Price Expectations Due to Chopmark Quantity, Placement, and Design

The key to collecting chopmarked trade dollars, like the key to all numismatics, is to collect what one likes.  

This commentary is intended to give an expectation for market pricing of coins solely due to the quantity, placement, and design of the chopmarks. It's important to remember that the market for chopmarked trade dollars is thin and any individual sale or auction result may not be reflective of the market as a whole. 

This is a reflection on market pricing only, and is not a  judgement on any particular coin or any collector's taste. The author's preference may be different than any particular collector's or the market as a whole. Please use good judgement as the comments below are broad generalizations.

The key factor in pricing a chopmarked trade dollar is whether it possesses a chopmark or not. A coin with one chop will be priced more closely to a coin with 15 chops than to a coin with zero chops. The factors listed below will influence pricing but not as greatly as this primary qualifier.

    1. In general, coins with fewer chops will be priced higher than coins with more chops.

    2. In general, coins with chops placed in the field will be priced higher than coins with chops over the devices.

    3. In general but to a much lesser extent, coins with interesting or unique chopmarks will be priced higher than coins with boring, repetitive, or unclear chops.

It's impossible to reach a consensus but a plurality of collectors have stated that their ideal configuration is one chop in the obverse field.  Similarly to toning, where reverse toners typically bring a smaller premium than obverse toners, it seems that many collectors prefer the chops to placed on the obverse if possible.  As is the case with many dates and varieties in the series, oftentimes sacrifices must be made to the collector's preferences if one wishes to acquire a scarce coin.

The following visual guide is in descending order of market pricing.  However, one of the great features of collecting chopmarked trade dollars is that each coin is unique. That should be kept in mind as no definitive ranking is truly possible.

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The most preferred configuration is one chopmark in the obverse field.

Followed closely by one chopmark over the devices.

Or one chopmark on the reverse.

A few scattered chopmarks, mostly in the field, with no overlap.

 

Several chopmarks, some overlapping each other or obscuring the devices.

Clumps of chopmarks with significant reciprocal damage on the other side of the coin.

Many chops on both sides of the coin.

Heavily chopmarked, design of the coin nearly obliterated.

Almost completely chopmarked.

Totally obliterated and barely identifiable.  Coin may be bowl shaped.

Is that a coin?

There are coins even more heavily chopped than this; some with holes and some that are not even recognizable as coins.  These may still be of interest but have little to no numismatic premium over bullion value.