Expert: Neil S Berman - 7/16/2008

Question
QUESTION: I am curently deployed in Afghan and ran across a local at a bazzar and he had about 40 1 dollar coins.  They were dates 1800 and it was the liberty bust.  All the coins were in exelent shape and looked to be silver.  I talked him down to $2 dollars US a coin, but did not buy because I wanted to do research first.  Are these coins known to be fake? It not how can I tell that they are real silver?  Thanks for the help.

ANSWER: They are all fake and they are not silver, and, as an extra bonus, they are illegal to own inside of the US. I hope this answers your question.

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QUESTION: I really was not expecting an answer so blunt.  How is it that you are so certain?  I do thank you for the quick response.

Answer
The entire known population of US Bust dollars that are genuine is in the hundreds, therefore to find 40 coins in one place is statistically impossible, and the middle east is one two areas where they are known to be extensively counterfeited. Elementary, my dear Watson. Have a nice day.