Expert: Brad Swain - 2/18/2010

Question
I have an old coin that I wanna know how much it worth..on one side it said republique francaise 1908 with a women sittin look like statue of liberty also has small word says BARRE..on the back says indo-chine francaise.titre 0.900.poids 27 GR. around the coin. in the middle of the con says piastre de commerce. the coin is silver the size is about a little bigger then the U.S 50 cent coin..

Answer
Hi Masha, There were 14 million of these 90% silver French Indo-China 1 Piastre coins minted that year in Paris (A). Barre is the designer's name. This coin should be 38 millimeters in diameter, weigh 27.0 grams and would contain .7812 of an ounce of silver. If genuine, collector value may be worth about $12 with heavy wear to around $18 with moderate wear to maybe $22.50 with light wear.
You might try Ebay.com for similar pieces for comparison.
You might also try a library for a copy of the Standard Catalog of World Coins for pictures, values and lots more interesting info.
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