Greetings people, I have no experience in collecting coins. My brother-in-law came into contact with these coins and he asked me if I could search the net for their value. The 1804 coin doesn't look like an authentic one. The bridge of her nose is robust and doesn't look like the others that I have seen on the net. I wouldn't be surprised if these were fakes but I would like to have some experienced eyes give their opinions
First of all, just the fact that the 1804 was in there makes it a good possibility that the rest are not authentic. For future reference, the 1804 silver dollar has 15 know examples in existence and is one of the rarest coins ever made and one resides at the Smithsonian. There were two reverses for them and the position of "STATES OF" above the clouds on the back of yours matches neither of them. A first reverse type sold at auction in Aug. 99 for $4.1 million. A second reverse sold at auction in Jul. 03 for $1.2 million. So it's not likely anybody here will ever stumble upon a real one. But many copies have been made of them so the average guy can have something to hold and look at I guess. The rest don't look right and are suspect. They all look the same. You'd probably be doing the hobby a favor if you put them in holders and labeled them as fakes so somebody down the road could study them.
There are several clues that some of these coins are fakes other than the obvious (wrong weight, wrong material, color, lack of details, etc.). There were not Morgan Dollars minted at the Carson City Mint in 1888. The 1847-CC Seated Liberty Dollar has two problems - the reverse 'With Motto' was not used until 1866 and the Carson City Mint did not open until 1870. This info is available in any Red Book.
I'm really impressed with your opinions on these. FYI, if it makes any difference...I lightened the images so that you could see the details. They were a lot darker. Thank you for the insight, people!
#8 should also be a big tip-off. That coin was made in 1986, not 1906. http://www.coinfacts.com/commemoratives/dollar_commems/statue_of_liberty_dollar.htm #2 is a Pattern Coin. http://uspatterns.com/j1562p1753.html
This subject came up on another forum and the Ellis Island coin had some larger images. So I made them easier to look at.
They have a Class I and a Class II in their permanent collection, and they have a Class III on indefinite loan. (One to the two stolen DuPont coins. After they were recovered one was lent to the Smithsonian and the other to the ANA Museum. I think the class III that went to the Smithsonian was the Linderman coin.) So they are actually holding three of them right now
