compete with the Mexican “dollar” (actually the 8 Reales or Peso) in the Orient. Weighing 420 grains, or slightly heavier (1.8%) than a standard silver dollar, the Trade dollar was intended for export only. Despite this, they were legal tender in the United States until 1876, at which time Congress revoked their status. Quantity production continued through 1878, after which point only token quantities were made for proof sets through 1883 (the few pieces dated 1884 and 1885 are of dubious origin). In 1887, the law authorizing the Trade dollar was repealed, and the treasury officially redeemed all un-mutilated pieces.
The obverse depicts Miss Liberty seated on a bale of merchandise, her right hand holding a branch, her left hand holding a ribbon inscribed “LIBERTY, a sheaf of wheat behind, and the sea in front. IN GOD WE TRUST appears at the bottom just above the date. Stars surround the upper portion. The reverse depicts an eagle holding three arrows and a branch, with E PLURBUS UNUM on a ribbon above, 420 GRAINS, 900 FINE, below. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and TRADE DOLLAR surrounds.
Production halt delayed. By February 22, 1878, when Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman halted trade dollar mintage, the San Francisco Mint had already made 1,695,819 pieces. This branch did not end production until early April; by then the total was 4,162,000, nearly a record production (the fourth highest in the series). By the time that the last 1878-S trade dollar fell from the dies, coins of this denomination valued at over $36 million had been produced, a staggering sum, and an amount over four times greater than all of the silver dollars that had been coined from 1794 until the denomination was suspended in 1873.
In a way it is curious that the trade dollar denomination was suspended at the very height of its success, but such was (and is) politics. The Bland-Allison Act offered greater opportunities for the silver market than did the trade dollar legislation; now, with the Bland-Allison Act and the Morgan dollar, the government was forced to buy silver and make silver dollars. It was never forced to make trade dollars.
It is believed that quantities of this issue were melted at the San Francisco Mint, but no records have been seen. Quantities of 1878-S trade dollars remained in commercial channels in the Orient through the 1950s.
Enabling legislation: Act of February 12, 1873
Designer: William Barber
Weight: 420 grains
Composition: .900 silver, .100 copper
Melt-down (silver value) in year minted: $0.9070
Dies prepared: Obverse: Unknown; Reverse: Unknown. (On December 29, 1880,36 reverse dies were returned to the Philadelphia Mint.) Business strike mintage: 4,162,000. Delivery figures by month: January: 1,335,000; February: 1,484,000; March: 1,308,000; April: 35,000.
