Expert: Brad Swain - 2/13/2010

Question
I have several silver coins that I picked up while in Afghanistan. I was trying to see what these coins are worth.
1947 silver peso
1804 silver liberty coin
1795 silver liberty coin
1796  silver liberty coin
and a silver coin with a femail head facing left wearing a crown with "LIBERTY"  on the reverse side a scale and ribbon and a single star.  on the outside of the reverse side it states "ONE TROY OUNCE" AND ".999 FINE SILVER" between writing are olive branches. Thank you for any insight you can give

Answer
Hi Randy, if you got them in Afghanistan then they are likely all fakes.
The 1947 Philippine Peso should weigh 20 grams, contain .5787 of an ounce of silver and may be worth up to about $20 depending on amount of wear and collector demand.
The 1795, 1796 and 1804 are definitely all fakes as the genuine pieces (26.96 grams) are worth thousands of dollars or more each with the 1804 being worth a million dollars or more.
The last is a privately issued piece and is called a 'silver round', usually a one Troy ounce (31.1 grams) of silver piece. It is worth the silver value plus whatever someone may pay for it. If you weigh these you will likely find none are up to specs.
Counterfeits and fantasy pieces mass produced in East Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe abound of Chinese and U.S. coins, and many other countries'.
Chinese counterfeit factory: http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/ig/Chinese-Counterfeiting-Ring/Chinese-Fake... .
Brad