Simple facts are that in 1879 there were 1,541 proofs minted at Philadelphia and that was it. TD's are heavily faked and the fakers frequently and thankfully get their facts wrong.
What more evidence do you need? 1879 was a Proof-only year for Trade Dollars. San Francisco did not strike Trade Dollars in 1879. If there is no such thing as an 1879-S Trade Dollar your 1879-S Trade Dollar must be fake. So how did your 1879-S Trade Dollar come to be created? The Chinese counterfeiter makes numerous obverse and reverse dies - obverse dies of various dates and reverse dies with various mintmarks (or no mintmarks). When they fire up the press to make a run of counterfeit Trade Dollars they simply grab an obverse die and a reverse die taking no care as to whether the obverse and reverse dies go together (i.e., whether that die pairing really existed in real life). As you can see with your coin the Chinese counterfeiters produce numerous fantasy pieces. Your coin is fake and worth only a few dollars as an example of a poor counterfeit. When in doubt you should refer to your Red Bok. The Red Book lists every year and mint for Trade Dollars and every other US coin.
When in doubt and without a book, there are some diagnostics for counterfeits. The obliterated rims and mottoes with MS centers (reverse), "blobby" or poorly defined denticles (obverse), and overall "brushed" looking surfaces.
That's the thing fakers get wrong 99% of the time is faking wear. Wear is almost always even on coins that worn. There is almost never going to be areas of heavy wear and no wear. You aren't going to have obliterated rims and MS details. Here you go, not a great coin but a good example.
My friend gave it to me to sell. I hope he doesn't get to mad when i tell him its only worth its weight in silver
You better hope he doesn't get mad when you tell him it doesn't even have any silver. The coin is worth only what someone is willing to pay for it as a curiosity or an example of a poor fake.
