1804 Silver Dollar 0

[Walter Williams]

 Hi all I’m a new to this, anyway I got this Silver dollar an was wanting to know if it’s a fake or real. Thanks 

[RWB]

100% fake.

[Sandon]

  Welcome to the NGC chat board.

  The simple answer is that it is a fake, and a rather crude one at that. (It probably isn't even made of silver.) Many such fakes have been made over the years. Only fifteen genuine 1804 dated silver dollars exist.   A genuine one looks like this:

PCGS photos. (1804 "Class I" silver dollar)

  The story of these coins is somewhat complex. Suffice it to say that all of the genuine coins were made from the same obverse ("heads" side) die that was combined with two different reverse dies to strike different coins. Notice how different the obverse of your "coin" is from the illustrated genuine piece in terms of the size, shape and placement of Liberty's head, the stars, and the letters, which are identical on all genuine pieces. 

   If you are interested in learning about U.S. coins, we can direct you to appropriate print and online resources.

[Greenstang]

Welcome to the forum.

Not even a good counterfeit. All you have to do is compare it to a genuine one to see the differences.

[Coinbuf]

Yep as the others have said and demonstrated with photos of legit coins you have a counterfeit coin.

[rrantique]

[EagleRJO]

On 5/21/2023 at 2:03 PM, Greenstang said:

 

Not even a good counterfeit. All you have to do is compare it to a genuine one to see the differences.

Welcome to the Forum!

As @Greenstang indicated a simple comparison (see attached coin-over-coin pic) with a legit coin from the PCGS CoinFacts site will reveal the differences.  One of the first things I look at is the date and mint mark (if any), which has the wrong font right off the bat.  [https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1804-1-original-class/6907]

Also consider that with only 15 genuine 1804 silver dollars known to exist worth 7 figures, including one very rare Class-1 kept at the Smithsonian Institute, sometimes referred to as the "King of American Coins", what do you think the odds are that you have a legit coin?

A little knowledge will go a long way, particularly with coins like this.  If you are interested in coin collecting, I would take up @Sandon on his offer to provide more info on this most interesting hobby.