1874 Trade Dollar - Brunk C-901, J.L. Cooper

Strike Type

Coin Details

Year

1874

Denomination

Dollar

Strike Type

Regular Strike

Series

Trade Dollars 1873-1885

Designer

William Barber

Mintage

3,039,200

Composition

Silver

Weight

27.22g

Diameter

38.1mm

Edge

Reeded

Value Estimates

$243 - $2,951

Values as of May 2026 — estimates reflect typical grades (G-4 through MS-63). Coins in lower or exceptional grades may fall outside this range.

Auction Record

$114 VF Details 09-16-2020 Heritage Auctions

Description

This 1874 Trade Dollar bears a merchant counterstamp attributed to J.L. Cooper, cataloged as Brunk C-901. Counterstamps were applied to circulating coins by merchants, silversmiths, and tradesmen as a form of portable advertising — the business card of early America. The J.L. Cooper stamp identifies a business operating in Cooper, one of many merchants who used coin counterstamping to advertise their trade. The host coin is a 1874 dollar from the Trade Dollars 1873-1885 series. The host coin's original mintage was 3.0 million, though counterstamped examples represent only a tiny fraction of survivors. Struck in silver. Cataloged as PCGS #826121. Counterstamped coins documented in Gregory G. Brunk's "American and Canadian Countermarked Coins" sit at the intersection of numismatics and Americana — each piece is a primary-source historical document of early American commerce. The counterstamp adds a unique layer of provenance that distinguishes this coin from all other examples of its type.