1807 Silver Dollar Need Help

I would place the value of your coin at between $35 and $50, it is a common date * reales in heavily circulated condition. Great coin and a great entry coin into the world of "8 Reales" collecting.

In my experience the answer varies with the person you are asking.

The coin is NOT a Class 1 contemporary circulating counterfeit - that is absolutely certain.

The coin is also very unlikely to be a Class 3 Forgery based on the appearance of the surfaces and the edge.

That leaves two possibilities Genuine or Class 2 which is a Contemporary Silver restrike (a type of counterfeit made between 1830 and 1930). This class is discussed in detail in our book. There are visual clues that can increase suspicion of a counterfeit. To help decide which coins are probable Class 2 varieties we have created a listing of 20 clues. The more clues the more likely a coin is counterfeit. But to be 100% sure only metal testing (like XRF) can decide.

This coin has very few indicators pointing to Class 2 so it is likely real, but without testing the trace contaminants in the alloy you can not be absolutely POSITIVE.

The Class 1 counterfeits are rather rare on ebay or anywhere else - they run less than 1 % of posts on ebay long term.

The Class 3 forgeries (new ones) are not that prevalent - I track 2 or 3 a day on ebay. But they are also harder to spot in photos so I am likely missing a few.

The Class 2 coins are the most common type of the 3. But they are VERY hard to spot in photos, plus most sellers do not put photos of the edges. There are 28 portrait 8Rs posted on ebay a day (average for the past 200 days). I spot Class 2 at about 4-5 a day in the same time frame but I think twice as many are actually there.

You understand the reason behind the Class 2 coins very well. They were successful coins because the target audience did not care that they were not genuine as long as they were real silver. That simple point is missed by most professional dealers. They have no idea that a large percentage of what they sell as genuine is really NOT. That is one reason I expect push back on the book. I make no claims in the book as to the percentage of Class 2 versus genuine coins.

It is also why I say that genuine 8Rs and Class 2 counterfeits are priced on a par. Typically at the shop I buy all the Class 2 coins and I pay $ 25-30 for class 2 coins. I get 2-3 a month sometimes more. The number of genuine coins that come in in the same interval is always LOWER - under 1 a month. So based on what we see walking into the store in NC at least 3/4ths of all the 8Rs are Class 2.

I think only time will tell how many Class 2 coins have survived versus genuine examples.