Expert: Dan Moore - 2/25/2010

Question
Among my father's coins I found three that I wondered about due to their purported age.  One is a USA 1871 trade dollar with a seated Liberty with R arm extended holding what appears to be vegetation. The other arm is downward holding a scroll. There are 13 stars over her. The reverse has an eagle holding a branch in his left claw and arrows in the right.  The edge is milled and it is quite heavy and has a patina of old silver. Could this be real and worth something?  Second,there is a very thin ~10mm coin possibly also silver with a star with stripes inside it and the date 1852 and "United States O" and a stylized "C" with a III inside it on the other side.  The third appears to be gold, is ~28mm and has a liberty head with 13 stars around it and the date 1836.  The reverse has an eagle and shield with "United States of America" around it and 2 1/2 dollars below. The 3 cent? coin is in poor condition but the others are pretty good. Short of finding a dealer, are they likely to be real and worth something?

Answer
Tag,

From your description, the first coin appears to be counterfeit.  Trade dollars did not start until 1873.

See : http://www.coinfacts.com/silver_dollars/trade_dollars/trade_dollars.html

The second coin sounds like a VERY worn 3-cent silver piece, but it's supposed to be 14mm in diameter.  If real, and in the condition described, it would be worth about $5.00

See : http://www.coinfacts.com/three_cents/three_cents_silver/1852_three_cents_silver....

If the third coin is a genuine $2.5 gold piece, it will be 17.5mm in diameter, and will only say 2 1/2 D. on the reverse.  So it sounds like what you have is not real.

See : http://www.coinfacts.com/quarter_eagles/classic_head_quarter_eagles/1836_quarter...

I hope this helps,

Dan