US Trade Dollar Pattern Type Set

Obverse: Liberty is seated on a world globe, inscribed LIBERTY, facing left, and wearing an Indian headdress. The date 1872 is below and 13 stars surround the top. Liberty is holding a pole topped by a Phrygian cap in her right hand and her left hand is along her side resting on the globe. Two flags flank her with one displaying 13 stars.

Reverse: The denomination “COMMERCIAL DOLLAR” with the specific weight, 420 GRS, and the quality ,900 FINE, are inscribed in the center of a wreath of olive branches. The motto “GOD OUR TRUST” in inscribes on a scroll at the bottom and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is at the top rim. Two cornucopias are crisscross between the words COMMERICAL and DOLLAR

Comment:
This Select proof is well-struck and lightly toned in rose hues. A few scattered ticks and hairlines are trivial but account for the grade.

This the William Barber's lower-relief adaptation of James B. Longacre's Indian Princess design, used posthumously after Longacre's death on January 1, 1869. There were a few differences one being only 13 stars in the flag vs. Longarce’s 22. Of note is that about ½ of the stars are double punched and some being significantly off center.
Per Bower's 1996 catalog the piece Weight is 419.9 grains and Diameter is 1.490 inches.

Provenance:
Ex: Ex: H.P.Smith (S.H. Chapman 5/1906), Clapp, Louis Eliasberg SR., Bowers and Merena May 1996 / Lot#292 (Sold $7,920); Bob R. Simpson Heritage Nov 2020 / Lot #3219

The Commercial dollars are very special patterns. They are the work of John Jay Knox, himself a numismatist, who crafted the wording for the Coinage Act of 1873. This was endorsed by Congress and passed easily. Some years later, when the price of silver dropped on world markets, and western mining interests suffered because the government wasn't buying enough metal in quantity to support the market, the bill was called the "Crime of 1873." But, careful reading of it will show that it was well thought out. Some years later in 1878 the western mining interests triumphed, influenced Congress to enact the Bland-Allison Act, and the government began buying millions of ounces of unwanted silver metal each year and coin them into what we now know as Morgan dollars. There was no commercial need for dollars at the time, as they circulated only in a few places and not in quantity. Accordingly, hundreds of millions of them piled up in Treasury vaults.