Is my 1928 peace dollar real?

I picked this up at a coin shop yesterday and I would like to know if it is a real 1928. I know that sometimes the S would be removed on 1928-S peace dollars, but there is no evidence of anything being altered on this coin.

 

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Can I ask what you paid? I would have a hard time dishing out the money that coin would be worth if I wasn't 100% sure it was real and 100% trusted the dealer. I'm sure those skilled at spotting fakes with contribute shortly.

 

I got it for scrap, because at the time the guy I bought it from said it had been altered, and I assumed it was. But after doing some research and looking it over very carefully, I'm not so sure.

 

Hmm, seems to be an extra sun ray around where the mint mark would be or something. I look at these, then your picture and they are different. Just going by pictures, it does look altered.

 

Do the magnet test. If it sticks, it's fake.

But, I don't see anything that indicates it is fake or altered.

 

I hope for your sake that it is real, but if the seller said it was altered chances are it was altered. Can you ask him how it was altered? TC

 

Look at his coin where a mint mark would be. Doesn't that look like an extra sun ray in that area? That would be 4 sun rays under "one". Now look at the pictures I posted. There are only 3 sun rays under "one". That would be my guess as to how it was altered. (Or at least where it looks different to me????)

 

However, the image in my Red Book for Peace dollars shows 4 rays under ONE. Very short one near the end of the tail feathers.

 

Bingo Fall Guy. Nice catch. This would be an obvious flaw to a professional so it makes you wonder.

 

OP, did you verify the weight and diameter and check the coin with a magnet before asking our opinion?

 

Pardon my "newness" - away from the hobby for 50 years, till recently. Not the greatest resource, but I checked several slabbed 1928 plains on Ebay and didn't see that 4th sun ray under the ONE on any of them.

 

Correct, there are only 3 rays. However, I'm more concerned that the coin is not genuine, altered "s" or not.

 

The answers to Hobo's questions should help with that.

 

Hmm, all the images I looked at when comparing and the ones in my own collection all have the 3 rays.

 

Here is an up-close picture of where the mint mark would be. There is an extra ray, but could it be possible that it's just a different variety? It's just that it looks so natural there it's hard for me to believe it was added in. I would also like to point out that when I compared it to some of my own peace dollars, the 1921 peace dollar does have that same 4th ray.

 

I wondered the same thing jloring. The bias of knowing a dealer said it was altered makes you wonder all sorts of things. But, the coin almost looks cast....kinda porous.....and could still be silver, which is why the dealer was selling as bullion.?

 

Let's hope so. This coin is 100% fake.

 

looks real
i am THE expert

 

lol

 

It certainly looks fake. And by 'fake' I mean counterfeit. If it is an altered coin (i.e., 1928-S with the mintmark removed) it would still be a genuine coin (but altered) and would be worth at least its melt value. If it is counterfeit (which it appears to be from the photos) all bets are off as to whether it has any silver content. That is why I asked the OP if he had done any preliminary authentication before posting here. It would be helpful to know if the coin has the correct weight and correct diameter and whether it is attracted to a magnet.