Hello Guys...a Rookie needs ur help please...and Happy New Year

Hello,
for the new year resolution, I thought of making collecting coins a hobby. I need your help guys. about a week ago I purchased these 2 coins from an elderly person that visits the store i work at. looking at the coin and doing some research online, i am under the impression that these coins are real. If any of you guys can help me judge these coins, it will be greatly appreciated. They are both 1847 Seated Liberty. I tried best taking these pictures as i do not have a good camera and lighting in my room.

If the coins are fake if you can tell me what makes these coins fake it will be really helpful towards my next coin purchases. Thank you again. and Happy New Year, May this year be really beautiful for you.

-Ali a rookie

first coin:



Second Coin:

 

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I don't see anything wrong with the design. But the color seems kinda off.

 

I agree. The coins do not look genuine. The color is off and the coins do not have good detail. Get them weighed.

 

I've never seen a genuine coin with that "rusty" look, but I'm not an expert. So I'll leave the final decision up to the experts.

 

Yeah, I'm not expert either. But it was that rusty look that seemed peculiar to me.

 

Hello ali, according to the red book the weight should be 26.73 grams and diameter 38.1mm. As far as if they are fake or not, I am no expert, but I would have to agree with everyone else about the color. Hope this info. will help you.

 

The coins look very familiar. Have these been displayed here before?

 

As for the rusty color, I bought a coffee can full of 1oz silver bullion that had been buried for about five years, the coffee can had rusted and leached the rusty color all over almost every coin. But a little soaking in some dish liquid and a little elbow grease finally cleaned them all up. By the way I do not advocate the cleaning of issued coins and am weight would be the first step in authenication. Happy New Year

 

Do you happen to know if this elderly person has ever been to China?

 

Happy New Year and welcome to the forum. You have come to the right place to learn and have a good time.
Bill

 

They don't look real to me either. They look like plated copies to me and the plating is chipping off. I've never seen real ones that looked like that.

The Chinese have over the years and still now, have made a lot of silver dollar counterfeits. New ones are getting very good and they ship them over here without a copy or replica stamp on them so read up and learn as much as you can before you start buying like this.

These 1847 dollars are kind of rare. They only made 140,750 of them. If these were real and graded out at a basic Very Good grade (which is pretty low), they would be worth about 250 bucks a piece. I'm betting you didn't pay that much for them. Hopefully somebody wasn't trying to scam you.

As hard as times are right now, everybody's pulling out all the junk they can find and trying to make a buck off it.

I recommend you buy a Red Book. They are dated a year ahead so the 09s are on their way out and the 2010s will be coming out soon. Buy a 2010 Red book and read the info in the front at least. They also give basic sizes and weights for most denominations and it is a price guide for everything as well. Nice pictures too and a basic guide for grading each denomination. Along with actual mintage figures for every U.S coin made that is known. It helped get me up to speed and made me aware of coins I didn't even know existed.

 

I agree that they look like fakes, possibly a ferrous alloy with a silver wash or plating that is coming off. I'm pretty sure the weight will be off. Along with trade dollars and bust dollars, seated Liberty dollars are frequently faked in Asia.

 

If you want to see what a real 1847 dollar looks like, please see the pics in this thread!

http://www.cointalk.com/forum/t45308/

What jumps out to me right away are the differences in the stars and lady liberty's nose.

 

Good point Catbert, I compared the pics. and the nose does look to be more rounded on the above pics.., but what do I know, I've been wearing glasses all my life...lol.

 

coins look suspect.

Hello Ali2325,

I suspect that both are fake cast pieces. The whole coin lacks details in the design. Also the fields don't look like mint quality & all the stars are not shaped & detailed properly. You should measure the diameter & weigh the coin to see if it is within specification.

Very best regards,
collect89

 

I'm not an expert like some on CT, but the color and detail look off. It almost looks like the first one is flaking or peeling. Plus for the person to have two 1847 seated dollars would also leed me to believe that they are fake.

 

I'm not going to pile on other than to say I agree with those who said counterfeit.

 

If the weights check out and they are real, what cause that kind of flaking? Issues with the planchet or post mint damage?

 

I would be concerned about these because I notice uneven edges and the color is off for coins of that era. Just my opinion.