Old silver dollars?

Question

How can you tell if the old silver dollars are real? I have 2 1798 "Heraldic Eagle Reverse" and 2 1799. I have a 1886 morgan, I have an "1906 Ellis Island" silver dollar, and i found out they were commentative coins made in 1986. Someone made the 8 into a 0. I have 2 1864 liberty seated silver dollars. I have a 1876 trade dollar,an 1851 indianhead dollar, I can't find that one in the "red book" so I figure it is fake. I mean I bought them cheap. Not cheap but for the price that that coins would be worth if they are real, it was cheap. I went to a dealer and walking up to him probably still 7 feet away, I said I wanted to know if these silver dollars I have are fake, and immediately, he said yep. 7 feet away without looking at them. So I don't 100% really know. Everyone says if it is to good to be real.....but they is still a chance that they are.

Answer 1

Without seeing pictures it's very difficult for anyone to give you a good answer. A lot depends on the condition of your coin.

1 - Take your coin to a local coin dealer (trustworthy ones can be found - shop around, get second opinions). It never hurts to get a second opinion. They will be able to tell you so much more by evaluation the condition of the coin. They will also know the amount minted and what it is going for in today's market.

2 - Try posting pictures on this website (there are many experts here that can help you evaluate it - there also may be people willing to buy if you are trying to sell):
http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/default.asp

3 - Repost this question and include pictures. You can use websites like photobucket.com and include the link in your question.

Good luck!

P.S. Do not clean your coin as this can drastically effect the value.

Answer 2

First of all most dealers are honest folks. The reason he said they were fakes is you had too many rare coins all at once. The coins you have are rare enough that the average person does not have that many and most are rare enough that, most are in collections. What there are out there are known and no new ones have shown up for a good many years. You need a gram scale and weigh them. The Red Book a guide to U.S. coins has the weight listed of all U.S. coins. The U.S. has been flooded by rare coins made in China. The 1864 silver dollar had a mintage of 30,700 and a lot were lost due to the Civil War and you have 2 of them. I bet they are the same grade. They may even have the same marks in the same place. The 1864 should weigh 26.73 grams and is 38.1 mm in diameter. The 1798 dollars should weigh about 26.96 grames, the trade dollar 27.22 grames and the gold dollar 1.672 grams. If you paid less than $200 each for the 1864 dollars then there is a better than average chance they are fakes.

Answer 3

There is a big difference between buy and sell prices. Also when it come to Peace dollars the big 3 are the 1921, 1928 and the 1934-S. The 1922 and 1923 dates even if they have mint marks are quite common. The mint mark is located on the reverse (eagle side) below the word one, if there is any. Most sites I have found are not much help to people that don't have at least a basic understanding of coins, such as where are the mint Marks and what grade is my coin. i try to help here by giving dealer bid prices and an idea of grading. If you had listed the dates and the mints, if any then i could help as well as others here.

Answer 4

Greetings, I collect coins and I can tell you do not trust dealers at all!
They will tell say you have nothing and then offer you peanuts for them, A lot of people just part with them and the dealer makes out every time.
The best thing to do is get a cheap coin book on-line and look them up for authenticity, The book will not lie to you and you can see for real what they are worth.
Ask around to friends who collect coins and ask them to look at them for you or borrow their books, I get Tris all the time, Rarely people have something worth anything but, On occasion I come across some nice things.
That is the best thing I can tell you.
Good Luck!