My Sis Was Told This Was A Counterfeit, By A Coin Shop, But Can Anyone Help (1804 Dollar)

Many series (not just the USA) may not have had a denomination as a part of the obverse / reverse design because the size of the coin and weight made its denomination self evident. Especially with silver / gold coins where the weight of the metal mattered in its face value and as a result a transaction using coins from multiple issuers wasn't uncommon. For instance, in the early 1800s a lowly minted US silver dollar from its formative years and a commonly found Spanish Colonial 8R might be rather interchangeable as long as the rough weight of silver was the same. US Trade dollars came around decades later as the US tried to hold their place with the international silver trade market (especially around the Pacific) even though issues at home like the Morgans actually decreased in silver content. Notably, Chinese merchants therefore preferred other countries' "silver dollar" equivalents that kept the old standard up.

I lived in China for a couple years and would come across the 1804 copies rather frequently wandering around the markets. What you are showing us is exactly what the Chinese stuff looks like.

I'm imagining this came into one of your grandfather's banks in a roll or bag of silver dollars and got intercepted there. A fun pickup for a pocket piece, as long as no one tries to represent it as real in attempting to sell it.

Chinese junk !
Laughable piece of pot metal .

Yes, but we are here to help you learn. It's all good.

Yea I can see what you're saying putting em side by side by side. She lives over 17 hours from here, probably, my first time to see it was in those pics, never had it in my hands! Guess I never realized the work counterfeiters have put into making fakes, not to mention some somewhat specialized equipment they must have, to produce a fake! I'm assuming this isn't something one could do with a cpl hand tools and some scrap metal, over the weekend in his garage?

Welcome to the modern world of coin collecting and counterfeits. I think it would be difficult to find any coin from any year that the Chinese have not faked. Your coin costs less than $2 on a website we're not allowed to mention. There are 14 separate listings for this 1804 over there right now. You have to be very careful these days.

And I've already asked and that was only one he's given her, he probably knew it wasn't real, which explains why it wasn't in his safety deposit box! Plus as far as I know, I'm the only grandkid he took to see it and I've asked 2 of his 3 kids and they'd never seen the contents! Haven't asked the oldest kid! I was too young to realize what I was looking at but can remember being in awe

Here's a photo from one of the Chinese counterfeiting rings...pretty sophisticated stuff, indeed!